Browsing by Author "Mathias, Judith"

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    Influence of socio-cultural practices on students’ participation in secondary school education in Songwe district, Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2019) Mathias, Judith
    This study aimed at investigating the influence of socio-cultural practices on students’ participation in secondary school education in Songwe district, Tanzania. Three research objectives guided this study: firstly, to identify common types of socio-cultural practices in Songwe district. Secondly, to examine the effects of socio-cultural practices on students participation in secondary school education in Songwe district, and lastly to explore parents’, students’, techers’ and heads of school’ views and suggestions on the effects of socio-cultural practices on students’ participation in secondary school education in Songwe district. The study employed qualitative research approach and adopted a multiple case study design. Four secondary schools were stratified and purposively sampled from the district. The study involved a total of 76 participants including four heads of schools, 16 teachers who were selected purposively and 32 students who were obtained through intensively purposeful sampling. 16 parents obtained through criterion purposeful sampling technique and eight victim students who were selected using snowball sampling. The study used four types of data collection instruments, namely interview schedules, documentary review guide, focus group discussion guide and non-participant observation checklist. Data were analyzed thematically following Miles and Huberman model of 1994. Major findings showed that common socio-cultural practices in Songwe district were early pregnancies, early marriages, superstition beliefs, alcoholism, polygamies, sex preferences and traditional ceremonies, all of which impinged upon students’ participation in secondary school education. The findings revealed that the mentioned socio-cultural practices affected secondary school students in different ways, including performing poorly in studies dropping out, misbehaving among students, increased inferiority complex among girls due to sex preference, misunderstanding between students, and lowering teaching spirit among teachers. Beside, in overcoming the negative effects caused by various socio-cultural practices, participants suggested building hostels, enacting effective laws and regulations, abandoning harmful socio-cultural practices, providing guidance and counseling services to students and educating the community through public gatherings on importance of education to their children. In relation to the findings it is concluded that the identified and documented socio-cultural practices may cause low participation of secondary school students in education particularly girls. Based on the findings, it is recommended that more emphasis should be put on campaigns to fight against harmful socio-cultural practices in Songwe district.