The Status and Causes of Secondary School Students Dropouts: The Case of East Gojjam Administrative Zone, Ethiopia

Transcription

1 Inernaional Journal of Scienific and Research Publicaions, Volume 7, Issue 12, December The Saus and Causes of Secondary School Sudens Dropous: The Case of Eas Gojjam Adminisraive Zone, Ehiopia Esheu kibre, Alem Amsalu, Aschale Tadege, Gebeyaw Teshager, Molla Bekalu Lecurer, Deparmen of Absrac- Persisen high raes of secondary school sudens generae huge social and privae coss. Thus, his sudy was inended o idenify he saus and causes of secondary school sudens s in Eas Gojjam adminisraive zone. To achieve his objecive descripive survey research design wih mixed approach was employed. From 18 woredas of he zone, six woredas were purposively seleced o conduc he sudy. From hese six woredas, six secondary schools were seleced using simple random sampling echniques. 175 eachers were seleced hrough sysemaic random sampling echnique o fill quesionnaire and 168 of hem were properly filled and reurned he quesionnaires. Qualiaive daa also colleced hrough inerview from 5 principals, 5 supervisors and 5 disric educaion expers. 18 reurnee sudens and 30 Paren- Suden-Teacher Associaion (PSTA) members were also paricipaed in focus group discussions. Documens of schools and zone educaion deparmen were consuled o examine he rends and saus of raes. The obained quaniaive daa was analyzed using one-sample -es and qualiaive daa was analyzed hrough word narraion hemaically. Hence, he sudy revealed ha he rends of sudens raes in secondary schools of he sudy area showed a declining endency and he highes raes were exised in grade nine. The sudy also idenified ha he magniude of raes of sudens vary from year o year and among grade levels. The resul of he sudy poined ou ha several suden-relaed, parens-relaed and school-relaed facors were conribued o secondary school sudens in he zone. I is suggesed ha eachers, principals and school adminisraions should work wih sudens and heir families o minimize early deparure of pupils from secondary schools. E Index Terms- Dropou, Trends, Causes, Secondary school I. INTRODUCTION ducaion plays indispensable role for all economic, poliical, social developmen and a principal means of improving he welfare of sociey a large. I also acceleraes economic growh by maximizing labor produciviy, promoes ciizens innovaive capaciy of echnologies and faciliaes he diffusion and ransmission of new knowledge and echnologies. Hence, high levels of lieracy and numeracy are pre-requisies for creaing compeiive work force and a naion of effecive parens and acive ciizens. (UNESCO, 1998; Hanushek and Wobmann,2008). Educaion is also a basic righ in iself. Expanding access o qualiy educaion for rural people is hus of crucial imporance in he realizaion of human righs (MOE, 2002). Despie direc and indirec link beween educaion and labor marke reurns, he educaion sysem of mos African counries characerized by high raes of, which resul in educaional inefficiency and wasage of scarce resources (Habamu, 2002). Thus, high sudens drop ou figures migh be a srong indicaor of he fuure shorages of skilled labor force (De Sousa & Tesfa, 1999). Besides, dropping ou is a serious problem because i denies fundamenal human righ of individual suden o educaion by early deparure of a suden from school wihou compleion of a given grade level (MOE, 2002). The problem of dropping ou should be he concern of every member of sociey since i has negaive consequences boh a individual and socieal level. For sociey, drop ou resuled in wasage of scarce resources (eachers who have already employed) and suden ime (ime aken o aend school) (Koskei, Tonui, and Simiyu, 2015). Dropou has also adverse effec on naion progress by jeopardizing human capial formaion needed for economic developmen. As o Azzam (2007) major social coss of drop ou of school include reduced poliical paricipaion, increased demand for social services, increased crime raes and poor levels of healh. Individual sudens also suffer negaively from dropping ou of school. On average, youh who are dropping ou are more likely o experience fuure unemploymen, engage in crime, underemploymen, and lower earnings (Thuron, Collins, and Daughery, 2006). Conceiving he negaive consequences of drop ou for sociey and individuals, faciliaing school compleion for all sudens mus be a prioriy for educaors, adminisraors, researchers and policy makers. In his regard, Bongani (2014) assered ha he ongoing neglec of such an imporan opic o developing counries renders he problem a near permanen sumbling block on he road o he eliminaion of povery. Addressing drop ou has been high on he agenda of he Ehiopian governmen for several years believing ha prevening drop ou and encouraging successful compleion of secondary school can enhance economic growh and social developmen. I can ensure ha sudens graduae wih a leas he minimum qualificaions needed for economic labor marke and for furher educaion & raining. Thus, minisry of educaion planned o reduce drop ou and repeiion raes of general secondary educaion and expand general secondary school in view of is universalizaion by 2020 in line wih he middle income counry vision (MOE, 2010b).

