School Re-Entry Policy and its Effect on Participation of Teenage Mothers in Public Secondary Schools in Narok County, Kenya
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Date
2022
Authors
Marende, Joan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Education is globally appreciated to enable enjoyment of life to full potential and contribution to the economic, societal, and civic growth of a country. However, teenage pregnancy is a major catalyst of non-participation among girls in education. About 12 million girls aged between 15 and 19 years give birth annually in developing countries whereas 39% and 15% of girls marry before the age of 18 and 15 respectively. In Kenya, Narok County records teenage pregnancy rate of 40.4% which is greater than the national rate by 23.5%. The school re-entry policy is a strategy used to re-enroll girls in schools after childbirth yet teenage mothers still fail to re-enroll. This study evaluated how the re-entry policy has affected participation of teenage mothers in government sponsored secondary schools of Narok County, Kenya. Objectives were to; establish the effect of social support on re-enrollment of teenage mothers in public secondary schools in Narok County, Kenya; to determine the effect of academic support on re-enrollment of teenage mothers in public secondary schools in Narok County, Kenya, and to establish the effect of academic support on re-enrollment of teenage mothers in public secondary schools in Narok County, Kenya. Liberal Feminism Theory, conceptualized by Acker in 1987, was adopted for the study. The study adopted a descriptive research design with and an embedded research method and a target population of 80 schools, 40 County Education Officials, 14,770 female learners, 80 principals and 80 teachers of guidance and counselling. The sample comprised; 16 principals, 16 teachers of guidance, 390 students that included 117 teenage mothers, 2 national education officers, and 6 Narok County education officials. A pilot study was conducted in two schools for feasibility of the study and efficacy of the tools. Cronbach’s Alpha was used to ascertain reliability of the tools. Questionnaires, document analysis and focus group discussion guides were used for data collection. Descriptive and predictive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data. Descriptive statistics included frequency distribution, percentages, and counts. Predictive statistics involved logistic regression analysis to determine the coefficients. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Key findings of this study were that schools were yet to succeed with re-entry because only 16% of girls who took maternity leave from schools re-enrolled after childbirth in 2021. Parental support had the highest logistic correlation efficient of 2.510 to re-enrollment, followed by academic support by peers at a coefficient of 1.996, school fees waiver at 1.655, free meals at school at 1.611, guidance and counseling at 1.560, parental engagement in academics at 1.464, re-enrollment procedure at 1.3800, free boarding at 1.3649, peer support at 1.148, extra-coaching at 1.0149 and the least effective contributor to re-enrolment was teacher support with academics at a correlation coefficient of 0.852. A linear relationship was discovered between all the sub-variables included in the study. The study recommends teacher training on psychosocial support for teenage mothers, bursaries targeting teenage mothers and school support on acquisition of bursaries and parental empowerment for involvement in the academic pursuit of teenage mothers.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Education in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for Award of the Degree of Master of Education (Educational Planning) of Kenyatta University
May, 2022
Keywords
School Re-Entry, Policy, Effect on Participation, Teenage Mothers, Public Secondary, Schools, Narok County,, Kenya