Identifying and examining the intervention efforts currently in place to address the education of girls at the secondary school level

Abstract

This study sought to establish the intervention efforts currently in place to address girls' education. Despite concerted international efforts to eliminate gender disparity in education, the gender gap is still widening, and discrimination continues to permeate the educational systems in some African countries. The tool for data collection was a set of questionnaires made particularly for the students in and out of school. A key approach used by the study was Focus Group Discussion (FGD) supplemented by in- depth interviews. The study also made use of direct observations guided by an observation guide or checklist. Furthermore, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. On efforts being made, 29 per cent of the respondents had gotten bursary allocation, while 32 per cent had not gotten any assistance at all. However, principals responded that they offered employment to the very needy parents at school and deducted part of the fees from their salaries in an effort to retain the girls in school. The following recommendations were made. There was a need to inculcate awareness among stakeholders, namely the community and the parents /guardians, teachers, and girls, as well as the importance of girls’ education and ways of ensuring retention of girls at school until completion of school. This study identified that making sure that girls get an education involves tackling social issues such as child labour, unwanted pregnancies, forms of discrimination, early marriage and other problems that keep girls away from school.