Analysis of economic factors responsible for school dropout in rural universal secondary schools of Western Uganda

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze the economic factors that are responsible for school drop out of Universal Secondary Schools in Uganda. The research was carried out from twenty five USE schools in Western Uganda. The schools were chosen because they are government aided (carrying out Universal Secondary Education program. All these schools are day schools, normally such schools where children of the poverty stricken peasants go to because of the inability to meet the high costs of boarding schools. Therefore, they portrayed a fair picture on the research problem. The study was guided by the following objectives; to find out whether parents do provide their children with scholastic materials like books, pens; to establish whether most students have lunch at school in USE schools; to find out whether charging fees influences students drop out in USE schools in Western Uganda and to find out whether students drop out of school because of child labor. A descriptive cross sectional survey research design was adopted with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to collect, present and interpret data as a way of enhancing the quality of the findings of the study. Conclusions and recommendations are highlighted.