2 Inernaional Journal of Scienific and Research Publicaions, Volume 7, Issue 12, December However, high dropping ou of sudens from schools has been one of he main challenges of he educaion sysem of Ehiopia in general, and secondary school in paricular. For insance, he MOE daa of 2010 showed ha more han 17% of school age sudens of general secondary educaion were dropped ou from he schools. The rend analysis for drop ou showed a decline endency from 2003 o I migh be he governmen measures such as increase budge allocaion o educaion, consruc new schools, recrui and rain eachers and he like o reduce drop ou (FDRE, 2004). Neverheless, raes began again sared o show an increasing rends from 2006 o 2009 (MOE & UNICEF, 2012). MOE 2010 daa also showed ha rend of general secondary school sudens of Amhara region, had also high raes of drop ou, nearly he naional average (16.6%). Supporing his, UNESCO (2015) revealed ha one of criical problems of he Ehiopia s educaion secor is a high rae almos a all levels. Several facors were menioned associaed wih sudens in Ehiopia. Previous sudies conduced on primary schools and female sudens drop ou (Zehle, 2009; Maeregu & Tadesse,2015; Habamu, 2002 and MOE and UNICEF,2012) revealed ha several personal, school and family relaed facors conribued o sudens. Some of he facors menioned comprise ill-healh, mal nuriion, low sudens ineres o educaion, low employmen opporuniies o graduaes, eachers mehods of insrucion, range of coss associaed wih schooling like uniform, ravel, equipmen and sudens opporuniy coss. II. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The main objecive of his sudy is invesigaing he saus and causes of secondary school sudens s in Eas Gojjam adminisraive zone. Therefore, he sudy specifically addresses he following issues: To examine he magniude of secondary school sudens drop ou rae in he zone. To poin ou major facors ha make secondary school sudens drop ou in he zone Paricipans III. METHODS The paricipans of he presen sudy comprised of 175 eachers, who were seleced from disrics of Eas Gojam Zone Seconday schools using sysemaic random sampling echnique o fill quesionnaire. 5 principals, 5 supervisors and 5 woreda educaion expers of sample woredas/schools of secondary schools was seleced using purposively and inerviewed. 18 reurnee sudens and 30 Paren-Suden-Teacher Associaion (PSTA) members were also paricipaed in focus group discussions Insrumens In he sudy boh close- ended and open-ended quesionnaires having five-liker scale (where 1 sands for very low, 5 very high) were developed based on he review of relaed lieraures and uilized o collec daa from paricipans. Inerview, focus group discussion and documen analysis were also employed as a supplemenary daa collecion ools Reliabiliy of he insrumen Before being used for he acual purpose, he quesionnaires were piloed on 30 respondens, who were ou of he sample area, o check is reliabiliy using Chrombach alpha and obained 0.89 alpha coefficiens, which was considered as reliable and suiable for daa collecion. Concerning his, Andy (2006) conended ha he values of Cronbach s alpha greaer han 0.8 is good Daa Analysis Procedures In he sudy boh quaniaive and qualiaive daa were used and analyzed accordingly. Quaniaive daa was cleaned, coded and enered in he compuer for analysis using he Saisical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version Therefore, descripive saisics (mean, sandard deviaion, and percenage) and one sample -es were compued. The daa ha was obained from open ended quesionnaires, inerview, focus group discussion (FGD) and documen analysis were analyzed qualiaively using word descripion and narraion hemaically. IV. RESULTS 1.5. The Saus and Trends of Sudens Dropou Raes Table 1: The