SCHOOL HEALTH FACILITIES AND THE GIRL CHILD RETENTION

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This Chapter covers;  the background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, Theoretical framework, conceptual  framework and definition of operational terms.

• Background of the study

Education is a fundamental human right, as enshrined in numerous international human rights instruments, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1976 International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Worldwide, one in five children of upper-secondary-school age are out of school, including one in four children in South Asia (UNESCO, 2010). Girls in developing countries  disproportionately  drop out of school, particularly around puberty,  which some have attributed to the lack of school sanitation facilities for menstruating girls (Herz and Sperling 2004, Moojiman et al.  2005, Sommer 2010).

In India, particularly among the rural societies, girls are not always educated and many have minimal understandings of their own rights. The national average shows that there is only 1 woman for every 2 men that receives an education in India. Rural communities are often completely unaware of the concept and benefit of educating girls. With only 55% of schools  in  India  having  girls’  toilets  and  only  42%  of teachers being female, enrolling marginalized girls poses an immense  challenge.  Educating girls is giving them the power. Giving them genuine choice over the kind of the life they like to lead. Not only this the society as a whole is also benefitted as educated women has skill, knowledge and self-confidence that are needed for better parent, worker and citizen (Govindaraju & Venkatesan, 2010).

Investments in child health can improve educational outcomes (Miguel and Kremer 2004, Bleakley 2007, Weil 2007), though health needs often differ dramatically by gender and age. The “Menstruation Hypothesis” is that menstruation creates an obstacle to female schooling, contributing to high drop-out rates among pubescent-age girls.  This  belief has motivated  efforts to  provide  sex-specific sanitation in schools, which could increase  girls’ health,  privacy, and safety (Fentiman et al. 1999, Burgers 2000, Human Rights Watch  2001, Leach et al. 2003, Lidonde 2004, WaterAid  Ethiopia  2005, Kirk and  Sommer 2006, INEE 2009, CARE 2010, Raising Clean Hands 2010, Sommer 2010, WHO 2010).

Qualitative studies often indicate important impacts of school sanitation on girls’ enrolment (Birdthistle et al. 2011), yet there is little quantitative support for the “Menstruation Hypothesis” (Oster and Thornton 2011). While the quantitative evaluation of menstruation- management technologies may show no benefits where school absences are rare during girls’ few menstrual  days each month  (Oster  and Thornton 2011), a broader  “Menstruation Hypothesis” might emphasize how girls are impacted  every day by the physical, emotional, and societal  changes  that  happen  along with  the  onset  of menstruation.  Pubescent-age girls’ educational decisions may be more impacted by addressing every-day concerns for health, safety, and privacy, such as through the provision of sex-specific school latrines.  In addition, a narrow focus on the “Menstruation Hypothesis” might neglect other factors that influence education decision-making for pubescent-age boys and younger children, obscuring a broader link between school sanitation and education.

Many studies draw attention to the menstrual hygiene challenges within school environments, which range from girls having to miss school days, to a disruptive experience while at school. Findings highlight the gendered nature of the school environment for adolescent girls, emphasizing their unique needs. Tangible improvements to the school environment must be made in order to make it girl- friendly. Although literature is divided on the effect of menstruation on girls’ absenteeism, there is no doubt that MHM remains a challenge for girls especially in the absence of adequate facilities.

A UNICEF (2009) study undertaken in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan on overcoming exclusion and discrimination in South Asia reported that girls face huge disadvantages in all four countries for lack of toilet and water facilities at schools. During the time they are menstruating, girls frequently have to leave school or abstain for lack of proper facilities, sanitary cloths or to dispose of their sanitary pads. The existing facilities were such that it embarrassed the girls, offering them no privacy and dignity. The availability of separate latrines for girls and women may also affect the retention of female teachers. Having clean, safe separate female designated latrines must be a requirement for every school at all levels of education.

Currently, more than 60% of all schools in Africa lack sufficient sanitation facilities (UNICEF, 2009). Even in schools with facilities, unhygienic sanitation hinders the ability of students to concentrate and learn at school (Water and Sanitation Collaborative Council and WHO, 2005).  In Africa, the lack of basic sanitation facilities further decreases the enrolment of girls in secondary schools. Various studies have  particularly  linked  the  attendance  of  girls  to  the  availability  of  adequate sanitation facilities in schools (UNICEF, 2006). Girls spend more time in schools when the number of sanitation facilities is adequate (UNICEF, 2006). As such, the need for improved access to sanitation goes beyond improved health and addresses issues of children rights and gender equity.

Studies carried out in Lesotho and Bangladesh, have indicated that girls have a preference for separate facilities (UNICEF & IRC, 1998). In schools where the toilets are shared between girls and boys or are closely located, a significant number of girls drop out of school after they attain puberty because of harassment and lack of privacy (UNICEF & IRC, 1998).

According to the Kenyan Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, schools should adhere to a standard ratio of 1 toilet for 25 girls and 1 toilet for 30 boys (GoK, 2008). These ratios however remain unattained and currently, more than 60% of all schools in Kenya lack sufficient sanitation facilities (UNICEF, 2009). Even in cases where the number of sanitation facilities is adequate, they are often in poor condition discouraging their use among children (UNICEF, 2009).

According to Ngales (2005) in a study on school girls towards health, dignity and wellbeing in Ethiopia, it was found that female students indicated that they often missed classes during menstruation or because culturally restrictions combined with poor hygiene and lack of privacy prevented them from using latrines at all. In addition, female boarding schools students mentioned that they feared using latrines at night due to poor lighting.  The study concluded that girls’ performance, attendance and retention rates were lower than boys, and poor school sanitation is one of the multiple difficulties that girls have to struggle with.

