Water, sanitation and hygiene policies and their effects on participation in basic education in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

Adequate access to water hygiene and sanitation is every human’s and child’s right. Water, sanitation and hygiene do not reflect policies aspirations and are not adequate to pupils needs, affecting their health, well-being and performance at school. The study sought to investigate water, sanitation and hygiene policies and their effects on participation in Basic Education in Bungoma County, Kenya. The specific objectives was to: Examine water Policies and their effects on student participation in Basic education in Bungoma county; Aassess the availability and appropriateness of the safety of water in primary and secondary schools in Bungoma county; Establish the effect of school sanitary and hygiene Policies on students’ participation in primary and secondary schools in Bungoma county. Descriptive survey design was used because survey method is ideal for collecting information by administering questionnaires. The target population included all the Primary and Secondary schools in Bungoma County (1079), _539,993 students and teachers. Representative sample units was selected using stratified sampling, random sampling and purposive sampling; From the Primary schools stratum 183 schools were chosen and from the secondary schools stratum 101 schools were chosen, a total of 284 schools were used as a representative sample. Random sampling was used to select Three (3) pupil/students from each school, three (3) teachers and the one (1) head teacher/Principal were chosen from each School to participate in the study. The primary data was collected using questionnaires and interview guide. The questionnaire was pilot-tested using a sample of ten (10) schools from Bungoma County. Reliability was determined using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r), a reliability of r = +0.70 was deemed sufficient. The secondary data for this study was obtained through document review. The researcher used descriptive statistics to analyze and organize data using frequencies, tables, graphs and charts. Multiple linear regressions was applied to analyze the data. The significance level was set at the level of .05 (p < .05). _