Merit Research Journal of Education and Review

085-096

Authors: Hojops Odoch J.P, Edward Oding-Wacha and Sudi Nangoli

This study was conducted to investigate and examine the prospects of developing career for academic staff of Uganda Colleges of Commerce through a quantitative research approach and methods. The findings indicate that a combination of recruitment, promotion and Training is positively correlated to Career Development. The study recommends that management of the Uganda Colleges of Commerce should support career development and also that staff should enroll on courses which will enable them upgrade to the next ladder. Staff are expected to be engaged in gainful activities such as research, seminars and refrain from disruptive activities such as over drinking. Those who aspire to go for further courses must ensure that they are relevant to enable them acquire the skills required for the new tasks. Staff should also be able to sacrifice and devote time and resources for their own good rather than waiting for the organization to think aloud for them. Keywords: Career development, challenges, Uganda Colleges of Commerce, Staff development

076-084

Authors: Manyara Charity Gakii, Dr.Kisilu Kombo and Dr.Wokabi Francis

In the world today, the Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) which causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has become a global pandemic. Out of the 65 million people infected globally 29.4 million live in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO, 2009). Initially, HIV and AIDS were believed to be a problems confined to the adult domain. However, it has now become common knowledge that a person can be infected at any age. HIV and AIDS is a problem that the human race has had to contend with over the last decade until it has become a pandemic. The HIV and AIDS epidemic in Africa has impacted on the society in many ways. One of the most long-term impacts is the creation of an estimated 13 million orphans by 2000 and projected 24 million by 2010 (UNAIDS 2001). HIV and AIDS have been rated among the leading contemporary problems in Kenya especially among the youth. According to a study carried out by the population council (2003), 66% of adolescent HIV cases are in relationships with the opposite sex, while 61% are sexually active and have low contraceptive use and 43% think they have a “good “to “moderate “chance of getting the disease because they have multiple sex partners. In Samburu County, where the study was carried out, the cases of HIV and AIDS among the youth are reported to be rising constantly. This study was geared towards investigating the challenges of the infected and effected students in Samburu County with a view of identifying intervention measures by the schools to these challenges. The study focused on Samburu County due its high HIV prevalence of 7.2% in comparison to the national prevalence of 6.3%. By determining the number of students living with HIV/AIDS through the HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support centers, the study drew attention to the intensity of the problem and the need for the education sector to address these challenges. The target sample of the infected was purposively drawn from the existing records in the HIV/AIDS support centers while that of the affected was purposively selected with the assistance of their schools. The other component of the study sought to assess the school environment from which the samples are drawn, to determine the mechanisms put in place to support the affected and infected learners within the school environment. Self administered structured questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from the infected and affected students as well as the Principals. A pilot study was conducted in a different school to enable the adjustment of data collecting instruments so as to ensure validity and reliability of the data. Data was qualitatively analyzed by using simple frequency distributions and percentages and presented on tables. From the findings, it was evident that social-cultural and economic factor greatly impacts on the social and economic performance of the infected and affected youths in secondary schools. On the basis of the findings, the researcher recommends training of more guidance and counseling teachers, a policy to make HIV and AIDS a compulsory subject and establishment of youth Friendly Centers to deal with the challenges of students infected and affected by HIV and AIDS thus helping to curb the spread of the virus among the students. Keywords: Infected, affected, HIV and AIDS, students, impact

264-268

Authors: Akashraj D. P.

There are a variety of understandings of the term empowerment due to its widespread usage. If empowerment is looked upon in terms of ability to make choices: to be disempowered therefore, implies to be denied choice. The notion of empowerment is that it is inescapably bound up with the condition of disempowerment and refers to the processes by which those who have been denied the ability to make choices acquire such ability. Thus, there could be statistical swells indicating improvements in indicators of gender equality, but unless the intervening process involved women as agents of that change, one cannot term it as ‘empowerment’. People who exercise a great deal of choice in their lives may be very powerful, but they are not empowered, because they were never disempowered in the first place. Empowerment cannot be defined in terms of specific activities or end results because it involves a process whereby women can freely analyze, develop and voice their needs and interests, without them being pre-defined, or imposed from above. The assumption that planners can identify women’s needs; runs against empowerment objectives. Here we come to know the economic and social condition of women who are under the stree-shakti programme, to identify the working of stree Shakti programme and what is the impact of stree Shakti programme on its members. By the use of questionnaires and sampling techniques, the primary data is collected for data analysis. Here we are discussing about the empowerment of women through stree shakti programmes in Mysore district .Primary data has been taken into consideration to analyze the impact of stree shakti progamme on the beneficiaries. Keywords: Empowerment, Stree shakti Programme, Gender, Socio-economic e welfare, Group A and Group B

250-258

Authors: Toansakul Santiboon

Focusing on this research investigated students’ perceptions of their school learning climates of the educational basic school compared to their perceptions of their actual school (My School) and preferred school (My Dream School) learning climates in Udon Thani educational basic areas. Associations between these perceptions and students’ attitudes toward their school learning climates were also determined. The school climates relationships with their students enhancing the school learning climates’ attitudes in the schools were assessed. Using the standard learning environment instruments and adapted version of the 25-item My School Inventory (MSI), adapted from the original My Class Inventory (MCI) (Fisher and Fraser, 1998) was administrated. Students’ attitudes were assessed with the Test of School-Related Attitudes (TOSRA). This questionnaire was translated into the Thai language and the school climates measured that can be used at the educational basic school was validated on a sample of 825 pupils in 40 primary schools at the grade 6 level in the office of the basic educational service Udon Thani through out in 4 areas. Statistically significant differences were found between the students’ perceptions of their schools and their dream school climates. Outcomes of this study indicate that the school climates were high on MCI factors such as Cohesiveness, Attentiveness, Expansion, Application, and Satisfaction. Associations between students’ perceptions of their school climates with their attitudes to their schools also were found. The multiple correlations were significant for the Actual or My School Form of the MCI and shows that for the TOSRA, 42% of the variance in student’s attitude to their schools was attributable to their perceptions. To be provided in suggestions for comparing the dream and the actual schools with students’ perceptions are the based on this finding. Keywords: School, Environment, Education, Learning, Climates, MCI

006-010

Authors: M. Y. Ganai and Shahnaaz Ali

The main objective of the present investigation was to study and compare the job satisfaction of Higher Secondary teachers in relation to their Seniority (age) and Stream of Education. 100 Higher Secondary teachers have been randomly selected from various Higher Secondary Schools of District Srinagar. The data has been analyzed by applying mean, SD and t-value. The Senior Higher Secondary school teachers are more satisfied with regard to their job than Junior Higher Secondary teachers. The Science teachers are more satisfied with regard to their job than Social Science Higher Secondary teachers. Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Seniority and Stream of Education.