FAWE, (2004), in Scaling up Good Practices in Girls’ Education in Uganda, notes that in the absence of the necessary provisions, the most common option taken by girls who suffer menstrual accidents at school is to return home and stay there for the duration. Poor management of sexual maturation leads to high levels of absenteeism since affected girls get discouraged when they don’t cop up and drop out.  Girls are distressed and uncomfortable because of wearing poor protective material during menstruation and this distracts them.

1.2. Education system in Uganda

The current Ugandan education structure has been in place since 1963 and came as a result of recommendation made by the Castle Commission. The country’s formal education system starts with seven years of secondary school (ages 6-12), which is ‘supposedly’ compulsory and free according to the current universal secondary education program me. It is followed by six years of secondary education for ages 13-18, which is also free and compulsory, though the last two for S.5 and 6, Government is under way to make it universal. This level is succeeded by three to five years of university or tertiary education depending on the profession selected by the individual (Kakuru, 2003).

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Female education has multiplier effects because it empowers women to bring about change and helps to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Despite initiatives addressed through various government policies, interventions and declarations like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) strive to ensure equal access to secondary school education for both boys and girls. Girls still face tremendously higher school dropout rate as compared to the boys. This has been mostly attributed to poor sanitation facilities in most schools in the developing countries including Uganda where the girls shy away from sharing latrines or being seen in open places and worse during their menstrual cycles (Ngales, 2005). And this has been noted as the single most important factor hindering girl child retention in many schools.

Therefore though many studies have been done in the area of the relationship between sanitation and girl child education, little has been done in the context of Uganda and Wakiso district in particular thus prompting the researcher to undertake a study on the of school health facilities on girl child retention in selected schools in Wakiso District.

1.4 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of school health facilities on girl child retention in selected schools in Wakiso District.

1.5 Objectives of the study

This research will be guided by the following objectives:

1. To assess factors that influence girl child retention in schools.
2. To establish the challenges of students retention in schools.
3. To identify the strategies aimed at retaining students in schools so as they can completet their secondary school education.

1.6  Research questions

1. What are the factors that influence girl child retention in schools?
2. What are the challenges of students’ retention in schools?

• What are the strategies aimed at retaining students in schools so as they can complete their secondary school education.

1.7 Scope of the study

The scope of the study is divided into the geographical scope, the content scope and time scope.

1.7.1 Geographical scope

The study will be conducted in selected secondary schools in Wakiso district. The study will cover five secondary schools across Wakiso District.

1.7.2 Content Scope

The content scope of the study will cover the impact of school health facilities on girl child retention in Wakiso District. In this respect the study will specifically assess the, the factors that influence girl child retention in schools,  the challenges of students’ retention in schools and the strategies aimed at retaining students in schools so as they can complete their secondary school education.

• Time scope

The study will cover the period of 2002- 2012. This period is preferred because, since 2002, concern grew over the rate of girl child dropout in schools including in Wakiso District.

1.8 Significance of the study

The study will benefit all educational stakeholders, the government, educational partners, parents and students in various ways. The Ministry of Education through the D.E.O. and the Education Service Commission benefits from the findings of the research to advice on how to reduce the drop out of the girls from schools in Wakiso.

The study will give recommendations to address a fore mentioned factor with a view of those concerned to effectively deal with the drop out problem. So the study will come up with the way forward for schools to help them retain more girls who complete secondary cycle.

The study will also act as a source of educational material for other researchers, schools, and the general public on school health facilities and its impact on girl child retention in schools.

CHAPTER TWO:

 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0. Introduction

The aim of the study is to investigate the school health facilities and the girl child retention.

2.1. Theoretical review

Scholars have long held an interest in students’ departure, partly because it is         acomplex human behavior; partly because it is related to other factors like status attainment, self-development, and the development of human capital; and partly because it is a place where theory can have an impact on practice. Retention studies are important to institutions because if institutions can maintain or increase their retention rates, they can survive, and possibly prosper.

Since students retention is by definition a process that occurs over time, theoretical models tend to be longitudinal, complex, and contain several categories of variables that reflect both students and institutional characteristics. Theories of departure provide an explanation of why students’s leave school. Theoretical models of departure are models based on theories, while models of departure identify factors assumed to be related to retention without providing an explanation of why the factors act the way they do. Theories, theoretical models, and models are used somewhat interchangeably in the literature.

Students’ retention models are complex because they contain a large number         of variables, often set in a casual pattern. A variable could either affect retention directly, or it could affect some other variable that has a direct effect on retention. For example, high school grades could directly affect rates of retention (e.g. the higher the high school grades, the higher the rate of retention). High school grades could also be thought to affect retention indirectly; that is, the higher the high school grades, the higher the school grades-and the higher the school grades, the higher the rate of retention.

Since 1970, the main theoretical tradition in the study of students retention has been sociological, involving a search for commonalities of behaviors that distinguish groups of students’s who stay at school groups of  who leave. Psychological and socio-psychological approaches, concerned with how individuals assess themselves in an educational context, began to develop after 1980. In the decade of the 1990s there was an increasing interest in how economic factors affect retention and in how the cultural factors typical of subgroups of students’s affect retention decisions, particularly in terms of minority students’ retention. Other theoretical approaches have been taken, but have had little empirical study.  Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) offered a summary on student retention and other associated outcomes.

Vincent Tinto’s model of students departure has had the greatest influence on our understanding of students retention. His theory helped guide a large number of dissertations and empirical studies of student retention. The model posits that student’s enter school with family and individual attributes as well as preschool schooling. They enter with certain commitments, both to finishing school and to staying at their school. They enter an academic system that is characterized by grade performance and intellectual development, which together lead to academic integration, and they enter a social system where peer group interactions and faculty interactions lead to social integration. Academic and social integration work together to influence ongoing goal and institutional commitments, which, in turn, lead to the decision to remain in, or to leave school. This model was later revised through the addition of commitments outside the institution and intentions to remain enrolled, Terenzini (1999).

