Impact of Social Amenities on Academic Performance in Primary Schools in Gichugu Constituency, Kenya

Social amenities are important as primary schools strive to provide quality education. Social amenities include play materials and sanitation. This study was to examine the impact of social amenities on academic performance in primary schools in Gichugu Constituency, Kenya. The study objectives were to establish the status of social amenities in primary schools and to establish how sanitation amenities influence pupils’ performance in primary schools. This study was guided by Social Constructionist Theory that posits that knowledge acquisition involves language, community, social interaction and other cognitive functions that affect individual’s intellectual development. The study was carried out in Gichugu Constituency, Kirinyaga County, Kenya. The target population consisted of 75 primary school head teachers. Kathuri and Pals Table for Sample Size Determination were used to arrive at a sample size of 63 school heads teachers who were randomly selected from the target population. A questionnaire and an observation guide were used to collect data from the respondents. A pilot study was conducted to ensure the reliability of the instruments. Data was collected, organized into themes and categorized before being analyzed using descriptive statistics with the aid of The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20) to generate charts, frequency tables, means and standard deviation. The study found out that majority of the head teachers (80%) agreed with the statement that their school children had access to clean and safe drinking water although there were some schools that used water from the rivers and streams near the schools. The study also found out that majority of the schools had access to adequate sanitation amenities for their pupils. The study found out that social play materials play an integral part in allowing children to develop communication, persistence and other social skills. It was noted that sanitation amenities were not adequate for the number of learners in primary schools in the study region.  The sanitation facilities did not cater for learners with physical disabilities. The study concludes that lack of sanitation amenities such as piped water and good toilets led to occurrence of diseases such as typhoid, cholera and other highly contagious diseases which affect learners’ access to education through high absenteeism rates. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education and other education stakeholders should emphasize the role of social amenities in primary schools in order to improve the learners’ motivation and overall academic performance of all schools in Kenya.