THE INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL RELATED FACTORS ON ICT INTEGRATION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KITUI COUNTY, KENYA

The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of school related factors in integration of Information Communication Technology in the management of public secondary schools in Kitui County, Kenya. A descriptive survey research design was used in this study. The study was carried out in 58 public secondary schools in Kitui County that have functional ICT infrastructure. This study used sample size table as proposed by Krejcie and Morgan (1970) whereby 58 principals, 58 senior teachers and 266 assistant teachers from schools that have functional ICT infrastructure were selected. All 16 Sub-county Directors of Education and one County Director of Education were selected for the study. The researcher used questionnaires to collect data from principals, senior teachers and assistant teachers while interview schedule was used to collect data from Sub-county Directors of Education and the County Director of Education in Kitui County. The collected data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative data analysis approaches whereby both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Descriptive statistics that were used in this study include percentages and mean. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson’s moment of correlation coefficient and Pearson’s Chi-square tests for independence. The qualitative data were presented in the form of narrative and integrated within the quantitative data. The findings of the study were; there was a strong positive correlation r(50) = 0.842, p<0.05 between computer infrastructure and ICT integration in management of public secondary schools. The study recommended that; The government should increase their supply of computers to all schools as well as building computer laboratories for schools and that all the schools should have internet connections to enable principals and teachers to use ICT in the school. The government should make it compulsory for all schools to integrate ICT in management.  Article visualizations

The Influence of Family Based Determinants on Implementation of Re-Admission Policy of Girls After Teenage Pregnancy in Public Secondary Schools in Kitui County

This study sought to investigate the influence of family based determinants on implementation of re-admission policy of girls after teenage pregnancy in public secondary schools in Kitui County, Kenya. The study objectives sought to determine the influence of; socio-economic status of parents, principals’ opinion on socio-economic status, family size and girls’ awareness of the policy on implementation of re-admission policy. The study was based on the critical theory by the Frankfurt school in German. The target population was 275 principals, 275 guidance and counseling teachers and 275 head girls in the 120 girls’ schools and 155 co-education schools in Kitui County, Kenya. The study also targeted the County Director of Education and all the 16 sub county directors of education in Kitui County. Using stratified and simple random sampling, a sample of 83 principals, 83 guidance and counseling, and 83 head girls were selected for the study. The County Director of Education was purposively selected while four sub-county directors of Education were selected using simple random sampling. Data was collected using questionnaires.  Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established that; there was a statistically significant association between socio-economic status of parents and implementation of re-admission policy of girls after teenage pregnancy. The family size, principals’ opinion on the re-admission policy and girls’ awareness of the policy significantly determined the implementation of the re-admission policy of girls after teenage pregnancy. The study recommends that; Parents should be sensitized on their role to educate girls the same way they would do to the boy child. This would enhance the implementation of the re-admission policy of girls after teenage pregnancy in public secondary schools in Kitui County, Kenya. Keywords: Co-education school, Re-admission Policy, Socio-Economic Status Teenage Pregnancies DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-11-02 Publication date: April 30th 202

Review of the Effect of Grinding Aids and Admixtures on the Performance of Cements

Grinding aids (GAs) are polar chemicals introduced in cement mills in either liquid or powder form to improve on mill grindability efficiency. Studies have shown that some GAs not only help in grinding efficiency but also play vital roles in improving the product particle size distribution, product ability to flow in the mill, grinding energy reduction, and improvement on the separator efficiency. This review investigated the impacts of the GAs on the performance of some properties of cement when used as either mortar and/or concrete. The influence of the GAs incorporation in cement grinding on properties such as workability and setting times of the placed concrete and/or mortar has been covered in this review. The performance of GAs on ordinary portland cement (OPC) and blended cements with other supplementary cementitious materials such as pozzolana, fly ash, and slag has also been discussed. This is in view to tapping the maximum benefits of using GAs in cement production and use. This review work established that GAs have a positive influence on mill performance when properly applied. It further established that blended cements work better when dosed with additives such as GAs and/or quality improvers when compared to OPC. The review work demonstrated that some superplasticizers help in lowering the water demand in highly blended pozzolanic-based cements. The review finally recommended that the future course of action in the production of blended cements should apply GAs. This is in order to help produce highly replaced blended cements that are sustainable