Magniude of Dropou Raes of Eas Gojjam zone by Grade level Academic Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12 Toal Year Toal % Toal % Toal % Toal % Toal % 2005 E.C E.C E.C Source: adoped from Eas Gojjam Zone Educaion Deparmen Annual Repors Daa was obained afer reviewing Eas Gojjam zone educaion deparmen annual repors. As shown in he able 2, he magniude of rae was 9.50%, 8.41% and 5.94% for E.C. academic years respecively. Hence, his daa indicaed ha here was a decreasing rend of rae of secondary school sudens of Eas Gojjam Zone. From his, i can be concluded ha he rends of sudens rae in secondary schools of he sudy area show a decreasing endency. Concerning grade level here was a high rae in grades nine and eleven sudens han grades en and welve sudens. Moreover, highes raes of were regisered in grade nine

3 Inernaional Journal of Scienific and Research Publicaions, Volume 7, Issue 12, December han he res grade levels (grade 10, 11 and 12) from E.C. academic years in he sudy area. The qualiaive daa obained from focus group discussion is in line wih he above findings. One paricipan in he discussion expressed his views abou early deparure of sudens in he secondary schools in he following ways. Some sudens experienced problems wih heir ransiion o secondary school. This is due o he deerioraion of school performance during heir primary school achievemen. Sudens were become desperae when hey ransferred o secondary school due o heir poor background in heir primary school aainmen. This negaive experience decreased sudens commimen o school and conribued o heir early school leaving Major Facors ha Conribue o Suden Dropou Table 2:Pupils relaed facors of Sudens Dropou No Pupils Relaed Facors (2-ailed) Sd.error 1 Disciplinary problems of sudens Healh problems Pupil s poor academic performance Low expecaion on fuure success Regular abseneeism from school Frequen repeiion Peer influence Sudens low ineres owards educaion Pupils pregnancy during schooling Having various disabiliies/hearing, visual, menal/ Pupil s involvemen in income generaing aciviies Source: SPSS oupu of colleced daa The sudy idenified ha pupils relaed facors ha significanly conribued o secondary school sudens were sudens low expecaion on fuure success (M=3.80, =8.676, P<0.05), regular abseneeism from school(m=3.44, =4.788, P<0.05), and low ineres owards educaion(m=3.42, =3.860, P<0.05). Consisen wih he presen sudy findings, previous sudy of Shadreck (2013) affirmed ha lack of ineres, even wih high raes of reurn from educaional invesmen, also appears o be a srong facor influencing a suden's decision o drop ou from school. Shadreck furher assered ha less moivaed sudens wih low expecaions concerning rewards from graduaion and he job marke play considerable role in one's decision o qui school. Similarly, a sudy conduced by Haileselassie (2011) in he model primary schools of Cenral Tigray zone revealed Table 3: Parens Relaed Facors of Sudens Dropou consisen resul wih he presen sudy ha pupils low expecaion on fuure success and regular abseneeism from school were among he major conribuing facors of sudens high rae. Consisenly, one responden during inerview replied as follows: Some sudens have less ineres owards educaion. They go o school wih he pressure of exernal forces. For insance compleing a cerain grade is compulsory o obain driving license. Engaging in commercial aciviies or becoming a driver has beer income han being employed in governmen offices. On he oher hand, privae occupaions do no demand compleing secondary schools a his ime. Tha is why sudens drop ou from his level no o disburse opporuniy coss secondary educaion has. No Parens Relaed Facors (2-ailed) Sd.error 12 Paren illness Paren deah Family breakdown/divorce Parens need child labor Parens lack of perceived benefis from educaion Low level of parenal educaion

