JEDE Current Issue


EDITORIAL


The Journal of Education in Developing Economies (JEDE) is dedicated to scientific work geared towards theory development, policy formulation and action plan in Education in World’s developing economies. The journal is open access and published quarterly.

The journal’s Vol. 1, Issue 1, April 2020 covers a number of thematic contemporary issues in education in developing economies’ perspective. One such area is youth and sexuality. Matters related to youth and pornography have been examined in the current issue. Substance abuse among students is yet another contemporary area of interest that the issue highlights.  Other thematic areas include an a review of  the growth of Early Childhood Education from a developing country’s context, the issue of Open and Distance Education – a review of universities across the globe and effect of three modes of mobile instructional package on retention and gender of mathematics students in colleges of education in Africa’s context.

The current issue is expected to arouse new intellectual vigour among scholars and practitioners to look more into contemporary issues facing education in developing economies’ context. 


CONTENT


Prevalence of Pornography Addiction among Adolescents in Selected Secondary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya

Pornography addiction as a sexual activity may predispose adolescents to negative consequences in their adolescence stage. Although many researchers believe that viewing of pornography in an escalating manner has negative effects, there is still need to determine whether adolescents watching pornography are merely satisfying some curiosity or struggling with a compulsion. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of pornography addiction among the students in targeted secondary schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. Classical Conditioning and Social Learning theories were considered in explaining the subject of pornography addiction. The study employed a quantitative research approach that was conducted among students of two selected secondary schools in Nairobi County. The sample size comprised of 664 students who were purposively sampled from the two schools. Data collection was done using a self-administered socio-demographic questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS program. The study found that a significant number of students are addicted to pornography. The prevalence is attributed to internet accessibility and affordability of pornographic materials. Based on the results, the study recommends the development of a curriculum that addresses age appropriate sexuality at all levels. Furthermore, parents, educators and other stakeholders of interest should be equipped with knowledge to foster healthy development of adolescents sexuality while minimizing the risks related to pornography addiction.

 


Examining Drug Prevention Strategies among Undergraduate Students in Public Campuses in Kenya

Drug abuse amongst university students has been escalating at an alarming rate despite having preventive strategies set to curb the situation across the world. This study sought to examine the   existing drug prevention interventions set to prevent drug abuse amongst undergraduate students in public universities in Kenya. The study adopted mixed research method, employing both cross sectional survey research design and phenomenological design. Both probability and non probability sampling procedures were used to arrive at the study sample. A sample of 306 respondents was used in the study out of which 300 responded. Questionnaire and interview methods were used to collect data. To ensure that the instruments were valid, content validity was used. Split half method was used to estimate reliability of instruments where a Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient value of 0.78 was obtained which is higher than the reasonable threshold of 0.7, thus making the instruments to be considered as reliable. The collected data were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative data analysis approaches. Data from questionnaire were coded and entered in the computer using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 21. Quantitative approach involved the descriptive analyses such as frequencies and percentages. Content analysis was used to present the qualitative data.. Qualitative data generated from interviews were categorized in themes in accordance with the research objectives and reported in narrative form along with quantitative presentation. From the analysis, the study found that the key strategies that could be used in drug prevention included drug abuse policy, application of guidance and counselling, and creation of drug awareness. Owing to the challenges that could hinder effective application of drug prevention strategies, the study suggested use of participatory approach in the fight against drug abuse where university fraternity is involved along with the members of community and government. Read more…


A Review of  the Growth of Early Childhood Education from a Developing Country’s Context: Challenges and Opportunities

Kenya, despite being a developing economy has a long tradition of early childhood education. The first early childhood development centres (pre-schools) were started in the 1940s by and for the exclusive use of the European and Asian communities. In 1950, during Mau Mau struggle for independence, the pre-school education programme was set in emergency villages in Central Province. After independence, pre-school education continued to develop countrywide owing to the social-economic development that the country witnessed). Today, Kenya has witnessed tremendous development in early childhood education. Despite the prevailing enabling environment, early childhood education continues to face numerous challenges. This paper provides a brief review of the underlying challenges and factors enhancing the development of Early Childhood Education in Kenya. Read more…


Levels of Preparedness to Mount Open and Distance Education: A Review of Universities across the Globe

Education is an important component of life because it determines the level of knowledge people attain to enhance success in their lives. Several people in the world understand this concept and seek to further their education through all means. On the other hand, advancement in technology has made it somehow easy for people to access education by providing different mechanisms among them being e-Learning. Open and distance education is one of the examples of e-Learning where a person in South Africa can study at a university in England without being physically present at the university. Some universities in the world have perfected the art of educating students through open and distance education while others are still struggling to meet the standards and offer the same. The objective of this study was to review the levels of preparedness of different universities in Kenya, Africa, and the Western world to mount open and distance learning education. The study was conducted using quantitative research through secondary sources. The findings indicate that the universities in the western world demonstrate high levels of preparedness to mount open and distance education compared to universities in Kenya, Africa, and even in the Middle East. The study provides a clear picture of the key features and factors that make the difference in the levels of preparedness among universities in the mentioned regions. Read more…


Effect of Three Modes of Mobile Instructional Package on Retention and Gender of Mathematics Students in Colleges of Education in North-Central Nigeria

By Alabi Thomas Omotayo, Falode Oluwole Caleb and Jimoh Muili

This study investigated the effect of three modes of mobile instructional package on retention and gender of mathematics students in colleges of education, in North-Central Nigeria. The study adopted pre-test post-test and retention-test randomized experimental design. The target population for the study was all the NCE one mathematics students in North-Central Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling was used to sample the schools and students for the study.  A random sample of 120 students (75 male and 45 female) were randomly selected from three randomly selected colleges of education, in North-Central Nigeria. Three schools were assigned to experimental group one, two and three respectively. The research was guided by three research question and three null hypotheses and tested at 0.05 level of significant. The researchers developed mathematics mobile instructional package MMIP on mathematical concepts on trigonometry, which was used as treatment for experimental groups. A pilot study was carried out to test the research instrument. A reliability coefficient of 0.85 was obtained using the split-half method. Thirty (30) multiple choice item multiple choice questions were administered to both groups before and after the treatment as post-test and retention-test. The data collected from the administration of the research instrument (TRAT) were analysed using SPSS version 20.0. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the research hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference in the retention and gender of mathematics student taught using Video Only, Audio+Text and Text Only. Based on the finding, the study recommends that mathematics mobile instructional package (MMIP) should be encouraged in schools for teaching and learning of mathematics. Read more…