Causes and Effects of Girl Child Dropouts in Zimbabwean Secondary Schools: A Case Study of Chadzamira Secondary School, Gutu District

While the subject of child dropout has been heavily contested in education studies in the last few decades in developing countries like Zimbabwe, the monumental studies on the concept have emphasised child’s (both boy and girl child) right to education. Insignificant attention has been devoted to examining the causes and effects of girl child dropouts in secondary schools especially in the countryside where the problem is widespread. Yet, girl child dropout is a serious problem that dramatically impact on national development of Zimbabwe, and Africa in general. In this paper, I therefore attempt to examine the causes and effects of rural girl child dropouts in Zimbabwean secondary schools, and I adopt Chadzamira secondary school of Gutu rural district as a case study. The choice of Zimbabwe and, in particular Chadzamira secondary school as a case study is not accidental. It is based on the fact that while Zimbabwe is one of the developing countries with high literacy rate in Africa, girl child dropout rate, especially in rural secondary schools remains high. To establish the causes and effects of girl child dropouts, eight classes of forms one to four were studied. Ad questionnaire comprising closed and open items was also used as a data collection tool. Data was summarised by means of frequency tables and analyzed qualitatively using evaluative descriptions. The study revealed that most of the girl child dropout cases were a result of early marriages, abject poverty, economic hardships as well as religious and traditional beliefs that work against educating girl child. From the foregoing, the paper recommends that civil education and concientisation of rural parents, teachers and the girl child on the importance of girl child education be made as a matter of urgency if the current situation is to be amicably dealt with. This could be done by both non-governmental organisations and the national government.