4 Inernaional Journal of Scienific and Research Publicaions, Volume 7, Issue 12, December Low level of parens monhly income (inabiliy o afford expenses of school supplies) Source: SPSS oupu of colleced daa The sudy also poined ou ha parens lack of perceived benefis from educaion (M=3.23, = 2.352, P<0.05), low level of parenal educaion (M=3.38, = 3.856, P<0.05) and inabiliy o afford expenses of school supplies (M=3.46, = 4.728, P<0.05) were significan paren relaed facors of sudens drop ou in he sudy area. In line wih he above finding Naional Cener for Educaional Saisics (2002) sudy conduced in he Unied Saes found ha sudens from a lower socioeconomic saus were more likely o drop ou of school han a suden from a higher socioeconomic saus. This sudy furher affirmed ha sudens from low-income families have a rae of 10 percen han sudens from high-income families One inerviewed exper also give emphasis o paren s lack of perceived benefis from educaion as follows: Paren s need of child labor is among he major paren relaed facors of sudens drop ou. Since majoriy of he zone populaions have engaged in agriculure, parens need heir child labor during harvesing and oher farming aciviies. This may lead sudens missed many school days and finally depar from he sysem. No School Relaed Facors Table 4: School Relaed Facors of Sudens Dropou (2-ailed) 19 Poor school managemen The large size of sudens in he class Sexual harassmen of female sudens in he school Shorage of school faciliies (desk, chairs, oiles) Lack of qualified eachers in he school Unavailabiliy of enough eachers in he school Lack of encouragemen given by eachers o pupils Lack of suppor o sudens who have academic difficulies Inappropriae evaluaion of pupils performance School disance from pupils home Unaracive insrucional echniques(mehods) Irrelevancy of he curriculum o he sudens Shorage of sudens exbook Source: SPSS oupu of colleced daa Sd. error School relaed facors of sudens drop ou of school were disclosed in he sudy. Therefore, poor school managemen (M=3.30, = 3.197, P<0.05), lack of addiional suppor sudens faced academic difficulies (M=3.28, = 2.012, P<0.05) and less aracive eacher s insrucional mehods (M=3.47, = 6.096, P<0.05) became he major significan school relaed facor of sudens drop ou in he sudy area. Similarly, one inerviewee expressed his view as follows: Unless low achieving sudens obained addiional suppor, heir frusraion increases. They may like o cease heir schooling no o repea he same grade level. Besides, sudens are suspended for minor infracions in schools. For insance less aracive insrucional sraegies are being used by eachers wihou regard o individual suden learning syles may lead sudens o qui from schools. V. CONCLUSION From he rend analysis resuls he sudy concluded ha he magniudes of raes of sudens vary from year o year and among grade levels. I was found ha sudens raes in secondary schools showed a declining endency and here were highes raes in grade nine. On he oher hand, here was no single major facor ha conribues o sudens high raes in he zone. Raher, several pupil-relaed (low expecaion on fuure success, regular abseneeism from school and low ineres owards educaion), paren-relaed (lack of perceived benefis from educaion, low level of parenal educaion and inabiliy o afford expenses of school supplies) and school relaed facors (poor school managemen, lack of addiional suppor of sudens and less aracive eacher s insrucional mehods) were idenified as significan facors ha induce sudens o early depar from schools and herefore here is need o ake measures by eachers, principals and paren eacher associaion members o curb he problem.

