Factors that lead to dropout rate for girls in public primary schools in Kaloleni sub county, Kilifi county Kenya

Abstract

The general objective of the study was to determine the factors that contribute to high level of school dropout rate among girls in Kaloleni sub county region. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the community related factors that encourage school dropout among girls; to examine social cultural and economic factors related to school dropout rate among girls; to identify school related factors contributing to primary school dropout rate among girls; and to assess measures taken to retain girls in school. This was a descriptive study. Teachers, parents/guardians, District Education Officer and girls currently in school were interviewed. Units of observation were the school dropout girls. A sample of eighty respondents was arrived at through random sampling, which entailed selecting without bias. Six students from class seven and eight were going to be randomly selected from each school using the class register. Forty girls were selected to represent the school dropouts. They were selected using the purposive sampling procedure. Five parents/guardians and five teachers also filed their questionnaires to give insight into this matter. Two education officers were also interviewed and shared their experiences as they usually made supervisory visits to the schools. Both a questionnaire and an interview guide were used to collect primary data. Data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics. Data analysis was done using SPSS and Microsoft excels to generate quantitative reports, which were presented in the form of tables and figures. The study found that gender discrimination encouraged school dropout among girls to a great extent (mean score 4.16), misleading beliefs that wrongly imply that girls education is not important influenced school dropout rate among girls to a great extent (mean score 4.32), and lack of close supervision contributed to primary school dropout among girls to a great extent (mean score 4.19). The study further found that regular training on the importance of remaining in school could retain the girls in school to a great extent (mean score 4.11). The study concludes that community related factors influenced dropout rate for girls in public primary schools in Kaloleni Sub County, Kilifi County, Kenya. The study also concludes that social cultural and economic factors influence girls’ dropout in primary school. The school based factors causing many girls to drop out of school indicated lack of motivation and poor academic achievements as well as lack of concern from the school management in handling the dropout issue as the main factors. The study further concludes that some factors should be taken into consideration in order to fight the girls’ dropout vice. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommends the following: parents should be sensitized to develop a positive view towards the importance of educating their children, parent-teacher associations are required to be more engaged and assertive, strictly enforce the adherence to the education Act that now has provisions that compel parents and communities to send and facilitate retention of pupils in schools or risk legal sanctions and a need to continuously strengthen and restructure the quality control system in the ministry of education, redefining its role.