Influence of Selected Socio-Cultural Practices on Internal Efficiency in Selected Public Technical Training Institutesin Baringo County, Kenya

Abstract

Education forms the basis upon which economic, social and political development of any nation is founded. It is one of the basic human rights that are universally proclaimed internationally as many countries in the world aim at attaining equity in education.Internal efficiency in public secondary schools is measured by drop outs, retention and transition rates. In Kenya, internal efficiency in technical training institutions has remained low thus raising concerns among the education stakeholders. In Baringo County dropout rates, repetition and low transition rates by students in technical training institutions stillpersistswhich indicates low internal efficiency. The study aimed at investigating the influence of selected socio cultural practices on internal efficiency in selected public technical training institutions in Baringo County, Kenya. The selected socio-cultural practices were early marriages, moranismand nomadic pastoralism. The researcher adopted the production function theory which assertsthatthe institutions of higher learning act as the firm that processes the inputs (students at entry) to come out with the outputs (graduates) at the end. The study usedcorrelational research design. The target population in the study was 2 principals and95 students in the selected public technical training institutions in Baring County. Purposive sampling was used to select the principals and stratified random sampling was used to select students in different certificate and diploma programmes.Data was collected using interview schedule for principalsand a questionnaire for the students. The data obtained was analysed using descriptive statistics (meansand percentages) as well as inferential statistics (poison regression) with the help of Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS version 22) computer program.From the study results the selected socio-cultural practicessuch as early marriages had aP value of 0.014 on repetition, 0.008 on transition and 0.0018 on dropout rates. This is an indication that early marriageshad a significant influence on dropout rates, transition rates and repetition rates. Theinformation obtained from the study may beused by education policy makers to ratify the education system to ensure internal efficiency in technical training institutes in Kenya.