Causes of Dropouts among CAMFED Bursary Supported School Girls in Chirozva School Cluster, Buhera District of Manicaland Province (Zimbabwe)

Abstract

The study investigated the causes of dropouts among students under the CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) Bursary programme. The target population of the study was 53 secondary schools in all 5 clusters in Buhera district of Manicaland province in Zimbabwe. One cluster, Chirozva, out of five clusters was purposively selected with a total number of four secondary schools. However, only three secondary schools were finally used for the study. A total number of 74 school girls and 3 teacher-mentors were used as respondents in the study. Open and close ended questionnaires and documentary records were used for data collection. It was found that there were individual, family and school factors contributing to dropout cases for the sponsored girls. An analysis of dropout cases also revealed that 68% of the girls dropped out due to voluntary, forced or arranged marriages. It is recommended that families, schools, donors, law enforcement agents and the psychological support systems adopt a holistic approach to this societal problem.