Browsing by Author "Mukuna, Truphena E."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Gender Inequalities in Early Childhood Development Education Teaching Profession in Kenya
(Educational Research, 2011-12-16) Mukuna, Truphena E.; Mutsotso, Stanley N
Gender imbalance in the pre-school teaching profession and feminization of the profession has been a common practice world over. In Kenya, there is an emergent trend of men training as professionals in Early Childhood Development Education but they are underrepresented. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the gender imbalance in preschool teaching workforce using a case study. The research sample comprised of 108 pre-school in-service teachers in teacher training institutions in Narok Municipality. Stratified followed by random sampling techniques were employed. The research methodology was qualitative .Focus Group Discussions followed by Key Informant Interviews were used to generate data. This study revealed that culture is the main determinant of feminization of pre-school teaching profession. Men were getting interested in pre-school education but to perform administrative duties not necessarily to teach. Additionally, male parents reported that they were uncomfortable in involving themselves in pre-schools.
Student Activism, Political Party Alliances and Election Violence in Kenyan Public Universities
(Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, 2015-04-17) Mukuna, Truphena E.; Mutsotso, Stanley N.
Student leaders, the world over, have been known to be political. Some of the present-day political leaders were once university student leaders. University students usually play an essential role in generating a critical mass during protests. Today, there is an emerging trend of university student leaders being aligned to political parties. Public universities in Kenya strive to remain democratic in the execution of their mandate. This has resulted in a trend whereby all public universities organise student elections for students’ self-determination and governance. Student activism and electioneering is, however, generally punctuated by great passion that soon metamorphoses into violence and strife. Elections and the resulting violence are now common phenomena that have evolved over the years in Kenya and have become a cancer intertwined with students’ election administration and the resultant violence. The fear of violence supercedes all other factors nowadays before the conduct of elections in the universities. Budget costs towards security of the process have always been high and the police must always be ready to intervene in anti-riot gear. There are allegations that the student leaders are sponsored by politicians; therefore, the voting is done along political party alliances, and religious and ethnic lines. This study was conducted among student leaders, registrars in charge of academics and deans of students of three public universities, namely, Masinde Muliro University, Maasai Mara University and Kibabii University College. The objectives of the study were to determine student leaders’ role in university governance; determine factors that lead to student election violence; establish student involvement in political parties; ascertain the levels of democracy in student elections and political parties’ elections; and determine the characteristics of student activism in Kenya today. The study established that there is a significant relationship between student activism and political alliances. It was, therefore, concluded that student activism in Kenya is dictated by ethnicity and political party alliances, which have significantly contributed to sycophancy, poor leadership and a complacent student body. Student participation in politics in Kenya has been instrumental in the development of the civil society and national political leadership. Consequently, politicisation of student activism, on the one hand, cannot be disentangled from political party alliances, and on the other hand, de-politicisation of student activism would only undermine liberty and democracy in the university.