The explanatory theory underlying Tinto’s model came most immediately from the research of William Spady (1971), who saw an analogy between committing suicide and dropping out of school. In both instances, according to Spady, a person leaves a social system. The French philosopher and sociologist Emile Durkheim had found that some people committed suicide because they lacked the values of the social system in which they participated, and because they were not supported by a group of friends. At the core of his model, Tinto borrowed Spady;’s use of Durkheim’s two postulates to identify the concepts of academic and social integration. Academic integration was thought to be the result of sharing academic values, and social integration was viewed as the result of developing friendship with other students’ and faculty members. In Tinto’s model, a student who does not achieve some level of academic or social integration is likely to leave school.

While Tinto’s (1993) later model is similar in structure to his earlier ones, it offers another explanation of students’ departure: failure to negotiate the rites of passage. According to this theory, students’ would remain enrolled if they separated themselves from their family and high school friends, engage in processes by which they identified with and took on the values of other students and faculty, and committed themselves to pursuing those values and behaviors.

A second theoretical trust came from John Bean, based on empirical and theoretical studies published in the 1980s, an explanatory model of student retention, and a psychological model of student retention developed by John Bean and Shevawn Eaton (2000). Originally based on a model of turnover in work organizations, Bean’s model evolved into one where the overall structure was based on a psychological processes, the model was similar to Tinto’s in that it was complex and longitudinal. The model differed from Tinto’s original model in two important ways, however: It included environmental variables (or factors outside the school that might affect retentions) and a student’s intentions, a factor found to be the best predictor of student retention. These factors were subsequently incorporated into Tinto’s model (1993) model.

Bean’s model, described traditional-age student’s, posits that background variables, particularly a student’s high school educational experiences, educational goals, and family support, influence the way a student interacts with the school or university that the student chose to attend. After matriculation (as in Tinto’s model) the students interacts with institutional members in the academic and social arena. According to Bean (1993). The student also interacts in the organizational (bureaucratic) area, and is simultaneously influenced by environmental factors, such as wanting to be with others at another school or running out of money. A student’s interaction with the institution leads the student to develop a set of attitudes toward himself or herself as a student and toward the school. Academic capabilities (as indicated by grade point average), feeling one fits in at an institution, and loyalty to the institution are a secondary set of outcomes that are extremely important in determining a student’s intentions to remain enrolled, as well as actually continuing enrollment. Bean eta-l (1985) also developed a model of student retention for non-traditional student’s which reduced the emphasis on social integration actors since non-traditional (older, working, commuting) students have less interaction with others on campus than do traditional, residential student’s.

Bean and Easton (2000) model describes how three psychological processes affect academic and social integration. While attitude-behaviors theory provides an overall structure for the model, self-efficacy theory, coping behavioural (approach-avoidance) theory, and attribution (locus of control) theory are used to explain how students develop academic and social integration.

These grand theories of student retention of the 1990s, which attempt to simplify a very complex action into a series of identifiable steps, are inadequate to deal with either specific populations or individual decisions. Because of this inadequacy, a series of articles was written to provide increased explanations of certain aspects of student retention. A collection of these partial theories, which provide a closer look at a certain aspect of student retention decisions, was published by John eta-l in 2000. This volume contains explanations of retention behavior based on economic factors, psychological processes, campus climate, student learning, campus cultures ethical differences, school choice, social reproduction, and power (critical theory).

Of these theoretical approaches, a number of studies of the economic influences on retention have been conducted, particularly by Edward (2000) based on cost-benefit analysis, these studies examine how retention decisions are affected by ability to pay, family resources, student’s aid, perceptions of aid, and tuition.

Regardless of the particular approaches taken in a model, the general process of student retention remains the same: Both experiences before entering school and academic abilities are important; the way student’s interact in the social and academic environment once at school are important, as are factors from outside of the institution, particularly the cost of attending the school; and the attitudes a student forms about the institution.

2.2 student’s retention in schools

According to Noddings (1987), high quality educators cannot separate sound educational decision making from the dispositions associated with “caring.” The values found in the theme of “caring” are crucial to educators engaged in growth (Noddings, 1987). The common threads that run through this theme include the role educators’ play in the lives of their student’s, in the welfare of the community, and in the ethics of personal and professional accountability (Ladson-Billings, 1995).

Educators are caregivers, models, and mentors and must treat student’s with respect, set good examples, and support positive social behaviors        (Lickona, 2001). The unit is mindful that there is no prototypical “teaching personality” but believes that standards would be incomplete without attention to dispositions. The Unit supports values, commitments and professional ethics that influence behaviours toward student’s, families, colleagues, and communities and that affect student learning, motivation, and the educator’s own professional growth.

Student’s that have economic, social, or educational advantages are the least likely to leave schools, while student’s lacking these advantages are the most likely to leave. Advantaged student’s are also likely to attend the most elite schools, and since these student’s are least likely to leave school before graduating, these schools have the highest retention rates, (Bandura, 1973). The reverse is also true. Community schools, regardless of their     quality or value, are lowest status institutions and have the lowest rates of retention. To say that the most elite schools have the highest retention rates is partly a tautology, because one part of the definition of elite ness is the rate of retention. Nevertheless, elite ness and student retention run hand in hand.

2.3 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE GIRL’S RETENTION

In many poor households, hunger has been a barrier to school participation. A hunger-stricken child is not only unable to enroll in school at the right age but also cannot attend properly even if enrolled. Besides, such children are also likely to quit school because they have to deal with their immediate subsistence needs before they get ready for schooling (Douben, 2006).. Thus, low school enrollment, low class attendance and high student drop-outs are recurring

Nutrition of Students

Health and nutrition have been considered a critical factor for student to stay in schools and complete education cycle and accordingly a number of scholars assert that proper nutrition is critical for the student’s stay at school, Studies carried out at secondary school level indicate that well fade and healthy student’s perform better in school, (Kamoga, 2010).

