Factors contributing to high secondary school drop out rate in Kisumu district

Abstract

Since the introduction of education in Kenya during the colonial era, secondary school education has expanded despite pronounced set back to its access. Students who enroll in secondary school drop out before the completion of secondary school circle a situation culminating to wastage of resources in time and space. The study endeavors to determine the factors leading to drop out rates in Kisumu district within Nyanza Province in Kenya. Guided by research questions touching on areas such as, what IS the relationship between the students socio-economic background and school drop out, how unemployment among school leavers influence school drop out rate, what effect the government policy of cost sharing has on school drop, out attributes related to gender differences, economic background of parents, the study worked to relate the variables to drop out from secondary schools in Kisumu District. The targeted population consisted of all students, teachers and headteachers from secondary schools in the district. The sample consisted of 23 headteachers, 92 teachers and 190 students in the district chosen from a cross section of 23 schools from the Provincial category, District, randomly sampledfrom urban and rural set up, boarding and Day schools. Three questionnaires and one interview schedule were used to gather important data. The questionnaires elicited responses from the headteachers, class teachers and students. The research design selected for the study was expost facto. The research study assumed that there existed drop outs in the secondary schools in Kisumu District as a result of cost sharing, gender disparity, socio-economic status of parents and the school climate. After the data collection, an analysis was carried out using statistical measures such as frequencies, percentages, ranges, statistical programme for Social Sciences (SPSS) from which bar graphs, table and pie charts emanated explaining the relationship between variables. The research study indicated a close relationship between drop out emanating from influence of cost sharing, gender disparity, discouragement from jobless school leavers and socio-economic status of parents. Recommendations such as awarding of bursaries to needy students, globalization versus curriculum relevance, monitoring entry behaviour of students at form one, reducing cost of secondary school involvement of the private sector and improving information, Computer Technology among otherswere given, as means of eradicating the drop out problem. Suggestions for further research are finally given, which include among others the replication of such a study in another area or use of a larger sample, and specific gender to assess the impact of all the mentioned variables on the drop out rates of school students.