Abstract: Substance abuse has become a style of life in the current generation. Research shows that young people today take substance abuse uncontrollably and irresponsibly. This is a source of agony in addict’s family psychological wellbeing. This study focused on the extent of substance abuse of a relative on family psychological wellbeing. The study was conducted in Mathari Substance Rehabilitation centre in Nairobi, Kenya. The objective of the study was to assess the extent to which substance abuse of a relative affects the psychological wellbeing of family. The study was guided by Family Systems Theory (FST) (Bowen, 1990). A mixed methods approach concurrent design was adopted. The study population was 170. The age range for all respondents was 14 to 55 years. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used. A sample size of 119 participants was engaged. Questionnaire and a semi-structure interview guide were used. Participants included patients with substance use disorder, staff and family members. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics univariate while qualitative data was thematically analysed in line with the objective of the study and backed with narratives. The findings are beneficial to family members, the discipline of psychology and the entire society. Results showed that rehabilitee’s family member is socially affected through discrimination, physically through domestic violence, financially, and psychologically trough trauma, stress and depression resulting to psychological wellbeing disorientation. Recommendations were; training of more psychologists /counsellors, employment of counsellors, inclusion of rehabilitee’s family programmes such as family support groups for psychological wellbeing therapy.

Abstract: This study explored the influence of project-based learning (PBL) on students’ attitudes towards physics. The participants were fifty 10th-grade students from a purposively selected school in Mbale district, Eastern Uganda. Participants were randomly distributed to the experimental and control groups using cluster sampling. A mixed-method research approach was adopted. The pretest-posttest non-equivalent quasi-experimental design was used. The experimental group used the PBL approach, while the comparison group followed the conventional approach. An attitudes questionnaire with six items and focus group interview prompts were data collection tools. The survey test was validated by experts and piloted (α= 0.82). Data were analyzed using the independent samples t-tests, and effect size. Findings revealed a significant difference in the average scores of students’ attitudes towards physics in favor of the experimental group. Therefore, the study recommends that science educators should adopt PBL to improve students’ attitudes towards science and physics in particular.

Abstract: Traffic jam remains problematic in most cities across the globe with consequential phenomena like massive delays, monetary losses, fuel wastage, and accidents and death. The paper was to examined causes and effect of traffic jam in Kampala, Kigali and Lilongwe cities in Africa. The paper employed documentary, case study and correlation designs using both qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches. The study targeted a total of 60 online published articles from which a sample of 36 articles. Data was collected through documentary review online published articles on traffic jam and recorded using a data collection sheet. The data collected was organized, coded and entered into the SPSS software for cleaning to generate the descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data was transcribed, grouped into themes and analyzed using the content value analysis. The findings indicate that major causes of traffic jam in the studied cities are increase of private vehicles, unregulated road junctions, temporary road function, informal street and roadside trades, and poor bumpy roads with potholes.

Abstract: Bacteria are found to be the ubiquitous microorganisms causing microbial contamination in indoor and outdoor settings. Fomites act as environmental reservoirs to increase the ability of pathogens to be transferred from host to host. The aim of this paper was to isolate and identify bacteria present on frequently used fomites in University of Eastern Africa, Baraton. Experimental research design was employed. Three hundred and sixty five (365) swabs were obtained in different facilities by swabbing of the toilet cistern handles, office doors faucets and shopping baskets. They were labelled with reference numbers and transported in peptone water transport medium to the Laboratory for analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the prevalence of bacteria types isolated from fomites. All values were expressed as means and findings were presented in the form of frequency tables. The study found out that cisterns had the greatest number of gram positive cocci followed by faucets and doors. Doors had the greatest number of gram negative cocci bacteria followed by faucets and cisterns. Cisterns had the greatest number of gram negative rod bacteria as compared to doors. Doors had gram positive rod bacteria. The gram positive bacterial isolates were Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus aureus. The gram negative bacterial isolates were Eschrichia coli and Morexella catarrhalis. The study recommended that there was need for further identification and characterization of the isolates to be conducted to confirm the presence of any other bacterial types that might be obtained from the fomites.

Abstract: The study aimed at assessing the integration of environmental education in social science subjects toward environmental conservation in Arusha city public secondary schools, Tanzania. This study was guided by environmental education theory developed in 2003 Hungerford. The study employed descriptive-correlation design through the use of questionnaires, observation, documentary review and interviews in collection of data. The researcher sampled 9 public schools out of 28 and 88 social science teachers were sampled randomly as respondents out of 752 social science teachers in Arusha city. The data in this study was analyzed using SPSS program version 22. This study found out that some social science teachers training attended on environmental education contents which are meant for environmental conservation; some social science teachers understandings of the importance of environmental education; environmental education contents are integrated in social science subjects; there is a significant relationship between the integration of environmental education into social science subjects and environmental conservation. The study recommended that environmental education integration should be translated into practice; despite the importance of the teaching and learning of environmental education contents, the approach used to integrate environmental education in secondary school education should marginalize it; and students and teachers should be active participant in integrating environmental education into school subjects.

