An Examination of Student’s Perceptions on the Effectiveness of School Guidance and Counseling Program in Public Secondary Schools in Nakuru West Sub-County, Nakuru County Kenya

Counseling is a critical component in the smooth management and learning among learners in many educational institutions around the world. Counselling is an essential service in schools because of the many different types of indiscipline cases experienced by schools. This study therefore sought to examine student’s perceptions on the effectiveness of a School Guidance and Counseling Program in public secondary schools in Nakuru west Sub-county, Nakuru County Kenya. In order to realize this objective the study employed a descriptive survey Counseling Program, to determine the effectiveness of a school guidance and counseling program. The study targeted a population of 2200 students of form three from 40 selected secondary schools with a sample size of 327. Simple random sampling technique was used to select participants for the study. The study used questionnaire to generate data for the study. Split-Half reliability technique was employed to test the reliability of the questionnaire and the correlation coefficient of 0.76 as computed using the Spearman Brown Prophesy formula. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0, the results were presented in frequency tables and percentages. The study findings revealed that; the effectiveness of guidance and counseling programs in selected secondary schools were affected by a number of factors which included lack of resources due to lack of well furnished rooms for guidance and counseling (66.7%), inadequate training of guidance and counseling teachers (70%),lack of special facilities for confidential records keeping (73.3%), unethical counselors and lack of support systems which included training materials and funding of the School Guidance and Counseling Program (SGCP). Students’ perception that counselors were not effective in their Guidance and Counseling roles curtailed them from seeking counseling services. The study findings concluded that; the government through the Ministry of Education should equip Guidance and Counseling Programs and capacity build teachers with relevant guidance and counseling skills. The study recommended that schools should set aside guidance and counselling rooms with fully furnished counseling facilities.