In this post we will be looking at the girl child drop out; the cause and risk factors of girl child drop out from school.
INTRODUCTION
Generally, in Africa, the causes and effects of female students’ dropouts in schools seems not to have been well researched. Yet, most if not all developing countries in Africa including Nigeria are dramatically affected economically or otherwise, by the ever-increasing female students drop out rate. The concept of dropout in educational system has aroused interest of many professional academics and the public in general. The term is usually used in schools to refer to those students that leave school without the school’s consent either to another school or to ‘sit’ at home. Those pupils who leave school midway before the final year of their educational cycle in which they are enrolled, which could be primary, secondary or advanced level or even college or university levels. Female student dropout is a serious problem that enormously impact on national development of Nigeria and Africa in general. Looking at the term dropout of school, the seed of dropping out have been imbibed from childhood. Many children fail to find self-respect or self-discipline and capacity to cope with problems in ways that are constructive or have any appreciation on the importance of skills needed for learning.
THE GIRL CHILD DROP OUT.
Girls’ dropout rate from school is higher than boys in Nigeria. For various reasons centered on religious, cultural, socio-economic and school related factors, are not given a fair chance in the educational sector. According to UNICEF 2004, about 7.3 million children do not go to school, out of which 62% are girls (UNICEF 2004). The same UNICEF report indicates that girl’s primary school completion rate is far below that of boys, at 85% compared with 76% for boys. This gender gap means that millions more girls than boys are dropping out of school each year. A girl may be withdrawn from school in Nigeria if a good marriage prospect arises and the socio-economic status of the girls imposes considerable constraints upon their continuing stay in school. Nigeria with poverty rate of 73.6% contributes intrinsically and integrally to the rate of female student dropout Also, the natives of the states are still glued to their traditions and customs which one of them is polygamy. This further increases the number of female student dropout of school. Observation denotes that Female students tend to drop out of school due to poverty and polygamy thereby engaging themselves in activities such as farming, petty trading and hawking of grocery products. Some even dropout of secondary school for marriage. Some of the girls that are “privileged” are sent to the urban and peri-urban areas of the state as house helps in rich homes. Furthermore, some girls who hail from the hinterlands of the study area are not civilized and therefore, have no value attached to education. Despite government efforts in encouraging people with enlightenment campaigns and provision of learning facilities in schools in the state, high rate of female student dropout in secondary school in Nigeria remains unabated.
THE CAUSE GIRL CHILD DROPOUT FROM SCHOOL.
- Early marriage among girls
- Traditional belief
- Poverty
- Unwanted pregnancy
- lack of educational support in the home from parents
- student misbehavior
- over age status
- limited English proficiency
- student attendance
- Boredom
- Depression
- poor academic performance
- lack of sufficient individualized attention
- Disconnect between school and academic work.
RISK FACTORS OF GIRL CHILD DROP OUT FROM SCHOOL.
- Youth who drop out from school are at increased risk for displaying socioemotional problems and engaging in delinquent and criminal behavior.
- Low-self-esteem,
- susceptibility to future emotional insecurity
- Behavioral problems are some of the psychological aftermaths of female student dropout of school.
- Depression
- substance abuse
- Truancy
The possible solution of curbing this Girl Child Dropout rate: government should give free education, if possible, to secondary school students in the county, this will assuage the rate at which female students drop out of school due to their socioeconomic backgrounds.