THE IMPACT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS ON STUDENT PERFOMANCE IN THE URBAN SLUMS OF LAIKIPIA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The millennium goal 2 focuses on the achievement of universal primary education under which target 3 strives to ensure that by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full cycle of primary schooling. This paper is based on a study that investigated the effect of socioeconomic status on student’s academic performance in Laikipia County, Kenya. The study adopted a case study design. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. The pupils were sampled using simple random sampling while the teachers and head teachers were purposively sampled. Data obtained showed that families with a lower socio-economic status often struggle with providing academic support for their children, negative environmental factors such as drug abuse, early marriages and early sexual involvement negated any meaningful pedagogic gains, that these children have low academic expectations, are more likely to exhibit behavior related learning problems and that the academic level of the parents was correlated to the pupils’ learning outcomes. There should be concerted effort to empower parents living in urban slums and appropriate strategies put in place to increase the educational motivation for children living in urban slums.