Role of Parents in the Education of Mentally Retarded Learners in Selected Schools in Madaraka Zone, Kiambu County, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of parent’s involvement in education on the academic performance of the mentally retarded learners in primary schools of selected schools in Thika Municipality, Kiambu County. The objectives of the study was to determine whether cultural beliefs among the parents affects the enrolments of mentally retarded children in the area under study; determine whether the parents teach their mentally retarded children adaptive skills; establish whether the parents of mentally retarded children play their role effectively as far as the education of their children is concerned and to find out whether the parents understand and appreciate the importance of taking their mentally retarded children for assessment. The researcher used descriptive design to collect data. The target population was all parents and teachers of mentally retarded children in the selected schools under study. Purposive sampling was done to select fifty parent and fifty teachers as sample population. Data from the research instruments was sorted, coded and summarized data analyzed using computer software. The major findings of the study was that cultural beliefs, negligence, lack of sensitization and lack of technical skills among the parents and the teachers were the major causes of low enrolment of mentally retarded children in selected schools under study. The study recommended that parents and their siblings should appreciate their little achievement in order to boost their morale. That they should be allowed to interact and socialize with their peers; simulative home environment be provided and an opportunity to learn through special education be provided. Modified curriculum be used by teachers in order to accommodation all the needs of learners with intellectual challenges. Specialized training for teachers should be given by Ministry of Education. Keywords: Normalization, Identification, Mental retardation, Cultural belief

Analysis of Interventions Teachers Use to Manage Learners with Selected Behavior Disorders in Primary Schools in Thika Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya

Identification process is an important element of behavior disorder management in schools. For proper behavior management teachers need to identify learners with behavioral disorders in order to design intervention programs befitting their educational needs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the intervention strategies teachers used in managing learners with selected emotional and behavior disorders (EBDs) in primary schools in Madaraka zone. The objectives were; to establish effectiveness of assessment methods teachers used in identifying learners with selected behavior disorders and to explore intervention strategies teachers used in managing learners with selected behavior disorders. The study used descriptive research design which was appropriate since it enabled the researchers to describe the situation as it existed. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Simple random sampling was done to select four schools which participated in the study. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample size of 30 class seven teachers. Data from the research instruments was analyzed and presented descriptively. The study found that the assessment methods teachers used to identify learners with EBDs were not effective and that teachers in selected schools did not use effective intervention strategies to manage behavior for learners with EBDs. The study recommends that in-service training for teachers be done with a view of building capacity in the area of identification processes and that Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to give guidelines on behavior disorder management. The significance of the study findings is that it could help stakeholders to come up with effective intervention strategies in managing learners with behavior disorders as well as add to the existing literature on learner disorders. Keywords:Emotional Behavior Disorders, Interventions, Learners, Teacher

Wind and solar resource complementarity and its viability in wind/PV hybrid energy systems in Machakos, Kenya

Integration of intermittent renewable energy resources provides the potential to mitigate the impact of the variability of independent sources. The intermittent nature creates stability, reliability and power quality problems in power grids. Wind and solar energies are the most viable resources whose complementarity could be deployed in the development of hybrid renewable energy systems to enhance their performance. In this study, wind-solar resource complementarity is investigated to establish its viability in hybrid energy systems in Machakos, a rural-urban town whose geographical location is 1°31′S, 37,016′E in the Eastern region of Kenya. The study findings could be fundamental in energy planning and developments in the area to provide more flexible and dependable hybrid energy systems which would supply energy services under constantly changing conditions. Ground measurements included PVGIS simulation and experimental tools installed at a height of 20 m. Weibull's distribution model and energy potential of wind resource are investigated to characterize wind resource for energy generation. The Wind distribution revealed a positively skewed profile with scale (c) and shape (k) parameter values of 2.68 m/s (≈ 3.0 m/s) and 1.9 at a mean wind speed of 2.47 m/s, respectively. The findings revealed a wind power density of 17 W/m2 at an average wind speed of 3.0 m/s. Further, an annual solar insolation of 2130 kWh/m2 with monthly average of 178 kWh/m2 translating to daily insolation of 5.8 kWh/m2 at an installation capacity of 1 kWp is reported. The months with minimum and maximum solar insolation were July and March which recorded monthly averages of 145 kWh/m2 and 213 kWh/m2 translating to a daily average of 4.7 kWh/m2 and 6.9 kWh/m2, respectively. The understanding gained from this study could be useful to the renewable energy research community and can be extended to stakeholders in PV and wind energy systems for micro grids and utility applications

Type Catalogue NMK

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