Assessment on the Parents’ Socio-Economic Factors and the Dropout of Girls Students in Government Secondary Schools in Arusha District Council, Tanzania

Abstract

The study purposed to assess parents’ socio-economic factors and the dropout of girl students in public secondary schools in Arusha District council, Tanzania. The objectives of the study were to; examine the parent’s economic factors for girl students’ dropout in public secondary schools and establish the copying strategies for girl students’ dropout in public secondary schools in Arusha District council. The study employed descriptive survey design and mixed methods approach to gather data. The sample size was 8 Heads of schools, 38form four class teachers and 240 form four students in public secondary schools in Arusha District. Questionnaires and interview guide were used for data collection. The research experts evaluated the instruments to determine content validity. Reliability of the questionnaires was determined in pilot study and Cronbach Alpha coefficient was found to correlate at r = 0.75. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics in the SPSS version 20 and results were presented in tables of frequencies and percentages. Qualitative data was analysed thematically alongside research questions. The study findings revealed that parents’ income, child labour and schooling costs are the principal economic reason for students’ dropout. The intervening measures for students’ dropout include: parents to consider giving students minimal domestic chores to reduce workload at home and create more time for individual studies, there is a need for parents to establish economic activities, construction of more schools to reduce distance to school, school feeding programmes should be established, and teachers should attend to individual student’s needs