Correlates of dropping out of basic schools in the Volta region: The case of Akatsi district

Abstract

The incidence of school drop out in the basic schools in Ghana has been persistent. The objective of this study, therefore, was to find out the main factors responsible for dropping out of basic schools in the Volta Region of Ghana. The samples used for the study were dropouts and Junior Secondary School (J.S.S.) students still in school (non-dropouts) in the Akatsi district. A total sample size of 357 primary and J.S.S students comprising 214 dropouts and 143 non-dropouts were used. The snowball and purposive sampling techniques were used in selecting the dropouts while the random sampling technique was resorted to in selecting the 143 non-dropouts from IS Junior Secondary Schools.Two sets of structured interview schedule were used as instruments to collect data for the study. One set of the structured interview schedule was used for the dropouts and the other for non-dropouts. Frequencies, percentage distributions, crosstabulations and the chi-square test were used to analyse the data collected. The main finding of the study was that the incidence of household and community poverty is so high in the Akatsi district. The effects of this are that: (a) parents are unable to provide their children with their school needs, pay their children's school fees, and provide their children with pocket money; (b) manual labour was used excessively to support most of the schools; (c) teenage pregnancy was rampant.The main recommendations, in effect, are that: (a) the central government should review the policy of communities proViding classroom infrastructure and furniture for their schools; (b) a fund be instituted by the District Assembly to assist very needy pupils! students in the district; (c) income· generating jobs be developed in the area by the central government; (d) sex education be intensified in the basic schools in the district.