Determinants of Under-representation of Kenyan University Students in Selected Ball Games at the International Competitions

Abstract

Girl child drop out in Garowe District, Nugaal region has been an existing educational challenge for the last 10years.In order to improve girl child education and particularly the retention rate of girls, an in depth research, analysis and documentation of the factors affecting Girl child drop out is required to enable educational stakeholders to strategize towards better performance. The study aimedatidentifyingthemostinfluentialsocio-culturalfactorsaffecting girl child education in Garowe District. A descriptive survey study design was used and questionnaires were used as the main instruments. This instrument was structured to have both open ended and closed ended questions. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the study sample which was for public secondary schools. The researcher collected data from the parents, head teachers, class teachers and students. After collecting data the researcher checked the questionnaires for completeness, accuracy and uniformity of the information obtained. The data was then coded and analyzed using SPSS to get the frequencies and percentages, and presented in tables.The study was conducted from four selected secondary schools in Garowe District. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design on which both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The study consisted of 337 respondents, composed of four head teachers, twenty four teachers‟, three hundred and one pupils and eight parents. The study used self- administered questionnaire and an interview guide as the data collection instruments. A review of the relevant written documents was also made to supplement the primary data. The data collected was presented in a bar graph, a pie chart and score tables. Interpretations and conclusions were made according to the frequency of responses. The findings revealed that there were varying socio-cultural factors that compelled girls to drop out of school at an early age. The major socio-cultural factor accounting for the early female dropouts in secondary schools was poverty manifested by; the parents‟ inability to pay fees and to provide scholastic materials for their children, lack of female role models in the teaching force and early marriages. This is worsened by the preference of boys to girls. It was recommended from the study findings that; the Puntland government should take affirmative action to maximize girls‟ education by allocating more scholarships for girls, construction of girl friendly spaces, strengthening gender policy, recruiting more female teachers as a role model in all schools, and set laws against parents who are reluctant to educate their children. Increasing access, retention and performance of girls in education must be a state priority for Puntland. Finally, areas for further research were suggested, this included; causes of high rates of female school dropouts, the parents‟ attitudes towards the girl child education and the possible policy alternatives that can improve on girls‟ education in Garowe district, Puntland, Somalia.