The Influence of Parents’ Socio-Economic Status on absenteeism among day secondary school students in Keiyo Sub County, Kenya

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the influence of parents’ socio-economic status on absenteeism in public day secondary schools in Keiyo North Sub County of Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya. The specific objectives of this study were; to investigate the relationship between parent’s level of education, occupational status and level of income on absenteeism among secondary schools students in public day schools. The study was guided by Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The study adopted expost factor research design. The study employed stratified random sampling to select 294 students. The instrument for data generation was questionnaires and document analysis of student’s class attendance. Test-retest was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics involved the use of frequencies and percentages and inferential statistics (Chi-square) was used to determine associations between variables. The level of significance for testing the null hypotheses was 0.05. The study results indicated that indicated that the parent’s level of income was significantly associated with student absenteeism (χ2 =13.237, df=4, p=0.010). On the other hand, the mother’s occupation was significantly associated with the mother’s absenteeism (χ2 =17.989, df=4, p=0.001). In conclusion, Most students whose fathers and mothers attained secondary and primary education miss school compared to those whose fathers/mothers attained college or university education. The study recommends mitigation through school feeding programme (SFP) need to be formulated The study will be useful to parents, school and the community at large, to find ways of supporting the school in order for learners to achieve a better life in future.