Examining factors that influence high dropout rate of female students in secondary schools: a case study of selected secondary schools in nkhata-bay district

Abstract

It is natural that some learners who start school should fail to complete it at some point in the educational cycle. However, this becomes an issue of concern where a majority of learners withdraw before completion. The situation is even worse where one sex is predominantly affected by this phenomenon. A similar situation taking place in the northern part of Malawi in Central Africa is what has prompted this study. The researcher and other people had observed that there was a high dropout rate among female learners both at primary and secondary school level. Thus, the researcher was at pains to find out factors which influenced them to withdraw from school prematurely. The purpose of this study is to examine factors that contribute to high dropout rate of female learners in secondary school in Nkhata bay, a district in the northern part of Malawi. The study involved junior and senior secondary female learners, school managers both at district (DEM) and at regional level (EDM), secondary school head teachers, leaders of civil societies concerned with educational welfare of the girl child( CAMFED, FAWEMA, & Keep the Girl Child at School organization), and local leaders in the Northern Education Division . Data was obtained largely through interviews. The attribution and resilience theories inform this study and the results are discussed using qualitative approach within the interpretive paradigm The findings of this study has yielded that cultural and economic factors are the major factors that influence female learners to withdraw before completion. However, the economic factors have surfaced as the factors which have the worst impact on female dropout rate in Nkhata bay district.