Achoka et al, 2012 asserts that long term effects of health and nutrition status of young student’s affect their retention in school. To him the health of a student’s is very important if a students’ is to be retained in school the student’s must be healthy in order to learn as the saying goes healthy mind in a healthy body, while alderman et al, (2011), carried out a survey in Pakistan rural student’s and found out that student’s health and nutrition had a greater impact on retention of student’s in school, further research by , Onzima, (2010) indicates that school age going students who suffer from protein energy malnutrition, hunger or who luck certain micro nutrients in their diets do not have the same potential for learning as healthy and well-nourished student’s.

Pidmore contends that student’s with poor health attend school less frequently and are more likely to repeat grades and less likely to remain at school this affects them because they don’t learn adequately and don’t have enough time to stay at school due to poor levels of retention, motivation, cognitive functions.

HIV/AIDS stigmatization

According to the probe report 2000 there is a link between illness related absence and retention as resuming studies after prolonged studies after prolonged absence from school can be difficult for a student’s on the other hand HIV/AIDS is also another issue slowing down the growth of the school aged population this has lowered enrollment in secondary schools and caused low retention rates which are accelerated by effects originating from the deadly disease, (Kasonde, 2013).

Parents shows discrimination to send HIV infected student’s to school because they feel little is occurring, teachers, few learning materials and employment prospects are slender to those student’s arguing that they will die before they Finnish school.

 HIV infected and affected student’s UPE in practice seems unfair to orphans and HIV/AIDS infected and affected student’sr as it does not cover them enough. Due to lack of incentives, these student’s are excluded from the whole system. The extent, to which they access schools and survive in them once they come to know their HIV status, is not known very well. Their participation in school might imply some additional costs and at the same time, their families might be in need of some subsidies that would encourage school attendance on the part of the infected student’s as well as enable them cover some of their medical costs and other healthy needs, (Kamoga, 2010).

Parents’ economic status

Parents’ economic status is imperative for a student’s to be in position to stay at school this is due to the fact that when a parent is economic doing well they have the ability to pay for school requirements, like books, pens and school fees this therefore enables a student to stay at school, unlike poor parents who can’t afford the student in this case will be forced to leave school without finishing, (UNICEF, 2012). This scenario is also found in the provision of Lunch as student’s from very poor families who cannot afford lunch go without lunch which by itself is humiliation enough, leave alone studying on an empty stomach. this retards their physical and mental development and reduces their concentration at school which makes them leave school without completing their school cycle.

Watson (2010) pointed out that student’s did not complete secondary education due to some family reasons. Because of poor economic status of families, parents did not have much to support their student education. And the priority was given to boys and girls were made to leave school and began to do home activities all the time.

Fantana, (2012) says that, success in learning a subject by student’s relates closely to the learner’s home background. He goes further to state that student’s of the white collar job and middle class parents have a greater chance of success while those of the blue collar jobs have the least. Student’s who exhibit a high level of motivation tend to come from higher socio-economic status families and perform better. Several studies, point out that socio-economic status is a significant independent variable that affects completion of secondary level.

Mullar (2010), found out that, home background affects student’s completion of secondary level in Uganda. He revealed that males from poor homes perform better than those from rich ones. The reason given was that the poor boy’s rough home life becomes a source of encouragement and inspiration to perform better for a bright future. Meanwhile, girls from good homes were found to perform better than those from poor ones. The reason here was that rich girls have less economic worries and therefore stabilize on books while poor girls waste time looking for money from men and consequently some end up dropping out of school.

Gender and retention

The gender of the student’s has always been considered as far as a priority of who stays and leaves school is concerned in most societies across African continent male student’s has always been given priority as far as staying at school is concerned, (Atekyereza, 2010).

In Uganda like in many African countries patriarchal characteristics are still strong, some parents and teachers favor boys more than girls. The reason is that many parents especially those in the rural think that girls get educated in order to know how to read, write and then be better daughters, wives and mothers, rather than equipping then with skills and knowledge that can enable them to handle their lives well as human beings and progressing their career of choice. A study by Atekyereza, (2010), showed that married daughters are less likely than married sons to remit cash income to their parents. For such reason,

In times of diminished food resources, girls and their mothers are often last to be fed, resulting in a diet low in calories and protein. An estimated 450 million adult women in developing countries are stunted as a result of lack of student’s protein for energy.  Iodine and iron deficiencies have significant consequences for pregnant women and their off springs. The alarming increase is the number of girl’s infected with the HIV virus. Adolescent girls are at high risk of contracting HIV because their low social status often pressures them into situations where they are forced to have unprotected sexual intercourse with men. Girls are often treated as inferior to boys, both within the home and by society at large. They are socialized to put themselves last, which in turn undermines their self-esteem and their ability to reach their full potential as human beings. When a girl is prevented from going to school or is too exhausted to pay attention in class because of her work load at home, she is being denied her right to education. Girls carry the bulk of responsibility for the house work while boys study play or attend to their interests and hobbies, so girls are discriminated (Njeuma,:2010)

According to Odaet et al, 2010), domestic affairs effected girl’s completion of secondary education because girls did a lot of work than boys in many societies because of culture. They get involved in food preparation, student’s care, grinding millet and so on. And this situation worsens as the girls grow older, and denied rights of getting enough time to rest and read their books for a better performance and later on does not complete secondary education. They compared groups of successful and unsuccessful learners and found out that parental re-enforcement positively correlates with academic performance and achievement. Socially girls were believed to do much work like helping their mothers in home activities and this led them to have less time to concentrate on their studies compared to boys. And this affected their concentration and later on dislike of schooling, Mullar (1982).

Student’s progress

Most school set a certain amount of scores which they believe it’s the one a student’s is supposed to score to be in position to continue to the next class however this has proved to prevent student’s from staying in schools, (Kane, 2011).

