Can Schools Make Our Society More Cohesive? A Case of Public Secondary Schools in Embu and Nairobi Counties, Kenya

Abstract

National cohesion is a growing concern for political leaders, educationists and policy makers in the world and Kenya in particular. Schools are critical agents of socialization with potential and inherent capacity to bring together people from diverse backgrounds essentially promoting national cohesion and integration in society. The purpose of the study was to assess the role of schools in promoting national cohesion in Kenya. The objective of the study was to assess the extent to which schools entrenched the fundamentals of national cohesion in their instructional processes. The study utilized Bandura’s social cognitive theory and adopted the descriptive survey research design. Target population was 245 principals from 174 and 71 public secondary schools from Embu and Nairobi counties. The Gay (2000) sampling formula of 10-20% was used to determine the sample yielding 51 schools while stratified random sampling was used to proportionately distribute them into the four school categories where; national (2), extra-county (5), county (10) and sub-county (34). Data was collected using a questionnaire administered to sampled principals. Cronbach’s alpha was computed to ascertain the reliability of the instrument which yielded a coefficient of 0. 823. The experts from the School of Education and Social Sciences at Karatina university were used to establish the validity of instruments. Data was analyzed using both inferential and descriptive statistics with the aid of SPSS version 20.0. The study established that schools as socialization agents play a strategic role in promoting national cohesion. It was concluded that the schools are strategically positioned to promote national cohesion in Kenya. The study recommends the need to strengthen infusion of national values in all subjects in the curriculum in schools in Kenya. This way, national ethos and patriotism will be inculcated in children that will be extremely instrumental in building a culture of nationhood and cohesion in the republic