The influence of socio-cultural values on dropout rates of secondary school female students in tunduru district, tanzania

The purpose of the current study was to investigate how socio-cultural values influence the school dropout rate of female students in secondary schools in Tunduru district. The study used a qualitative approach involving a sample of one hundred secondary school female students, and thirty-eight secondary school female dropouts and their parents from five secondary schools in Tunduru district. Several research instruments were used, including questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussion and the review of school records. Content analysis technique was used for the analysis of data, while demographic information was coded and quantified with frequencies and presented in tables. The findings showed that socio-cultural values had an adverse influence on the school dropout rate of female students. Adult sexual orientation introduced in the rites of passage influenced more female students to engage in sexual behaviour. Female students who wanted to leave school for marriage used becoming pregnant as a shortcut. The preference to educate sons influenced parents’ neglect of investment in their daughters’ education for fear of pregnancy. There were more female dropouts from polygamous marriages than those from monogamous marriages because of big size of families and the failure of the parents to afford the costs of living. It also resulted in growing conflicts in the families and the tendency of fathers to isolate and ignore the children of hated mothers and thus failing to give educational support to them. On the basis of these findings, it was recommended to establish girls’ re-entry programmes to help those who terminate schooling because of pregnancy, to campaign for public awareness of the importance of girls’ education, establishing girls’ clubs at school level, establishing an effective enforcement law, and deployment of female teachers in rural schools to act as role models. There is a need also to change the societal negative attitude and overall socio-cultural barriers hindering investment in girls’ education.