Influence Of The Students’ Perception Towards Farming On The Choice Of Agriculture As A Learning Subject In Secondary Schools In Kisii And Nyamira Counties

Abstract

Agriculture contributes to economic development and food security of the nation. The main objective of the study was to assess the influence of the student’s perception towards farming on the choice of agriculture as a learning subject in secondary school in Kisii and Nyamira Counties. The specific objectives were to: assess the learner’s perception on the value of agriculture subject as compared to other technical subjects or applied sciences, establish the influence of gender attitudes on students’ choices of Agriculture subjects; evaluate the role of parents and teachers in students’ choices of agriculture subjects; determine the influence of the subject teacher on students’ choices of agriculture subjects and to determine the enrolment trends in agriculture subject in selected schools in Kisii and Nyamira Counties in the period between 2012-2016. The study employed a descriptive design. The sampling frame for this study was principals, teachers and all agriculture students and the sample size was375 respondents. The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative data where the quantitative data was cleaned, coded and keyed in into Statistical Packages for Social Scientists (SPSS Version 20) software and analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The finding revealed that, out of the returned questionnaires, 263 were completed by males which translated to (57.3%) while 112represented by (42.7%) were completed by female. The findings showed that most of the respondents had an age bracket of 15-18 years which translate to 69.6% followed by students with age of 19 years and above which translate to 24.0% and those in age below 14 years were represented by 5.3%. The findings further revealed that, most students choose agriculture since they consider it a booster as compared to other technical subjects. However, when it comes to gender wise there were more male students selecting agriculture subjects compared to female counterparts at 55.5% and 24.3% respectively. The findings revealed that, other than parents/teachers that influenced students on subject selection which was represented by 23.1%, student subject performance in agriculture which was presented by 74.4% play a critical role on the choice of the subject while the school policy at 2.6% where students ought to do a certain subjects regardless other factors such as, what student feel about the subject, what the parents/teachers feel about the students’ capability to do the subject or how the students perform in agriculture which either comes as an added advantage to the students or as burden to the students. The findings also revealed that the number of student enrolment in agriculture increase steadily at R2 =0.297 followed by computer at R2 =0.292, then Business studies at R2 =0.000 and finally home science at R2 =0.371 as presented in Figure 4. The findings further revealed that in the year 2012-2013 there was significance decline in agriculture enrollment compared other years from 2013 to 2016 there was significance increase in agriculture enrollment of the students. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were reached: Students to have a positive attitude towards agriculture subjects. They are also required to consider their academic goals, and interests, while choosing subjects. Teachers need to adapt their subjects to better meet the objectives to their students. It’s the responsibility of the curriculum developers to ensure that subjects maintain the much-needed content which is quality and reduced in terms of workload.