Influence of Selected Econonic Factors on Girl child Participation in Secondary School Education in Bureti Sub county, Kenya

Abstract

This study, carried out in Bureti  Sub County,  sought to investigate selected economic factors that affect girl child’s participation in secondary school education in Bureti Sub county. The sub county had 62 secondary schools of which 15 were girls’ schools while 30 were mixed secondary schools and 17 were boys’ schools. The entire sub county had a total population of 12250 students and 406 teachers. The target populations were 5541 Female students and 62 secondary school teacher counselors in thesub countyt. Descriptive Survey research design was used in this study.  A saniple of 360 female students and 16 teacher counselors were drawn from 15 girls’  schools and mixed secondary schools in thesub county using stratified sampling technique. Students and teachers’ questionnaires were used to collect therequired data from therespondents. Research Instruments were validated through pilot study and reliability of 0.75 was determined using theCronbach’s alpha procedure. Descriptive statistics; mean, frequencies and percentages were used to analyze thedata while Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) program was used for analysis. From thestudy, it was established that themost common factors that affected girl child participation in secondary school education were parents’ level of income. These have led to a number of girls dropping out of school. As a recommendation, the govemment should aid education of the girl child through provision of bursaries as effort to ensure equal participation by all students irrespective of their gender..

Key words: Girl Child, Participation, Economic factors,Secondary school education