Causes of Absenteeism and Dropout Among Girls in Secondary Schools in Bureti Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

Education is an important aspect for overall development of every person irrespective of gender. In Kenya, thè girl child is faced with a number of challenges in thè process of her secondary school education. Such challenges might include  absenteeism and dropout rate which may lead to diminishing girl child participation in formal education. Determining factors affecting girl-child educationis a worthy cause. This study sought to investigate  the causes of absenteeism and dropout among the girls in secondary schools in Bureti Sub County.Survey research design was used in the study.  The target population of the study was 5541 girl students and 62 secondary school teacher counselors. The accessible population was360 girl students and 16 teacher counselors  in the study area. Stratified sampling techniquewas used to sample the accessible population. Piloting of the instruments was carried out to find out the content validity of the items. Cronbach Alpha coefficient was used to estimate the reliability of the SQ and CTQ, and was found to be 0.75 suggesting that the items had relatively high internal consistency. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics.The findings of the study may provide educational  policy makers with in- depth information on the factors that undermine the girl child’s education; and subsequently to the formulation of policies that could safeguard the girl child in the pursue of educational opportunities.

Keywords: Education, Girl Child, Absenteeism, Dropout