CHAPTER ONE

     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Introduction

This chapter comprises of the following; background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objective of the study, significance of the study, limitation and delimitation and operational definitions of terms.

Alcohol abuse has permeated’ all strata of society, with the youth and young adults being the category most affected. Most alcohol abusers fall between 13 and 30 years of age although experimentation begins much earlier at even 3 years.

When these young people engage in alcoholism at this render age, their future is doomed and so is the country.

The government of Kenya views the problem seriously and has therefore ratified the United Nations conventions of Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substance abuse and formed a special anti-Narcotic unit with the’ police forces also enacted a law “the Narcotic unit with the police force 1 and also substances control Act (1994) to curb abuse and trafficking.

Under the liquor and licensing acts it is an offence to sell alcohol to any one who is less than 18 years of age. Anyone doing this risk persecution if caught having committed the above offences you may face up to 20 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 1 million shillings or both.

It is important for learners to understand that it is an offense to indulge in alcoholism as shown in the children young persons act.

However, alcoholism has caused a lot of danger to primary school children because they stay at home due to parents addiction forgetting that early primary school education is important for their children. Most parents have failed in their responsibilities like guiding and counseling their hence ** poor performance in primary education.

Statement of the Problem

This research seeks to find the effects of drug abuse/alcohol drinking on the performance of boys and girls in primary schools in Bunyala district, Bunyala south location. The researcher is aware of the effects of alcohol on the performance of primary school children and it is for this reason that the researcher intends to find out if

Bumyala district is among those affected by alcohol and seek ways of eradicating it to improve   performance of children in primary school education.

Research Questions

• Does alcohol affect the performance of children in
  primary school? •
• Is there any relationship between the performance of children and the drugs/alcoholic abuse?
• How does alcohol   drinking   affect   the   family relationship?
• What happens to the family incase one of family member looses a job due to alcohol drinking?

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study on the effects of alcohol on performance of young children in primary education are;

• To find out the  effects  of /drug/alcohol  on  the performance of children in primary schools.
• To find out the effects of alcohol on the cognitive development of the children.
• To find out how alcohol drinking affect the family Members both academic and socially focusing on the child.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study strictly is to find out the effects of alcoholism on the performance of children in Bunyala district, Bunyala south division in Busia County, Kenya.

Significance of the Study

The findings will help the society at large to Mobilize its members and take responsibilities to implement the project that will assist them on how to deal with alcoholism.

The finding will help the teacher, counselor in his or her efforts of counseling the care givers on the effects of ) alcoholism on the performance of primary school children and ways of eliminating alcohol and alcoholism to enhance I high performance in primary school education. The policy makers will use the findings as a reference during their monitoring and supervision exercise.

The private sector, NGO’s faith based organization, community abased organization and individuals will use the findings to educate the community on the effects of alcohol and ways of eradicating alcoholism to improve the performance of children in primary education. The findings of the research will also be use of the curriculum.

developers so that they may design a relevant curriculum on alcohol and alcoholism and in-service new teachers on the effects of alcoholism and usefulness of eliminating drugs for the benefits of the developing primary education.

Limitation and Delimitation

There is likely to be lack of co-operation on the respondent’s side for fear of being reported to the principles administration since the issue is alcohol abuse which according to the liquor and licensing act, one risk persecution.

The weather is likely to be poor making areas unreachable. Time is also another issue because enough time is needed for the researcher to collect, analyzes and presents information in the form required by KNEC.

Delimitation

The language spoken by the catchment area is well known to  the  researcher hence  getting the  first hand information orally will be fast. The/topography of the area I   is known to the researcher hence/movement to collect data ^K I s not a challenge like it was a” new place.

Conceptual Framework

The study will find out how the concentration, school dropout and absenteeism as the independent variables, academic performance as the dependent variable as illustrated below.

Independent variables

Dependent variables

Operational Definition of Terms

Concentration: It refers to the situation where pupils fail to ay attention, the activities being carried

a

, v

out because of the^hung over, fear of shame and the d\§jzlpline measures that might be given to him or her.

School dropout:  In this  study it meant  the  situation >  whereby pupils IJsse school intentionally due to the peer influence in Bunyala south.

Absenteeism: This is the inconsistent in school attendance due to alcoholism.

