| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to establish the determinants of girl's transition in upper primary in beaches of Mbita district. It was guided by five objectives that focused on the influence of the beaches on girls' education in upper primary school. The impact of cultural beliefs in girls' transition into upper primary, the influence of teachers and pupils characteristics and the influence of proximity to the beach on girls' education.
The literature review focused on factors militating on transition into upper primary including the personality of the girl child in learning factors determining girl's education, early marriages as influenced by the beaches, the girl child labour, socioeconomic factors on continuous learning and the parental influences on the academic ability of girls to learning. The target population included all the 80 primary schools in Mbita and the sample size included 40 primary schools. The respondents of the study were 40 headteachers, 200 girls in upper primary school and 1 District Education Officer (D.E.O).
The study adopted descriptive survey design and the main tool for data collection was a questionnaire. The data was analyzed using descriptive qualitative statistics such as frequency Tables and percentages. Through data analysis the study established that, the beach affects girls education negatively through making them lag behind the syllabus because many of thy students are absent from school hence forcing teachers to repeat topics taught in order to take care of the absentee students, this was as attested by 40% of the respondent.
The study also established that that closeness to the beach denies pupils the opportunity to attend to lessons regularly as hence making it difficult for the teachers to give homework to supplement work done in class during normal class hours. It was also established that girls are exposed to money along the beaches hence making them prefer dropping out of school for quick money than staying in class. It was also established that girls were allocated more duties than boys as shown by 73.1 % of the pupils.
The study also revealed that there are some cultural factors such feeding babies, early marriages, fish mongering, fish selling, fishing smoking which affect girls. The study also established that there are social problems encountered by the girls in g6rimary such problems include, absenteeism, drop out, early marriage, early pregnancy, fish for sex exchange, immorality, irresponsible parenthood, orphanhood and truancy. Based on the findings of the study it is recommended that The Ministry of Education should establish schools that care for girls who have been withdrawn from early marriages and who have been exposed to beach life.
The policy makers in the Ministry of Education should also come up with long lasting strategies to enhance transition of girls to upper primary especially along the beaches because these beaches habour many illiterate people who would not wish to spend money on education but would rather make merry with their little incomes. The other recommendation is that the schoo I administrators should maintain high level discipline in school as this will reduce the dropout rates. Finally the study recommends that the teachers and parents who engage the girls in domestic chores at the expense of learning should be punished as stipulated in the laws governing the children. | en_US |
