This study examines the causes and effects of early girl-child dropouts in secondary schools in the Zwelibomvu area in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The area has a significantly high record of dropouts among girls compared to their boy counterparts, resulting in an unbalanced gender ratio at schools. This study aims to interrogate the factors that contribute to high dropout rates among girl-children and to suggest recommendations for consideration by policy makers as a way of mitigating the plight of the girl-child in the education system. This study seeks to
highlight the personal, familial, socio-cultural, and educational complexities that militate against the education of the rural girl-child. The study is grounded on the Liberal Feminism and Nego Feminism as its theoretical frameworks. The study used the qualitative interpretivist and critical paradigm as a method of enquiry in examining the lived experiences of the parents and the girl-children who have dropped out of school. Purposive sampling was used to select the girl-children and their parents as participants for this ethnographic study. Most of these participants have in one way or the other been affected by school dropout, thus they have firsthand experience. This sampling method necessitated the unearthing of the facts premised on the rural girl-children dropping out of school in Zwelibomvu area. The study demonstrates the connection between the topography and the socio-cultural activities of the area, and the history of education; the rurality of the area and the predicament of girl-child dropping out of school. Data reveal the experiences of girl-children who have dropped out of school, thus revealing a tapestry of factors that account for their absence from school and the difficulty barring them from returning to school. The findings reveal that early pregnancy, child-headed homes, vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the spread of HIV and AIDS are the most fundamental causes of dropouts among girl-children. The study also shows a strong connection between early pregnancy, early marriage, and motherhood responsibilities as all
these work against the girl-child’s continued school attendance, resulting in the subsequent school dropout. The findings of this study show the pivotal role that cultural tradition plays in compelling the girl-child to drop out of school. This study indicates how the plight of the girlchild can be curbed, particularly through the adoption of the liberaland nego feminist theoriesas the theories that framed the study. These theories are relevant to the study insofar as they can address school dropout among girl-children as they embrace equity and equal access and
culture. Thus, they address familiar issues affecting women within the African continent. The study also reveals that traditional practices such as early marriages, the practice of ukuthwala, ukukhethwa and virginity testing and society’s perceptions of the girl-child’s education are linked with the relegation of the girl-child into subjugation. All these practices make the authority of men highly pronounced thus suppressing the voice of women. Within
these traditional practices, girls endure gender-based violence, rape, assaults, and other abuses which largely complicate aspirations of continued education for rural girl-children. Therefore, this study shows that the dependency of young girls on their husbands in patriarchal marriages leads girls to non-participation in decision-making platforms. The exclusion of girl children from education further reduces hopes for girls’ improved lives. This study noted the failure by the education system to ensure that girls are kept at school until they have completed their last grade. The current system of education does not seem to address some of the needs of Black rural children as they are diverse in capabilities; instead, it is designed to address the needs of learners as a homogenous group. The illicit relationships between educators and their learners at school exacerbate the failure of the education system. The girl-children who had dropped out of school indicated an array of effects that emanate from leaving school prematurely. The effects include but not limited to strained life, high rate of unemployment, multiple pregnancies from different fathers, stagnant socio-economic state, unhappy and miserable life and repeated dropouts. These effects may, to a large extent, affect the girl-child’s self-esteem and self concept thus reducing her to an inferior position in society. This study, therefore, suggests the need to adopt strategies that assist girls that have dropped out of school to return to school. It recommends that efforts be made towards returning girls that have dropped out of school to continue with school and further keep them at school until they have completed the last grade which is an entrance requirement for tertiary education.
Key words: girl-child education, school dropout, rural schools, early marriage, early pregnancy