Abstract

Girls‘ dropout in primary school continues to be one of the major problems experienced in education system. This study sought to investigate school -related factors affecting girls‘ dropout rates in senior classes at primary school level in Machinga rural. The study examined two rural schools in the district. A qualitative design, which falls under the interpretivist paradigm was used. Participants from two primary schools in Machinga rural and the surrounding communities were purposively sampled. Questionnaires were administered to school heads to provide information about the schools‘ profile. Focus group discussions were conducted with teachers, learners, SMC, parents and dropouts to collect data to allow the researcher a platform to ask open-response questions and to explore the participants‘ perspectives about the causes of learner dropout. The data obtained from the focus group discussions was analyzed thematically by carefully identifying and describing significant themes that emerged from participants‘ responses to interview questions. The study revealed that repeating a class, which in turn make the girls look too old for the class, giving girls negative and demeaning comments when they fail in class and lack of female teachers in senior classes in whom girls can confide in, among others, were some of the school related factors influencing school dropout. Therefore, teachers, the learning environment as well as the school rules and practices were found to contribute to girls‘ dropout. The recommendations of this study were that policies that prohibit learners from repeating a class more than once should be implemented, teachers should be encouraged to use positive and encouraging comments, and female teachers should be allocated to both junior and senior classes.

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School	: School of Education
Issued Date	: 2023

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