Cultural Lag Facing Education of Girls in Secondary Schools: The Case of Garissa and Ijara Constituencies in Kenya

Abstract

The underrepresentation of girls in schools is a serious problem in many parts of the world and a serious one in Africa especially.  In the wake of today’s occurrences among them women becoming breadwinners because of incidences like divorce, education of girls is being considered equally important in any society in order to make them self- reliant. The study was conducted in Garissa County to identify the cultural hindrance on girl- child education. The study objectively focused on identifying the various cultural aspects that hinder education of girls in secondary schools, then sought to  investigate the various effects of these cultural situations on the education of girls in secondary schools. This was a survey study. The target population was the 4478 students, 242 teachers and  14 head teachers in the study area. A sample size of  780 students, 104 teachers and 13 head teachers was obtained from the target population. Interviews, observations and various academic documents were the data collection methods employed. Qualitative data was done by thematic analysis while any quantitative data was by simple statistics.

Key words: Culture, Girl- child education, Gender, Underrepresentation,  Schooling.