Perceptions of Secondary School Students towards Natural Resources Management: Case Study of Participants in FoF and Non-Participants

Integrating natural resources management in the secondaryschool curriculum in Kenya has received a lot of talk withoutadequate practical activities. The Farmers of the Future Programme under the World Agroforestry Centre, formally the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF),initiated a practical approach to integration of natural resourcesmanagement in the secondary school curriculum in Kenya.This paper provides information on significant findings of astudy that was carried out to determine the potential of FoF inintegrating natural resources management into the secondaryschool curriculum in Kenya. A comparison between secondaryschool students who are involved in FoF programme and thosenot involved was done to determine their perceptions towardsnatural resources management. Further, comparison of perceptionsby gender among learners who are involved in the FoF initiativewas done. The study employed an ex-post-facto design in datacollection using questionnaires. Questionnaires and wereanalysed using t-test at alpha = 0.05. The findings indicatedthat the FoF programme had a significant influence on learners’perceptions towards natural resources management. It wastherefore concluded that FoF programme enhanced positiveperceptions towards natural resources management amonglearners. On the basis of the findings, it was recommended thatthe FoF programme be expanded to cover more schools.