Perceptions of secondary school girls on the influence of traditional cultural practices on school dropout in Bagamoyo district
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Date
2014
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
This study determined the perceptions of secondary school female students of the
influence of traditional cultural practices on school dropouts in Bagamoyo District. It
specifically, aimed at describing the various traditional cultural practices in the study
area; assessing the attitudes of secondary school female students on how traditional
cultural practices influence attendance; and assessing social economic factors
influencing female students’ attitudes towards traditional cultural practices which lead to
school dropout. A cross-sectional research design was employed using a questionnaire
and a checklist. This study was conducted in 8 secondary schools in Bagamoyo which
were purposively selected due to their high school dropout rates and simple random
sampling was used to obtain 144 respondents within schools and later on 16 female
dropouts were selected using snowball technique. The total sample size was 160
respondents. Quantitative data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) version 16. Descriptive statistics that is, frequencies and percentage
were obtained in accordance with the objectives of the study. Qualitative data from
focus group discussions and key informant interviews were analyzed using structural
content analysis. The Likert scale was used to measure attitudes in objective two and the
analysis was done through descriptive statistics. Chi-square test was used to find
association between socio-economic factors and attitudes of female students in objective
three. Results showed that different traditional cultural practices led into girls dropping
out of school. These include doing domestic chores, pregnancies, participation in
initiation ceremonies, involvement in sexual intercourse, and different traditional
cultural practices to ladies. Majority of the female students in the study area have
negative attitude towards traditional cultural practices which lead to dropping out of
school. On the other hand, participation in the practices was due to the influence of
society and parents/guardians. There was also association between socio- economic
factors and attitude of students. The study recommends that education stakeholders
should discourage traditional cultural practices in the study area which influence girls to
drop out of school.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Traditional cultural practices, Secondary school girls, School dropouts, Female students