Schools in many countries especially in Uganda require that student’s successfully complete secondary seven before allowing them to gain access to higher levels  with situations were absence and temporary withdrawals are high the quality levels are low and retention rates are high, for example kane, 2004 drawing in UNESCO states that in over half of all the African countries more than one in ten students repeat at least  one grade  of secondary there are added difficulties with these student’s repeating especially if they were late entrants since it extends the age range.

if student’s repeat more than once this may lead to low retention of student’s in school Lewin, 2007 asserts that lack of progression might also lead to student’s and some parents to question whether they should remain in school or not, further more rose 2001 further contends that if student’s repeat it deters them from completing the grade because they will be older and this increases the opportunity costs of their time and reduces their chances of finishing school.

Parents’ education level

Parental education has been observed to be in position to influence the student’s ability to stay in school, since most students observe their parents as their role models, (Ersodo, 2011)

Ersodo, (2011) further observes that parental education is the most important consisted determinant of student’s education, high parental education is associated with increase in access, high attendance and high attention of the student’s in school, grant further states that parents who have attained a certain education level might want their student’s to achieve at least same level. Another set of reasons are put forward for the link between parental education and retention of student’s in school by some researchers indicate that none educated parents cannot provide the support or even don’t appreciate the benefits of schooling. There is evidence that educational level of the parent can influence which student’s is more likely to access and remain in school for a long time.

The above findings are in conformity with UNICEF 2011 minster of education 2014 who stated that parental education and decision always affect student’s retention in school were by students whose parents are educated can monitor and regulate their activities, provide emotional support, encourage independent decision are generally more involved in the studies of their student’s hence making them to complete their cycle.

According to Ezewu (1989), parental support and encouragement serve as a motivation to good performance and retention of girls in schools. This is supported by Otti (1995), who says that in order to enhance retention; parents have a big role in education of student’s.

Kirugi (2005) said that, so often girls are intentionally trained to be selfish through the strict upbringing and roles that they are often given at home. The parents who educate their girls want to dictate what type of subjects or courses to be done. Many poorly educated parents want their girls to study subjects which will give them good prospects for marriage.

Mukibi (2005) clearly shows the need of parental support and encouragement in enhancing retention of student’s at school. He contends that parents should provide all the necessary materials and good environment for girls’ education. England (1957) found out that abnormal home backgrounds are disruptive factors in enhancing retention of girls in school. Parents who are poor single parents and illiterate parents are in most cases unable to support their student’s in their studies thus; they fail to buy books, pens and other materials for their student’s.

Parental support in education may help to retain girls at school for longer periods of time and also enhance good academic performance. In his study Otawe (1953) concluded that student’s who dropped out early had worse conditions than those who stayed in school for longer periods of time.

CHALLENGES OF STUDENT RETENTION

According to kamoga, (2010), most students from poverty stricken families are faced by numerous challenges and most of them are both from home and school.

School infrastructures include classrooms, latrines/toilets, water facilities as well   as the school location. Although the Government of Uganda owns the largest number of secondary schools (about 80%), due to declining budgetary resources allocated to the education sector, the infrastructures have remained inadequate making it difficult to guarantee equality of education access to all, as well as ensuring completion rate to those who enroll (Juuko and  Kabonesa 2007). Shortage of infrastructures and competencies to cope with large numbers of student’s is a challenge in the implementation of quality secondary school to all Ugandans  (MoES 2007). The Uganda Bureau of Statistics, UBOS,  (Tomasevski 1999) reported 60% schools to be classified as “ non-permanent” and schooling still takes place underneath trees or outside in the field. Building and refurbishing schools to meet the requirements of the large number of learners with limited funds available remains a huge challenge. Such learning environment negatively affects student’s as they get overcrowded in small rooms and those who attend from outside get scorched by the sun during the dry season while in the rainy season they get wet (Ibid). Generally, student’s under circumstances and especially those in the rural who get a chance to access education hardly survive till the end of the whole system. To those who survive in the system, both their output and outcomes are greatly compromised in way that most of them can never join university education due to poor performance in secondary school education.

Clean environment leads to a sound mind, with budgetary constraints and inadequate infrastructures such as toilets and clean water in secondary schools; one wonders whether with limited budget, schools can have adequate facilities to make conducive learning environment for the student’s. Although MoES on paper promises to provide adequate school facilities through the facility grant, the reality on the ground shows that rapid enrolment has not matched with increase in infrastructure thus putting high pressure on the existing ones.

In 2000 only 15% of all secondary schools, had sufficient latrines for the student’s, and only one third of these schools had separate latrines for girls. This implies that 92% of all schools suffered from lack of latrines and two thirds had not separate toilets for boys and girls. This has a negative effect on the student’s survival in schools as many of the drop out of schools due to sanitation related sickness. This is evidenced in the report from the Ministry of health (2000) that about 2.7% of all student’s’ time is lost to sickness from sanitation related illnesses and most of them never return in schools. This phenomenon is common in rural schools than in urban which show some discrepancies in the implementation of USE program that contributes to the limited retention (MOFPED 2007). Besides latrines/toilets, water is necessary for maintaining equality of access, survival, output and outcome of education for all student’s. However, access to clean water for many schools has remained a problem in the reality of secondary school education, an issue that pushes student’s out of schools (Juuko and Kabonesa 2007). According to the MoES 2004 abstract, most secondary schools use well/spring water (33.24%), followed by the borehole water of 28.63% which is not safe for drinking while very few urban schools use piped water. The fact that the Government had not taken the responsibility of providing water to these schools, fetching water for school and teachers have become another burden for the student’s and especially those in the rural where water is scarce making student’s from rural areas to be more disadvantaged than those in urban areas who have piped water. This double burden of making student’s miss classes while struggling for communal water with the villagers as well as student’s labouring is a serious problem that is affecting UPE in practice which consequently leads to limited retention.