Abstract: This study investigated the effectiveness of secondary school heads in supervising school resources in Shinyanga District Council, Tanzania. The study intended to find out the effectiveness of secondary school heads in supervising school resources. It also sought to identify ways to overcome the challenges facing heads of school in supervising school resources. The study is based on the Max Weber’s bureaucratic theory. The paper adopted a mixed research approach and convergent parallel mixed design. The sample size comprised of 83 participants including 1 District Secondary Education Officer, 4 head of public secondary schools and 78 teachers. Data were gathered through questionnaire and interview. The findings indicate that most of the school heads do not conduct effective supervision of school resources due to some challenges such as misallocation of resources, inadequate resources, lack of supervision skills as well as poor cooperation among staff members. The paper recommends that school heads should be given resource supervision skills through seminars and should cooperate with teachers for the aim of ensuring effective supervision of school resources.

Abstracts: The study investigated motivating factors that influence teachers’ performance in public primary schools following the implementation of the newly introduced policy of fee free education. The study was guided by Maslow theory of motivation which is usually known for its five fundamental needs of a person: physiological, security, affiliation, esteem, and self-actualization. The study adopted descriptive research design, employing a quantitative approach supported by qualitative approach. A total sample of 120 respondents participated in the study, of whom 20 respondents were head teachers and 100 respondents were ordinary teachers. The sample was obtained through simple random sampling and purposive sampling. The study found that motivating factors tend to influence teachers’ commitment to their teaching and learning processes, therefore promoting students’ academic performance. Thus, teachers’ positive motivation improves students academic performance and vice versa. Based on the study findings, the study recommends that the government should improve the working conditions for teachers in public primary schools through the following: improve working conditions by building more teachers’ houses with availability of services such as electricity and water, increasing teachers’ salaries and annual increments, timely teachers’ promotion, building of laboratories with equipment as well as provision of mobile laboratories to enhance effective teaching and learning process, improving classrooms conditions and teaching facilities to facilitate easy teaching-learning process and laying down primary school education policies that enhance teachers’ motivation.

Abstract: Rapid socioeconomic changes around the world such as globalization, a competitive, diverse, and complicated environment, and advanced technologies have impacted global educational needs of the 21st century. This circumstance has put pressure on educators to modify curriculum in order to accommodate the changes. Curriculum reforms have been done across all levels of education, including Teacher education in East Africa. However, for decade now, teacher education programs have been under fire owing to the reality that vast majority of graduate are ill-equipped for implementing CBC in secondary schools where this curriculum is implemented like Tanzania. The specific objective of this study was to establish whether universities incorporate CBC principles in Teacher education curriculum. The study reviewed literature in this area and found that majority of higher education institutions claimed to be providing competence-based and outcomes-based programs, but the available records stated otherwise. Furthermore, the findings show that universities deploy learning methods such as lecturing method which does not actively engage students and therefore does not contribute to acquisition of CBC competencies by student teachers. For the case of subjects/courses which are practical in nature such as teaching practice and microteaching, the findings reveal that they are poorly organized, supervised and evaluated, which contribute significantly to under prepared teachers. Based on the findings, the study recommends that universities should reform their teacher education curriculum and incorporate CBC principles in order for them to produce teachers with required competencies to implement CBC in secondary schools.

Abstract: Using the Social Cultural framework, this paper examines the functions of graffiti in selected secondary boarding schools in the Gutu District of Zimbabwe. It focuses on how socio-psychological functions of graffiti are created through informal spaces such as the dormitory in secondary boarding schools. The study followed a qualitative exploratory design in which the researcher observed the messages expressed in dormitory graffiti and conducted a social-cultural analysis of their functions on the moral fabric of their immediate society. A purposive total sample size of seven secondary boarding schools in the Gutu District was used for the study. Among the major findings of this study was the view that the messages conveyed through the graffiti expressed quite a number of issues that range from remembrances, loneliness, boredom, religion, and issues of bullying in the school. The study concluded that although graffiti tend to deform and deface some public utilities, their call for normative social behaviour in society shows there is a need to deconstruct some societal ideas that view graffiti as nonsensical. The findings of this research paper may contribute to the study of sociocultural in general and communication, particularly, in schools. It has been established that students use graffiti to communicate a lot of information that would be beneficial to the school authorities, student counsellors, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Abstract: Recent curriculum reforms in the new global economy have emphasised the importance of continuous assessment as a theoretical basis for measuring the progress and achievement of learners in a holistic manner. The aim of this study was to try to establish the teachers’ Level of Use of the continuous assessment model at secondary school level in Zimbabwe. In adopting a small scale investigation, the researcher was limited by financial constraints, time limitation and the Covid-19 restrictions on movement. The researcher explored the teachers’ level of use of the CA model through branching and focused interview protocols involving 15 secondary school teachers purposively selected from three secondary schools. The findings were categorised according to themes predetermined by the literature review and then analysed. The findings revealed that nearly all teachers that participated in the study were clearly users of CA, though mostly operating at LoU III. The study further established that collaboration among most teachers was not embedded within the culture of their schools. The most important finding was that CA was brought in without consultation and sufficient guidelines, a scenario which might have brought in confusion and pushback by teachers to implement the new practice. Recommendations for promoting higher LoU included organising intensive ongoing training on CA and that the Zimbabwe Examination Council (ZIMSEC), for the meantime to take charge of designing CALAs and get them marked in the same way as the public examinations are done until such a time when teachers have attained higher levels of using CA.