Effects of Orphan hood on Girl-child’s Access and Retention in Secondary School Education: A Case of Rongo District, Kenya

Abstract

This study focused on orphan hood which is a critical issue in almost every household not only in Kenya but also the world over. Orphans are at risk of losing their learning time as well as being involved in child labor among others. Orphan hood can be associated with an increased demand of the child’s time in home production which results in less schooling. The objective of this article was; to identify the school related effects of orphan hood on the girl-child’s access and retention in secondary school education in Rongo District, Kenya. Ho1: There is no statistically significant school related effects of orphan hood on the girl-child’s access and retention in secondary school education in Rongo District, Kenya. This study was guided by the classical -liberal theory of equal opportunity (Rousseau, 1712) asserted that each person is born with a given amount of capacity, which to a large extent is inherited and cannot be substantially changed. The study adopted the descriptive survey design and targeted a population of orphaned girl-child in secondary schools in Rongo District, Kenya.36 Head teachers and 36 teacher counselors from the 36 sampled secondary schools in Rongo District were included in the study to provide the required information about the orphaned girl-child. The 36 sampled secondary schools included 23 mixed day, 5 girls boarding, 6 mixed day/boarding and 2 mixed boarding secondary schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 468 orphaned girls, and purposive random sampling was used to include the 36 head teachers and 36 teacher counselors totaling to 540 respondents. Data was collected using closed and open ended questionnaires. The questionnaires were pre-tested by being administered to 30 respondents from two schools which were not included in the study. The scores obtained from the first and second tests were 0.76 and 0.77 respectively. The descriptive statistics including percentages mean and frequency tables were used to analyze International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development the data. Inferential statistics such as chi-square (χ
2 ) was also used to analyze quantitative data. All hypotheses testing procedures were based on α = 0.05 level of significance. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.0 computer programme. The study found out that orphan hood significantly affects the girl-child’s access and retention in secondary school education in Rongo District. The study recommends that guidance and counseling interventions be put in place to address school related, sociocultural, socio-economic effects and needs of orphaned girl-child. The results of the study would help the government in formulation of policy and programme interventions aimed at helping the orphaned girl-child and to specifically address the needs of the families with such children by making the said policies and programmes as proactive as possible to the needs of the orphans.