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SCHOOL DROPOUT AMONG BOYS AND GIRLS FROM SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Education can be defined as “The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself and others intellectually for mature life”  (“Education- Universalium”, 2012). The Education – Universalium (2012) further expound that, “Education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring particular knowledge and skills, as for a profession. According to Murray (1999), education is what takes place in a societal institution of systematic planned learning.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO, 2000)  defines education as an organized and sustained instruction designed to communicate a combination of knowledge,  skills and understanding valuable for all activities of life (Jarvis,1990, p.105). This study will adopt the UNESCO definition because it talks about “organized and sustained instructions” which takes place in formal education set-up.

It has not always been possible that learners acquire necessary knowledge and skills as the definition of education demonstrates, because some of them dropout of school.  Njau and Wamahiu (1994, p. 55) define dropout phenomenon as cases of „children leaving school before completing the prescribed cycle of education.‟ According to this definition,   children may decide to leave school voluntarily or maybe pushed out of the system by a number of factors. Whichever the case, this problem results in to wastage in terms of “inefficient utilization of both human and economic resources by the education system. Late entry, frequent absenteeism and repetition are other indicators of wastage, closely related to the problem of dropout.” (FAWE, 1994, p.55).  School dropout also impinges on the vision 2030, which was set by the Kenyan government to industrialize, through improvement in education and training, (social- vision 2030 n.d). Thus, it leads to wastage of potential human resources necessary for development (Business daily, 2013). The initiation of free primary Education by the government in 2003 and subsidized secondary education in 2008 resulted to increased school enrolments.

However, learners are still dropping out of schools due to factors such as poverty/lack of basic needs, insecurity and catastrophes such as drought and famine (Gathigah, 2010). The notion of gender in relation to drop out problem is significant in education because it helps us to understand that men and women, boys and girls carry out different roles and have diverse needs, talents, knowledge and experiences. It is imperative for educational planners to understand, apply these differences in educational policy, programs and

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