A study on causes of drop out among girls in selected mixed day secondary schools in Kasarani District, Nairobi County,Kenya

Abstract

This study presents the current factors that contribute to drop out of girls in mixed day secondary schools in Kasarani District in Nairobi province, with a view of getting possible strategies for countering the problems that causes girls to drop out of school. The study was guided by the following objectives; To determine the extent to which school factors influence the girls' dropout rate, to establish the influence of teachers' attitude on the dropout rate of girls, to determine the influence of distance from home to school on dropout rate of girls and to come up with measures that can be adopted by mixed public Day secondary schools to curb the problem of girls drop out. The study employed descriptive survey design. The study adopted simple random sampling techniques to sample its respondents. The data was collected through questionnaires given to students, teachers and head teachers. The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. In conclusion, despite the government efforts to provide equal access for boys and girls, the latter are disadvantaged due to socioeconomic, socio-cultural and school based factors. The parents should be sensitized on the importance of girls education so as to understand their role and involvement in their girl child education. Every school should be mandated to organize general parent meetings to enable the parents to meet teachers and discuss problem affecting their girls education. These parents should be advised on the need to motivate their girl child to remain in school.