The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of Life Skills Education on
reproductive health among primary school Pupils in Mbeere South sub –county. The
objectives of study was to determine the adequacy of Life Skills Education curriculum
for equipping learners with knowledge ,Skills and attitudes towards reproductive health,
to establish the influence of Life Skills Education on pupils sexual behavior, and to find
out teachers and pupils attitude towards implementation of Life Skills Education in
primary schools. The researcher used descriptive survey research in which 345
respondents comprising 15 head teachers, 30 Life Skills Education teacher and 300 class
eight pupils from the 15 sampled schools. The data was collected using questionnaires
and interview schedules. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics in
the form of frequencies and percentages presented in tables facilitated by Statistical
Package for Social Science (SPSS).
The study established that the availability of teaching and learning materials are
inadequate by 50% and 56% and adequate by 18% and 20% from teachers and pupils
respectively. This influences implementation of Life Skills Education in public primary
schools to some extent as lack of some materials such as video tapes, films, textbooks
and posters made it difficult for the effective teaching and learning of Life Skills
Education. Based on the findings of this study the government needs to put more training
courses to train more teachers on Life Skills Education.
vi
The study also established that Life Skills Education create self-awareness to the pupils
on the reproductive health on various aspects as follows: reproductive organs (59.33%),
menstrual cycle (92%), abstinence (91%) and HIV/AIDS (72%), respectively. Finally,
the study also established a large number of boys 63.53% and large number of girls
60.22% engage in sex. Based on this all the stakeholders in Education need to factor this
as a concern in Gachoka Division hence, the study recommended that all the schools in
Gachoka Division Mbeere South Sub-County, Embu County should supervise
implementation of Life Skills Education so that it can be used to help the pupils learn
importance of avoiding premarital sex.