Factors influencing school dropouts in a sub-Saharan African nation : perceptions of Ethiopian educators
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Date
1990
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Abstract
Commissions and Task Forces established by the Ethiopian Ministry of Education on different occasions to evaluate the national educational system have identified dropping out of school as the major educational problem of the country. However, no in-depth inquiry has been conducted in the nation to identify the factors influencing students to leave school before attaining a desirable program of study. This study was, therefore, conducted to identify the primary reasons related to students dropping out of school in Ethiopia. The research is a descriptive survey study. The study examined the perceptions held by Ethiopian educators (teachers, principals, and central office administrators) regarding early school-leavers in the country. Data pertinent to the study was obtained from a sample of 315 national educators attending the 1989 Summer Inservice Programs at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa and Kotobe Teachers College at Kotobe. A survey instrument designed for this purpose was used as a means of data gathering. The findings of the study show the following reasons as the top ten factors influencing students to drop out of school in Ethiopia: socio-economic status, providing assistance to parents during seasonal crop harvest, uncertainty of career goals, early marriage, attending to additional home responsibilities, lack of learning interest, influence of large family size, low level of parental education, poor academic achievement, and poor health. Also, the inability to pay school fees, distance of school from home, problems with the language of instruction, pregnancy, irrelevant curriculum, low self-esteem, full-time employment, the impact of single parenting, and addiction to substances have been found to have intermediate effects upon the continued schooling of students. In addition to these factors, the effects of natural disasters, and the policy of conscripting young men into the government military, or the practices employed by the opposing rebel groups in recruiting youth into their guerilla forces, were identified by the study population as some of the most glaring factors leading students to withdraw from school in Ethiopia.
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Major subject: Educational administration
Vita
Major subject: Educational administration
Keywords
Dropouts, Education, Major educational administration