Level of funding of secondary schools,

Instructional materials include textbooks, teachers’ guides, blackboards, chalk and other class facilities that are necessary to ensure good quality education. Although the Government seems to have purchased a large number of textbooks as part of its programme to enable quality secondary school Education, accessing them is limited to few schools which are well equipped. In some cases, due to lack of space, books are often kept in stores under lock which makes it impossible for student’s to access them (Bategeka and Okurut 2006). The most affected schools are known to be those in the rural and urban slums. Since lack of instructional materials affects both students and teachers, many teachers get discouraged by this situation and de-motivated to teach which lead to poor quality education and in turn, student’s drop out as a result of poor quality of education.

Students with Disabilities

Though secondary school education in Uganda is meant to be accessed by all the citizens of the country, most of the students with disabilities have faced challenges accessing it like their counter parts. (Ssekamwa, 1999).  Students who are deaf have little or no access to skilled teachers in sign language and interpreters. Further impacting problem is lack of transport due to the costly maintenance of vehicles and daily transportation of student’s to school (ibid). In addition, lack of adequate knowledge and skilled teachers to handle student’s with traditional disabilities is a factor worthy considering as a strong case against the success of such girls in school leading to the drop out of such girls before they finish school.

Student’s in war zones

Implementation of secondary school education programme has had a lot of challenges in the Northern Uganda. For over two decades; this area has experienced a devastating civil war waged by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against the Government. This war did not only result into massive displacement of the entire population to camps, but seems to have been student’s-targeting and depriving their right of education. For example, the recent report of the abducted student’s amounts to about 26,662 (MoES 2007). The equality of survival in this situation has been extremely low to those who enroll and those who attempt to persist to continue the equality of output and outcome may not match their counterparts in safe areas due to moving up and down from one camp to another while saving their lives and looking for food (Tomasevki, 1999). In Bundibugyo the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) insurgency affected time for student’s to go to school and some of them dropped out of school because of this war in late 1990s.

Quality of Education

Good quality of education is reflected on student’s’ ability to read, write and speak English, and pass mathematics (MOFPED) 2002: In order to improve the quality of primary education, the government has devoted some resources to procure some textbooks and construct some classrooms. According to, Bategeka and Okurut  (2006), Some parents look at Rural government secondary schools with poor quality which makes it a sound reason for some of them to take their student’s to private schools. This has greatly undermined the quality and skills acquired by student’s as well as encouraging both student’s and parents to wrongly assume that what matters in order to gain promotion is to do exam and not necessary to pass (MOFPED 2002). This problem affects mostly poor student’s whose parents cannot afford coaching fees after common classes.

Through it is the responsibility of the Government to provide adequate and well trained teachers. It should also monitor their work as well as cater for their well being so as to motivate them for providing quality education (Bategeka and Okurut, 2006). However the analysis on teacher’s quality reveals that a large proportion of secondary school school teachers lack appropriate training, (MoES, 2010).

According to 2007 primary education assessment report made by the Dutch Operations evaluation Department, between 20% and 30% of teachers are absent from school at any given time with the main reasons for being delayed and low salaries, long distances from their homes to schools and inadequate supervision (MoES, 2007). In the same report, Joseph Eilor, found that absenteeism of teachers was highest in rural and northern parts of Uganda. As teachers dodge their work at school, student’s also dodge in response to their teacher, a factor that compromises the rate of their survival in school as most of them never come back as the proverb says that; “when the cat is away, the mice play all ever”, whenever teachers are absent, the student’s also skip schooling.

Punishments and harassment

Corporal punishments and harassment destabilize students and prevent them from completing their school. They do not lead to school dropout alone but also expose them to physical and psychological dangers. It is however sad to note that even after emphasizing of secondary school education to all the students,  corporal punishments like heavy beating, digging ant-hills and slashing bushes still exist which compromise equality of survival for student’s in schools, (MoES, 2007).

2.5 Strategies aimed at retaining student’s in school so as to complete the secondary school cycle

Poverty reduction, Njeru and Orodho,(2012). The two writers consent that the critical factors that are responsible for the low access and poor participation and retention in education is poverty.

High rates of poverty at household level have made poor households either not to enroll their girl child students in secondary schools to sustain an uninterrupted participation of those who are enrolled due to inability to meet various requirements.

This has resulted in adequate provision of learning facilities to the enrolled, poor quality education and high dropout rates among the poor. The above statement is supported by the UNESCO background paper which poses that poverty cannot be overcome without specific, immediate and sustained attention to enhancing access to education (UNESCO, 2002). Poverty is thus addressed in two avenues. First, inability to meet indirect costs for schooling, such costs are school learning and teaching materials, uniforms, transport to and from school and food Several studies done in Malawi, Ghana, Zambia, Ethiopia and Tanzania have shown that students are hindered form effective participation in schooling due to inability to afford such costs (Kelly, 2007).

In conformity with this situation, Mingat (2002) established that the richest households, 76 percent of their students attend school compared to 40% of the poorest households. This means that student’s from poor households have much lower attendance than those from richer households. UNESCO (2002) concurs with, Mingat that the level of the family income is one of the most powerful factor that influences school enrolments rates in the developing countries. (Onyango, 2000).

Briggs, (1980) cited in Mbai (2004) contends that poor families may contemplate bearing the cost of sending their student’s to school but might abandon the whole exercise when more exercises are demanded.

Ending children’s labor, According to Mutegi (2005) conversation of the rights of the student’s defined a student’s as anyone below the age of 18. Student’s labor is destroying a generation of student’s, Student who start working when they are young never grow as they miss out on education. The Koech Commission TIQET (1999) also found that students labor is a rampant practice that continues to keep student’s out of school, especially in the prevailing situation of poverty at the household level. student’s in different parts of the country are involved in activities such as fishing, picking of coffee, tea, Mira, hawking and petty trading. In addition many school age girls are employed as house girls and student’s menders in urban and rural areas. This habit contravenes the students’ rights as stated below “every student’s shall be protected from economic exploitation and any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with students’ education” (Student’s Act, 2001 pg. 153).