^f Academic Performance: This is the poor achievement in class
^K               due to the fact that the drinks affect them
^B and in most cases when the teachers are
•r teaching.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

This chapter contains literature from different people who talked about the effects of alcoholism.

‘ Drinking has devastating and traumatizing effects on
the drinker ranging from health, economic and social
effects. According to Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) 2001,
diseases like hypertension, throat cancer, brain damage,
comma, cold, liver cirrhosis are ultimate from excessive
drinking.’ .   • ‘

Due to this excessive drinking, family income is spent creating constraints for example inability to pay school fees, food, land, clothes purchase are hardly done. This leads to quarrels, fights family breakages and hopelessness which lead to children to indulge in unprotected sex which will result to low performance hence dropout.

Rhoda MC. Farland, (1997) states that coping up with substance abuse, alcoholism and addiction has led to mothers not taking care of their families and the people involved don’t seem to value what is/considered important to our society.

To young people, emotional youth is stopped because alcoholism interferes with a young person’s perception of The world. A drugged brain cannot learn the judgment and decision making skills necessary for emotional growth. The negative consequences of drugs come in all areas of life. Socially it causes fight, bad grades at school, disrupt classroom behavior, physically it cause stomach aches, cough, running nose, legally it leads to arrest for assault while drunk, emotionally it causes depression and feelings angry.

Effects of Alcohol on Performance

Ruther (1996), consumption during pregnancy affects the unborn baby. The child born may suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome which brings about defects like abnormal looking eyes, mal proportional faces, small head and organ

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defects, the child may also become mentally retarded or may be below average in intellectual function.

All those results to po0r ‘performance in class work since they child may delay to start schooling. A child who is mentally retarded i~s hard to cope up with the school environment. The child’s mind has a very short attention span, which makes him or her miss most of the things in class.

Rhoda M.C Fordland, (1998) a study done in states of California, most children in primary schools do form dismally in their class work. This is because, parents are alcoholic and drink alcohol while with their children. Children tend to think that alcohol is something accepted in the society, hence engaging themselves in it. Using alcohol such an early age disrupts child’s cognitive development.

According to her, children who are involved in alcohol =j:use tend to withdraw from responsibilities. In primary schools, play is believed to have a great positive influence on learning. Teachers who deal with children who have been used to alcohol in one way or another, find it hard to maintain those children especially during play

activities. Their minds are not active since they have not

A

been stimulated through play.

Effects of Alcohol on Cognitive Development

According to Russell (2000) he said that if one or both parents are alcoholics children are likely to suffer from an unstable emotional environment-. Families which contain active alcoholics within the are beset by large numbers of destabilizing probleMis excessive drinking of

parents impair their ability to perform necessary work and household roles hence causing children to set a drift in areas of emotional chaos and filth, alcohol affects their performance in schools and future life.

According to Kenya literature Bureau (KLB) primary CRE cook and page 5, alcohol is also a drug because it enters rhe blood stream minutes of consumption and its effects on rhe brain are then felt. Alcohol is whatever amounts is dangerous to human health hence performance.

Karam et.al., (2008) suggested a relationship existing between alcohol use and anxiety levels. However, “Lhere are methodological concerns in this work, which was places these findings under question. Importantly there was little or no vulnerability to alcohol misuse.

** Galaif,  (2007)  reported a 100% increase in suicide

among 10-14 years old in the years 1980 -1999 and a 14% increase in 15-19 years old. He argued that major depression was the most common cormobility of completed S”oicide that alcohol abuse increased the reciprocal relationship between depression and alcohol abuse.

Effects of Alcohol on the Family

Tornes (1999) , said that many families are broken up

due to alcohol. Children brought up by one parent lack parental love of the other parents.

Both parents should participate in bringing up of the children as this will develop the child holistically; lack of love lowers the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence. The child finds it had to adopt to the school environment.

Penny, (2001) said that some parents may be addicted to drugs. This means that though they may care for their children, they cannot always meet their needs; money is spent on alcohol and other drugs, rather than on the clothing. Failure to meet these needs, violence erupts from the family, each parent blaming the other for not providing those needs hence affecting their children in one way or another.

