Experiences of Teenage Mothers in Secondary Schools in Bondo Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

The? was a descriptive study with the main objective of exploring the lived experiences of teenage mothers after re-enrollment in public secondary schools in Bondo Sub-County. The specific objectives of this study were to: determine the factors that influence teenage mothers to re-enrol in public secondary school; find out the challenges teenage mothers who re-enter public secondary school face and; examine the coping strategies employed by teenage mothers who re-enter secondary school in Bondo Sub-County. The population for this study were teenage mothers in public mixed day secondary schools in Bondo Sub-County and the unit of analysis was an individual teenage mother attending public mixed day secondary school in the area. A qualitative approach was used in collecting and analyzing data while McClelland Need Theory and Vroom’s Expectancy Theory guided the inquiry. The 15 respondents for the in-depth interviews as well as the key informants were selected through purposive sampling. Qualitative data collected were coded and analyzed thematically in line with the study objectives and verbatim quotes used to project the voices of the participants. The study findings indicate that factors that influenced teenage mothers to go back to school were among others family support, optimism, support from school and the existing government re-entry policy. The challenge that teenage mothers experienced included stigma, change in status, absenteeism, financial challenges, poor performance, having multiple roles among others. The main strategies that teen mothers employed to cope with their challenges were skipping school, leveraging on peer-to-peer support and depending on the school’s guiding and counselling services. The study concludes that schooling teenage mothers are among the most vulnerable group of learners as motherhood throws into taking responsibility at an early age with multiple and conflicting roles and must be supported adequately to avoid high drop-out rates. The study recommends that the County Government and the other stakeholders should develop and deliver campaigns meant to sensitive the community members about the res-entry policy which would make students, teachers and community members understand the existing policy and how it protects the rights of teenage mothers. With this understanding, learners and teachers will appreciate and provide support to the young mothers who seek re-admission. The study suggests that there is a need for further research on the support services that teenage mothers are provided with at schools to support their retention and completion of education after re-enrollment in both mixed and single sex in the County.