Students’ from poor households are particularly vulnerable because the opportunity cost of schooling is substantially higher for them. Such student’s may have to work in the fields, grazing the family’s animals or protecting crops against predators. Both Psacharopoulos (2009) and Priva (2010) found that student’s from poor households who work contribute significantly to total household income. Priva argues that banning students’ labor could reduce the welfare of the households intending to send their children to school. .

TIQET (1999) thus concluded …All these forms of labour, whether paid, interfere with students’ participation in education, either denying them access and retention or hindering their effective participation, by causing dropout and absenteeism.

Elimination of gender discrimination

Organization are working towards ending gender discrimination this is normally by non government organization and civil rights activist, according to burke et al, 2006 most NGO are in the developing world trying to agitate for equality, Other factors that influence retention of students in school include the gender of the students. Burke and Beagle (2004) found that female parents may favor girls; in that the mother’s schooling is associated to a greater degree with a daughter’s attendance than a son’s attendance.

Reduction of Birth rates: Birth order also affects schooling. We may start with the premise that a large number of student’s in a household has negative causal effects on the quality of education. This is because given equal resources; parents with more children have fewer resources to commit per student than parents with fewer students. Park and Chung (2007) found a strong but negative causal relationship between sib ship size and education of the first-born and second-born student’s in rural Bangladesh. Using evidence from the Turkish Demographic and Health Survey, Kirdar et al. (2007) also concluded that birth order affects schooling.

Creation of small and manageable sizes of families, According to West (1980) cited in Otunge (2004) large numbers of student’s in a family of limited income result in overcrowding in the home and this may in turn have a serious effect upon behavior. West further adds that parents in overcrowded accommodation cannot protect or supervise their young student’s as they might wish. According to Ruther (1980) cited in Otunge (2004) large family size is quite strongly associated with social disadvantage. The large family size limits the parental involvement in the academic welfare of each student’s. Thus leads to low participation of the student’s in school activities and may eventually lead to dropout

According to Onyango (2000) better educated parents appreciate the value of education more than illiterate ones. In this case, educated parents are able to assist their student’s progress in education both materially and morally hence retention of student’s in school.

Education of student’s on the core values of society especially the language and the culture of a given society, Language and medium of instruction is another factor that influences access and retention. Learning using a foreign language or another ethnic group language which one is not familiar with is not easy especially in the early years of schooling. It demands one to learn the language before learning the content. The double task discourages one from catching up with schooling. As such student’s either perform poorly or repeat classes a practice that usually leads to drop outs

Poor supervision and indiscipline

Poor supervision and indiscipline in schools has pushed many student’s to engaging in frustrating activities, such as smoking, drinking of alcohol, miraa chewing among others. It has been observed that teachers pass time in the staffroom chatting, gossiping or simply whiling away their time while classes remained untaught and the syllabus remain uncovered (UNICEF, 1998). The low performance of students eventually means that education does not fetch enough benefits as an investment; parents get demoralized and see education as a waste of time and the resources that could be invested elsewhere.

Change of people’s Attitudes towards education

Parkinson (1976) defined attitudes as either mental readiness or implicit predispositions that exert some general and consistent influence on a fairly large class of evaluative responses. Altitudes are reinforced by beliefs and often lead to particular forms of behavior. Thus we can infer that our perceptions and our value system are shaped by our altitudes which start at a very early stage after birth. Dorothy (1947) suggested that at birth a student’s is exposed to the values and practices of the human group very early in life, and that one becomes a cultural being by learning the ways of his people.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

This chapter includes the research design, area and population of study, the sample size, sample selection techniques, data collection methods, research procedure, validity, reliability and data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

This study is both quantitative and qualitative and is based on the cross-sectional survey design. According to Linda, (2002), a cross-sectional survey is a design used to collect data at one point in time from a sample selected to represent a larger population. The combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches increases the quality of research because the results from each method reinforce each other for consistency. Qualitative techniques help the researcher to come up with conclusions on variables that may not be quantified while quantitative techniques help in establishing numerical values attached to variables.

3.2 Area and population of study

The study will be carried out in 5 selected schools in Wakiso District. The population of study will include, the school administration specifically the Head teachers, teachers and female students. Such categories will act as the population sampling frames. The specific numbers of people in each of these frames in the five schools altogether are presented in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Summary of the accessible population

Source: School Records, 2015

3.3 Sample size

The sample size of 100 people will be selected from the accessible population as research respondents. The sample size will be determined basing on the guiding arguments of research methodology experts such as Gay, (1983); Krejcie and Morgan, (1970). Gay, (1983) suggests that for a correlation research, 30% of the accessible population or more is required while for descriptive studies, 20% is enough. As for Krejcie and Morgan, (1970), cases must be included in the study if the research population is ranging from 0-10.

In the case of this study whose research design embodies both descriptive and correlation characteristics, the 30% scale will be used to determine the sub sample from the population frames that exceed 10 people. And these will include teachers and the female students. For the rest of the frames with less than 11 subjects all the people will be included in the total sample. These include head teachers. This process cuts across all the five secondary schools in Wakiso district as summarized in Table 3.2 below.

Table 3.2:  The process of determining the sample population size

Source: Gay, (1983); Krejcie and Morgan, (1970).

3.3 Sample selection

The researcher will use both purposive and stratified random sampling techniques. Purposive sampling will be employed for choosing the head teachers. Who will be regarded as key informants and will be asked to fill interview schedules.

Stratified random sampling will be used for selection of teachers and students. This sampling method involves dividing members of the population into homogeneous subgroups from which specifically required numbers will be indiscriminately chosen respectively, to raise the sample population. This process often improves the representativeness of the sample by reducing sampling error. It minimizes the variability of the sample from the population (Hunt and Tyrrell, 2001). With this method, teachers and students will be identified separately and respective numbers specified in Table 3.2 above will be randomly selected; 153 students and 44 teachers will be randomly selected. These will be asked to fill questionnaires. Altogether the sample population of 202 will be selected.