5 Inernaional Journal of Scienific and Research Publicaions, Volume 7, Issue 12, December VI. RECOMMENDATIONS I is believed ha if parens are informed, concerned, and involved wih heir child s educaion, sudens say in school and perform successfully. Thus, parens should acively involve and engage in heir child s educaion in schools o increase sudens progression raes. Schools should provide suppor for sudens who are having difficuly succeeding academically and creae self-help mechanisms for economically poor learners and improve eachers mehods of insrucion. REFERENCES [1] Andy F. (2006). Discovering Saisics Using SPSS. 2nd ediion, SAGE Publicaions, London [2] Azzam A.M (2007).Why sudens.educaional leadership,64(7):91-93 [3] Bongani,M,N.92014). Invesigaing he Causes of Learners Drop ou a S.S in Johannesburg Souh, Gaueng. A paper submied in he Requiremens for he degree of Maser of educaion, Universiy of Souh Africa [4] De Sousa,S & Tesfa,G. (1999). High School Drop Ou: Implicaions in he Economic Developmen of Wes Virginia. Wes Viriginia, Wes Viriginia Universiy [5] FDRE (2004) A Naional Repor on Progress Made in he Implemenaion of he Beijing Pla Form for Acion (Beijing + 10) Prime Miniser Office/Women s Affairs Subsecor.Rerieved on Ocober 23, 2015 from hp:// English.pdf. [6] Habamu W. (2002) A Sudy Of Dropous In Seleced Primary Schools Of Two Regions In Ehiopia. Ehiopian Journal of Educaion. 22(2):33-64 [7] Haileselassie, G. (2011) An Assessmen on he Essence of Dropou Sudens in Model Primary Schools of Cenral Zone of Tigray. A Thesis Submied o he School of Graduaes Sudies of Addis Ababa Universiy In Parial Fulfillmen of he Requiremen for he Degree of Maser of Ar In Educaional Research and Developmen. [8] Hanushek, A. and Wobmann,L. (2008) Educaion Qualiy and Economic Growh. The World Bank,Washingon, Dc [9] Koskei,B.,Tonui,R. and Simiy,C.(2015).School Based Facors as Deerminans of Secondary school sudens; Inernaional Journal of Educaion and Research.vol.3 No.3. [10] Maeregu B. & Tadesse H.(2015) The Roo Cause Facors and he Saus of Sudens Drop-ou in Public Primary Schools of Harari Regional Sae, Ehiopia. Middle Easern & Africa Journal of Educaional Research, Issue 15, [11] MOE (2002) Educaion Secor Developmen Program II, Addis Ababa: Unied Priners PIC [12] MOE (2010a) Educaion Saisics Annual Absrac (2008/2009). EMIS, MOE. [13] MOE (2010b) Educaion Secor Developmen Program IV (2010/ /2015) Program Acion Plan. MOE. Addis Ababa. [14] MOE and UNICEF (2012) Sudy on Siuaion of Ou of School Children (OOSC) in Ehiopia. Addis Ababa. [15] Naional Cener for Educaional Saisics. (2002). Dropou raes in he Unied Saes: 2000.Washingon, DC: Auhor. Rerieved November 28, Available: hp://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid= [16] Shadreck, M. (2013) School Based Facors and he Dropou Phenomenon: A Sudy of Zhomba Cluser Secondary Schools in Gokwe Disric of Zimbabwe. Journal of Educaional and Social Research. ISSN X, Vol. 3 (1) [17] Thuron B, Collins M, Daughery R (2006). A sudy of resiliency of American Indian high school sudens.journal of American Indian Educaion, 46(1): [18] UNESCO (1998) Wased Opporuniies: When school Fail. Repeiion and Drop ou in primary Schools. Educaion for All Saus and Trends. France [19] UNESCO (2015) Educaion for All 2015 Naional Review Repor: Ehiopia. The repor prepared for World Educaion Forum (Incheon, Republic of Korea, May 2015) [20] Zehle, J.(2009) Dropou and Learning Difficulies in 1s Grade Governmen Primary Schools in Ehiopia. Proceedings of he 16h Inernaional Conference of Ehiopian Sudies. AUTHORS Firs Auhor Principal Researcher: Esheu kibre Lecurer, Deparmen of Educaion, Debre Markos Universiy, Ehiopia, esheu.kibre98@gmail.com P.O Box 269, Debre Markos Ehiopia Second Auhor Alem Amsalu, Lecurer, Deparmen of Third Auhor Aschale Tadege, Lecurer, Deparmen of Fourh Auhor Gebeyaw Teshager, Lecurer, Deparmen of Fifh Auhor Molla Bekalu, Lecurer, Deparmen of