ABSTRACT
For many years now, boys have dominated many spheres of life including education. However, in recent past, girls have started outshining boys particularly in education. To be specific, between the years 2010 and 2013, girls have performed better than boys in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education by a significant margin of 1.2% in schools in Changamwe Sub County. The study sought to determine the Influence of Guidance and Counseling services provided to boys at school on boys’ academic achievement in national examinations; to determine the influence of mentorship programmes provided to boys at school on boys’ academic achievement in national examinations; to find out the influence of school discipline policies on academic achievement of boys in national examinations; and to find out the influence of family background on boys academic achievement in national examinations. The Tinto’s theory of student retention was used in this study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised 1,018 boys, 48 class teachers, 18 guidance and counseling teachers (GNC) and 16 principals totaling 1,100. Stratified random sampling was used to sample 8 schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 205 boys and purposive sampling was used to select 24 class teachers, 18 GNC teachers and 8 principals totaling to a sample size of 255. Piloting of the questionnaires was done in two schools within the area of the study. Reliability was determined by test-retest method and validity by experts’ judgment. Data was collected using questionnaires (students and class and GNC teachers) and interview schedule (principals). Quantitative data were coded and analyzed using statistical techniques (Chi-square tests of independence, linear regression and logistic regression) after which results were presented using percentages, frequency distribution tables and pie-charts. The study established that the factors that negatively influenced academic performance of boys included; biasness of GNC programmes, lack of mentorship by male teachers, Autocratic school rules and the type of families the boys came from. The study recommended that guidance and counseling departments in schools should be empowered to handle discipline cases in schools, the school management should form student friendly rules and the GNC programmes should be encouraged to be gender sensitive