Although the government has attached so much importance to education through finance and policies, there is still poor performance, low participation, high levels of wastage and poor transition from primary to secondary school in Igembe North district. The purpose of this study is to establish the extent to which cultural and socio-economic factors affect participation and access of students in secondary education in Igembe North district, Meru County. The main objectives of this study is to identify the main cultural and socio economic activities affecting secondary school students, to find out the level of participation and wastage in secondary schools, to find out which gender, among the secondary school students, is the most affected by socio-economic and cultural activities and to determine the effect of parents‟ cultural activities towards their children‟s secondary education in Igembe North district. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The total target population was all secondary school students, Guidance and Counseling teachers, class masters/mistresses and principals from Igembe North District. The district has about 3300 female students, 2400 male students, 20 Guidance and Counseling teachers, 80 class masters/mistresses and 20 principals giving a total population of about 5820. Random sampling was done to select 50 percent of the schools. Stratified sampling was then used in selecting students, principals, guidance and counseling teachers and class masters/mistresses. The actual sample size was 345. The study used two types of instruments: questionnaires and interview schedules. Piloting was done in one school in the district, which was identical but was not used in the study, to establish the validity and reliability of the instruments. Validity was done through expert judgement of the supervisors while reliability was ascertained using test-retest method.
