Ethnic Conflicts and Students Participation in Secondary Education in Lowland Areas of Baringo County, Kenya

Abstract

This paper looks at how ethnic conflicts in lowland areas of Baringo County have influenced students’ participation in secondary education in schools. The study was conducted to establish how the students’ participation in secondary education was affected by the conflict in the study area which covered Baringo South, Tiaty and Baringo North. The respondents for this study were students, principals and Board of Management members from 22 public secondary schools. The study adopted the descriptive design. The study collected information using questionnaires and interview schedules. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that the lowland areas of Baringo County experience ethnic conflicts which are mainly driven by cattle rustling. Further, the study found out that as a result of conflicts, schools recorded higher students’ absenteeism and dropout rates. In some areas, schools were inaccessible as parents could not allow their children to go to school. Further, as a result of insecurity students desire to go to school on daily basis decreased significantly. Computed correlation statistics showed that there was significant negative effect of ethnic conflict prevalence and students participation in secondary education. The paper concludes that as a result of ethnic conflict, students’ active participation in secondary education was limited and this affected their education development. The study recommends that government need to consider building more boarding schools in the low land areas of Baringo. Peace initiatives need to be boosted to ensure that all communities in the region live in peace and harmony with each other to facilitate socio-economic development.