Environmental factors and girl child drop out in selected primary schools of Bundibugyo district, Uganda

Abstract

The study investigated environmental factors influencing the girl child dropout in selected primary schools . Specifically, the study examined school and family related factors and identified legal measures that are being applied to minimize the rate of girl child dropout from primary schools in Bundibugyo District, Uganda. The study was guided by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Attribution Theories. A case study was employed in a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. A sample of 154 respondents was drawn randomly selected from the continuing upper primary P.5 (40) and P.6 (40) and out of school pupils (40) respectively, Key informants were drown from School Management Committee (16), Inspectors of Schools (2), and Senior men (8) and Senior women (8) teachers. This study reveals that despite education being an important pillar for the development of any society and a precursor for attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), girl child drop out of school has persisted. School factors like long distance to school, inadequate and inappropriate water and sanitation facilities, lack of provision of scholastic materials, lack of guidance and counselling; and family factors like early and forced girl child marriages, lack of parents provision of breakfast, poverty and parents negative attitudes about the education of girl child, and inadequate measures due to weak legal laws and policies have been some of the factors that have contributed to influence girl child drop out of school. This study recommends the need for school and family awareness on the positive impact and importance of education for the girl child as well as the dangers of certain cultural beliefs, developing legal binding policies to prevent early school leaving require multi-perspective targeting, involving individual school, continuous monitoring of gender friendly water and sanitation facilities to promote efficiency particularly for female pupils and those pupils with disabilities.