**

The Good News Bible  (Ephesians 5:18)  says that we

should not get drunk with alcohol because it has negative
effects on the body and mind. Instead we should be filled
with the Holy Spirit.    • , • ‘

Basari, et. al., (2007) found out that children of alcohol approving parents experienced more negative consequences of alcohol used compare to parents with more stringent views and also parents who set clear limits about

• drinking can reduce the influences of drinking beers.

Sullivan,  (2004)  reinforced previous  findings  that early initiation into drinking and growing up with a father

• ho drank heavily were strong predictions of heavy drinking

alcohol related problems.

*^

Vakalhi (2000) says that young people who are drinking may seek help from an older sibling to act as a bridge between family and peers and continues to argue that it is reasonable to assume that parents can and do influence the drinking behavior of their children and that

• here are likely to be problems associated with either cverly lax or restriction regarding alcohol use.

Effects of Alcohol on Economic Growth

• •*

Turfer  (1992),  the  youth  reported  that  when  not

working  they  enjoy  a  wide  of  activities     including

destructive ones such as drinking and taking drugs,  a

substance number were  sexually active,.  There   ere  also

children who made  the parents,  splashed in the public

> fountains and slipped into the movies,

1. Clifford, those who normally use alcohol have few chances of security in the job. It is believed that people

who used alcohol are not well organized and they easily lose control or may not carry out the duties as exec ted by ~iie organization. The same person may not also have a chance to engage him or herself in any income generating project. The money that was supposed to be consumed is of ~c value. This has great impact on the family. The family will not be able to provide children with the basic needs like shelter, clothing and food which in turn affect their performance in class.

Under age drinking has both immediate and long term economic consequences. Recent estimates calculated by the specific Institute for research and Evaluation put total cost of under age drinking at 68 billion in 2007.

In his book he said that those people who have jobs
and engage themselve^ in alcohol are likely to lose their
jobs. He did a research using people who lost their jobs
before their retirement. He selected ten people using
simple random sampling. After interviewing them, he found
out that five out of ten lost their jobs due to the use of
alcohol.  ‘

WHO Global status Report on Alcohol (2004) Apart from money spent on drinks, heavy drinkers may suffer other

economic problems such as lower wages and lost unemployment

opportunities, increased medical and legal expenses, and decreased eligibility for loan.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY Introduction

This chapter contains the research design, location of the study, target population; sampling techniques and sample size, research instrument and data analysis.

Research Design

The researcher will use the survey method during the research period. Survey methods are concerned with collecting of information to establish the current states of the population. This method can be used on individuals on their perceptions, attitudes, behaviours and values. In this case attitudes towards alcoholism and explain the behavior of people who use alcohol. A survey method can be used on a population that is too large to observe directly.

Locale of the Study

The study will be conducted in Bunyala South location

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of Buyala District. The area receives rainfall in two seasons throughout the year. The agriptfltural activity that is common in the area is the growing of maize and sorghum

on small scale.  The     area also has  fishermen and fish

mongers who transact     their     business within the shore of

Lake Victoria. -•   •

Bunyala south region is located in Busia western par of Kenya, Majority of the people in this area speak Kinyala and Kiswahili. The region borders are Magombe in the west, Buofu in the south, Simya in the eas^t and lake base in the North. – ‘

Target Population

The researcher targets ten  (10)  school and fifteen
(15) teachers in the location, the respondents are7 the head
teachers  and  teacher  with  the  total”-•xutfmber  of  300
Respondents»   – •

Sampling Techniques and Sample Size

a ,, v

The sampling techniques to be used is random sampling. In this case each member of the group as an egual chance of being selected and it is also free of bias.

The researcher is to use a sample size of five primary schools and seven teachers to represent the entire population in the area.

Research Instrument

The researcher is to use two research instrument^ the interview guide and the questionnaire. These instruments are to be used to obtain information from head teachers and primary school teachers.

Data Collection

The researcher will get an introductory letter introducing him to the respective schools. The researcher is to test the questionnaire and the interview guides before distributing them to the field. This is to be tested using a small sample. This is done to check on reliability and validity.

Data Analysis

The data which is to be collected is to be sorted, edited and analyzed using Rescriptive atatistics where the results are tabulated and presented using bar graph.