Secondary School Student’s Perception towards Agriculture Subject in Public Secondary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to examine the secondary school student’s perception towards agriculture subject in public secondary schools in Nairobi County. The objectives of the study were: i)to examine the enrollment profile of students in Agriculture between 2009 and 2013,ii) find out students’ perceptions regarding the availability of teaching resources and iii) determine students’ perception regarding level of difficulty of Agriculture subject. The study was premised on the production Function Theory in education postulated by Psacharopoulos and Woodhall which refers to the process by which inputs are converted to outputs. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design using questionnaires as the main data collection instrument. Data was provided by 304 randomly students taking Agriculture subject in secondary schools in Nairobi County. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics aided by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme version 20.The major findings were that although there was a declining enrollment trend , the enrolled students had positive attitude towards Agriculture subject. However, the teaching and learning of the subject was constrained by inadequate instructional resources, especially the tools, demonstration land and agricultural equipments. It was therefore recommended that the subject should remain an elective subject due to shortage of land and equipment, and the few students taking the subject should be motivated by receiving some of the farm produce and specialized training beyond the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development syllabus to make the learners acquire modern agricultural techniques through internet and e-learning mode. [245 words].