3.5 Data collection instruments

The study will use the questionnaire and interview schedules for collection of the required data.

3.5.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaires will be used to collect data from teachers and students, preferably identified as general respondents. At least 197 questionnaires altogether will be prepared and administered. The students’ questionnaires will be self-administered by the researcher while teachers will be asked to fill theirs independently. The questionnaires will contain both closed and open questions. Close-ended questions will be used to collect quantifiable data relevant for precise and effective correlation of research variables.

The closed ended questions will be used because they are easy to fill, saves time and keeps respondents on the subject.  The Likert scale will be used for some of the closed ended questions, such as; strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. Open-ended questions will be used to enable respondents add more in-depth relevant information and experiences.

3.5.2 Interview schedule

Interviews will be semi structured schedules. Five interview schedules will be distributed and administered among 5 key informants (head teachers). The interview schedule is composed of open and some closed questions. Open ended questions will intend to enable informants substantiate their perceptions and provide detailed data on certain research variables.

3.6 Procedure for data collection

The researcher will collect the introductory letter from the Dean Graduate Studies of Uganda Christian University to enable her to conduct this study. With this letter she will proceed to Wakiso District Headquarters where she will seek permission from the District Education Officer to conduct a field survey in the five selected schools. While in the respective schools of study, she will first seek permission in the head teachers’ offices to engage the target respondents including the head teachers themselves, teachers, and students. After, questionnaires and interview schedules will be distributed among the selected respondents and key informants in the target schools. Particularly the researcher will adopt a self-administered questionnaire method for students that may not effectively fill questionnaires by themselves considering their younger age and perhaps the language proficiency barrier. As other participants will fill questionnaires and interview schedules, the researcher will check on each of the respective schools to address raised queries. Informed consent will be first obtained from participants after explaining the reason of the study to them. After a specified time scale amicably agreed with participants, the researcher will collect the filled instrument drafts.  The collected data will be set for analysis and interpretation.

3.7 Validity and Reliability of Instruments

3.7.1 Validity

The validity of the research instruments will be determined by discussing several drafts of the questionnaires and interview schedules with colleagues. The drafts will be also discussed with the researcher’s supervisors. Necessary adjustments will be made and the instruments will be then set for a pilot- run to be conducted in different area. In this case, the instruments will be administered with a number of respondents selected from the respective population frames similar to those that will be later selected for the main study; 1 head teacher, 4 teachers, and 10 students. This will be done in two Schools.  The findings of the pilot run will be analysed and discussed with the researcher’s supervisor. After discussion, the content validity of the instruments will be determined before the main field survey.

3.7.2 Reliability

The reliability of the research instruments will be established using the SPSS Cronbach Alpha Coefficient test. Specifically, this test will cover the research items systematically arranged in the questionnaire and interview schedule according to the research questions. All the variables reflected in these grouped research items of the questionnaire and the interview schedule will be particularly tested using the SPSS Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient. As a result, this SPSS Reliability test should yield a Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient of about 0.7-1.0. Given this statistical output the research instruments will be proved reliable. This is because according to Reynaldo (1999), a research instrument is reliable within the range of 0.7- 1.0.

Content validity of questionnaires will be determined by expert judgement of 3 raters who will confirm that the instrument contained the adequate content.

3.8 Data processing and analysis

3.8.1 Processing and analysis of quantitative data

For purpose of processing data, questionnaires will be sorted, numbered and data entered accordingly. Data will be categorised according to the target population, identified and assembled. It will be edited to reduce it from detailed to summarized form. Then for effective analysis, this data will then be coded and entered into the computer using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) programme. This programme will be used to produce the relevant descriptive frequencies and variable correlations coefficients of the Pearson’s Correlation Test. Afterwards frequency and percentage tables were derived from SPSS frequencies and levels of significance between variable relationships will be deduced from the Correlation co-efficient output. Where necessary charts and diagrams will be derived from the same data frequencies using the micro excel computer programme. These quantitative statistical methods are used to interpret variable relationships for simple and meaningful information.

3.8.2 Processing and analysis of qualitative data

Qualitative data includes interview data. For effective processing, this data will be continually edited even during data collection. My colleagues and data analysis expert will check for uniformity, accuracy, consistency, legibility and comprehensiveness of the data.  During this process, irrelevant data will be eliminated and the relevant one will be organised according to the study objectives. Then data will be analysed using the interpretive analysis. This will include descriptive or explanatory methods used for data presentation and analysis. This will be done to interpret relationships between variables into meaningful and simple information.

3.9 Measurement of variables

The study will be based on different scales of variable measurements deemed appropriate for data management in view of the concept of study, the research design and nature of data. These include the nominal, ordinal, in some cases interval and the particularly the ratio measurement scales.

3.9.1 Nominal measurement scale

The nominal scale will be used for coding of responses to research items (questions) in the questionnaires and interview schedules. This will be particularly meant for identification purposes and will be therefore useful for categorisation of responses into sameness and/or difference.

3.9.2 Ordinal measurement scale

The ordinal level of measurement will be used for establishing rank orders of the nominally categorised responses into comparable response frequencies. This will be useful for categorisation and comparing statistical values of different response frequencies in order to show which is greater or less than the other or equal with each other.

3.9.3 Interval measurement scale

The interval scale will be used for variable measurement of research items that required response coding and comparison along interval ranks. This particularly will cover response items categorised in intervals such as age groups, experience of service, and number of children cared.

3.9.4 Ratio measurement scale

The ratio scale will be used more particularly for specifying proportionalities of difference or sameness between data variables. This will be vital for interpreting the significance levels of the relationships between data variables in order to draw simple and meaningful information from the questionnaires and interview data.