EFFECTIVENESS OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING PROGRAMME IN ENHANCING STUDENTS’ RETENTION IN PUBLIC DAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NYAHURURU SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Student retention in schools however remains a global challenge and affects any social establishment in the world irrespective of a societies’ civilization. Non-completion of secondary schooling continues to be a matter of concern for policymakers and practitioners worldwide. Non-retention of students in schools means schools producing citizens who are not adequately prepared to be absorbed into the country’s labor force; instead of becoming a liability to those whom they depend on. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to determine the effectiveness of guidance and counseling programme in enhancing students’ retention in public day secondary schools in Nyahururu Sub-County, Laikipia County. The study used ex-post facto research design and was guided by the Person-Centered Theory and Retention Theory. Data was collected from proportionately sampled schools from the 26-public day secondary schools in the 6 zones namely: Gituamba, Igwamiti, Kinamba, Marmanet, Nyahururu and Salama of the sub-county which had a target of form 4 students’ population of 1855, 26 principals and 52 guidance and counseling teachers. Simple random sampling was used to determine the male and female students who were the primary respondents in this study while purposive sampling was used on the guidance and counseling teachers as well as the principals. A sample size of 341 participants was used in this study which comprised 174 boys, 155 girls, 6 guidance and counseling teachers and 6 principals. Data was collected using questionnaires that were filled by the student respondents and guidance and counseling teachers. An interview schedule was administered to the principals by the researcher. The validity of the research instruments was ensured by establishing their face validity and were verified by the research experts in the School of Education in Laikipia University. Reliability of the research instruments was achieved through a pilot study in 2 schools in the neighboring county of Nyandarua and were considered reliable after yielding a reliability coefficient of Cronbach’s alpha of 0.93. This indicated that the instruments were reliable. The data collected were sorted and analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis while quantitative data was analyzed descriptively in form of frequencies and percentages using SPSS version 24.0 software. The study found that the effectiveness of guidance and counseling programme enhanced students’ retention by helping students deal with challenges affecting personal and social life as well as academic achievement. The study recommended that the guidance and counseling programme should be supported by promoting teacher counsellor preparedness, the support given by the school administration and encouraging student gender receptiveness of the programme. The findings might benefit the Ministry of Education in enhancing students’ retention, school administrators in retaining students in school after enrolment, guidance and counseling teachers in acknowledging the input of guidance and counseling programme towards students’ retention, parents and students by getting enlightened on the support given in school to encourage students to remain focused in learning till completion of school. Article visualizations