| dc.description.abstract | In the past few decades, HIV and AIDS has become one of the major public health
challenges worldwide. In Kenya, as in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, its
impactis felt in all sectors. In the education sector, a number of children have
been orphaned through the death of their parents as a result of HIV and AIDS
pandemic making them more unlikely to enroll and remain in school due to lack
of material support and parental care or because of the burden of taking care of
sickparents and relatives. The study was conducted in Rarieda Division where the
numberof children affected by the pandemic has risen in the past few years. The
specificobjectives of the study were to examine the impact of HIV and AIDS on
pupil's attendance, performance and completion of primary education; determine
the impact of HIV and AIDS on gender disparity in primary education and assess
how HIV and AIDS affects planning interventions in primary school education in
the study area. The study design was cross-sectional descriptive research. Target
populationswere pupils and teachers who were 18,715 and 600 respectively. The
study utilized a sample size of 400 pupils who were interviewed to provide
primary data. Quantitative data was collected from identifying participants
through random sampling of schools within the division. For qualitative data
collection, participants including teachers, education officers and caretakers of
affected children were selected using purposive sampling technique and
participated in Focus Group Discussion (FGD), Key Informant Interview (KII)
and in-depth interview. Qualitative data were analyzed by creating themes and
patterns then evaluating the usefulness of information to answer research
questions. Quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics such as
mode; median standard and deviation of variables were conducted to establish
relationships between variables. The study realized that HIV and AIDS have
greatly reduced demand and supply of education and there is negative impact of
which has interfered with primary education plan in the division. Although the
study has shown that girls are at risk there are no measures that have been put in
place to reduce the risks. In conclusion therefore, HIV pandemic has affected all
the sectors of the economy, with much interference on planning of interventions in
publicprimary schools education in the country. It is the recommendation of this
study to put in place adequate intervention strategies to counter the effects of HIV
and AIDS especially in primary education. This study finding will be useful to
government agencies and non-governmental organizations when planning
interventions in the era of HIV and AIDS. | en_US |
