Socio-economic Factors Influencing Students Drop Out In Public Secondary Schools In Rongo District, Migori County, Kenya

Abstract

The study was undertaken to investigate the socio-economic factors influencing public secondary school students’ dropout in Rongo District. The study sought to determine the influence of peer pressure, family headship, parents’ financial status on students’ dropout in Rongo district. The study also sought to establish the strategies used by the head teachers in retention of secondary school students. The statement of the problem showed that the district had a dropout rate of 43 percent as compared to the neighboring districts like Uriri, Awendo, Nyatike, Kuria and Migori which had the following percentages 25, 9, 27, 23 and 28 despite the similar government’s strategies availed to all the public secondary schools and the coverage of the same syllabus throughout the country. The study therefore sought to unearth the underlying factors leading to the high dropout rate. The study was confined to public secondary schools in Rongo District focusing on form 3 and 4 as they have been in school long enough to understand the schooling process. The descriptive design which involved qualitative strategies to data collection was employed. A total number of 755 pupils, teachers and head teachers were targeted for the study. A sample of 235 respondents was identified as follows, 200 students, 20 principals and 15 class teachers. Both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used for various respondents. Data collection was done using questionnaires and interview schedules as the main research instruments. The data was analyzed using frequencies and percentages presented in tables and discussed as per the literature review in chapter two. A cross tabulation design was used to establish the findings and revealed that peer pressure influenced student drop out with 43.75%, family headship with 50%, parent financial status with 81.25% and finally principal’s strategies like the formation of guidance and counseling departments and motivation of students contributed in students’ retention. High dropout was as a result of parent/ guardian financial status and family headship which lead to inadequate guidance/ mentorship to the students. Poverty was critical as it led to inadequate school supplies and neglect of school activities like attending the parent/guardian meetings when invited by the school. The study concluded that in most cases where students are most often sent home there are high chances that some never returned to school and most schools did not support the learners who were coming from poor background. It can therefore be concluded that socio-economic factors highly influence the retention of students in secondary school. xiii Recommendations noted for the study called for the collaborative efforts by the government and other education stakeholders to support and provide for the learners who cannot afford the rising financial conditions of learning. Guidance and counseling, close interactions with the teachers by the students, proper syllabus content delivery are other measures to be upheld. Performance reward should be effective to aid in motivation of both the teachers and the students. The Ministry of Education should ensure proper dissemination plan covering the head teachers, teachers, pupils and parents. This coupled with close monitoring at the grass root level should put in place a high level of retention in the implementation process. The government should employ more teachers to help curb the discrepancies of teacher students’ ratio. Further research should be done on the effects of student stress on their (student) performance, the influence of student’s environmental background on their retention and the extent to which student motivation influence their retention