Determinants Of School Dropout Among Secondary School Girls In Kibra And Langata In Nairobi County, Kenya

BSTRACT

Education for a girl child is critical since girls are make a significant contribution in families and the communities as future mothers and parents who are expected to care and nurture future generations in any community. Education of a girl child has great benefits not only to herself but also her future family since they are expected to sire and nurture children, who are the future of any society; nevertheless, education of a girl is under threat due to challenges within the school, family and the community that retention and hamper completion of her studies by causing early drop out. In recent past, many girls have dropped out of schools in Kibra due to challenges in family, school and the community. Over two million secondary school girls dropout of school annually according to UNESCO education report. Recent education research findings had shown high rate of secondary school girl dropout in Kibra and Langata sub counties in Nairobi County in which 9% of girls enrolled in form one did not study to complete form four despite the government efforts to achieve International goal of Education for all (EFA) through inception of subsidized secondary education. The current study sought to explore family, school and community factors that contributed to secondary school girls dropping out of school before completing secondary school education and investigated measures that had been put in place to curb secondary school dropout among girls in Kibra and Langata sub-counties in Nairobi County. The purpose of this study was to investigate determinants of school dropout among secondary school girls in Kibra and Langata sub counties in Nairobi, Kenya. Objectives of the study were to determine family factors that contributed to secondary school girls dropping out in Kibra and Langata in Nairobi county, investigate school factors that contributed to secondary school girls dropping out in Kibra and Langata informal settlements in Nairobi County, establish community factors that contribute to secondary school girl dropping out in Kibra and Langata in Nairobi County and investigate the measures that could be put in place to curb secondary school girl dropout in secondary schools in Kibra and Langata in Nairobi County. Study was guided by Abraham Maslow‟s Hierarchy of Needs theory. The study adopted descriptive design and data was collected using questionnaires. Data collected was analyzed quantitatively using Statistical Package for Social for Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and presented in tables, pie charts and bar graphs. Qualitative data was structured in terms of themes, patterns and summarized in charts, diagrams and illustrations to make it more manageable. The target population was 40 schools in Kibra and Langata informal settlements. Stratified, purposive and simple random sampling was used to select the required sample of the study of 60 students, 45 teachers, and 15 principals. Validity of research instrument was determined by conducting a pilot study before the actual study. A pilot study was done in three schools using test-re-test method within a difference span of two weeks and information was be used to obtain reliability of the instruments through the use of Pearson‟s co-efficient of correlation and r=0.78 was reliable enough to proceed with the main study. The findings of the study indicate that girls drop out of school due factors and problems from within the school, family and the community. The study concludes that there are factors within the school, family and community that continue to mane girls to drop out of the school. The study recommends that school need to initiate school level policies that can be used to involve the parents and communities to support girls to remain in schools so that they can complete their studies. The schools can also involve teachers to create a conducive learning environment that is friendly to girls to remain in schools. The study recommends that the governments can come up with innovative policies that can mobilise the resources in the communities and families and the school to prevent and reduce the high drop out of girls.