Abstract:
Drug abuse has become a major challenge among the youth worldwide. The accessibility, affordability and consumption of abused drugs by the youth have attracted a great concern among the stake holders in the education sector. Problems which are created by its uncontrolled use cannot be ignored. Evidence from around the world reveals that there is an upward trend in the abuse of drugs amongst the young people. There is limited documented data on the impact of abuse of drugs on academic execution. Thus the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of drug abuse among students on academic performance in public secondary schools in Nyamira North Sub-County, Nyamira County. The objectives of the study were to establish the causes of drug abuse, the extent of drug abuse, the influence of drug abuse and strategies used to alienate the drug abuse menace among students in public secondary schools in Nyamira North Sub-County, Nyamira County. The researcher adopted descriptive survey design. The target population constituted of 36 public secondary schools, 36 principals, 324 teachers, 5760 students, 36 nonteaching staff and 1 Sub-County Director of Education where stratified random sampling was used to select the desired respondents that were 11 principals, 1728 students, 11 nonteaching staff, 97 teachers and 1Sub-County Director of Education. The study used questionnaires and interviews as instruments of data collection whose liability was tested using Spearman Rho technique and their validity through expert opinion by Kisii University Supervisors. The data collected was analyzed through statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) the response rate was 100% where the findings showed that alcohol was the most commonly abused drug in our schools. Guidance and counseling and banning smoking in secondary schools were captured as mitigating factors. The study recommended that parents should mentor their children on the peer grouping to control their behaviuoral patterns. The students who had the problem of drug abuse should be guided and counseled to reduce violence in our society. The national and county governments should put in place proper policy to address and reduce the problem. The study suggested that further studies to be done on the influence of information communication technology on drug abuse consumption in the learning institutions.
