ARE THE REASONS FOR STUDENT DROPOUT RATE AT COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING COLLEGE JUSTIFIABLE?

Abstract

Community Education and Training Colleges are established to develop and improve skills in South Africa, especially those skills that are not taught in Institutions of Higher Learning such as Universities. However, these Colleges as a relatively new sector are faced with a number of challenges ranging from infrastructure to high drop-out rates. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish whether there was any significant relationship between factors influencing students to quit this sector and drop-out rate in Community Colleges. A quantitative method was used wherein a questionnaire was administered to the students to conduct the study. A sample of (n=66) was drawn from the population (N=200) students. Eighty percent of the questionnaires were returned, representing fifty-three (53) students. There were three hypotheses of the study; (Ho1): there is no significant relationship between lack of student support services and drop-out rate; (Ho2): there is no significant relationship between less teaching and learning hours and drop-out rate and (Ho3): there is no significant relationship between learning and teaching support material and drop-out rate. The study produced the following results (r=.24, n=53, p-value-.00); (r=.25, n=53, pvalue=.00); (r=.23, n=53, p=.00), respectively. The results indicated a statistically significant relationship between independent variables (lack of student support services, less teaching and learning hours, learning, and teaching support material) and a dependent variable (drop-out rate).