School drop-out: a case study of pupils in basic schools in songor ramsar site of dangme east district

Abstract

The study examined school drop-out among pupils at the Basic Education level in Songor Ramsar Site in the Dangme East District of the Greater Accra Region. The schools in this area were found in settlements called Wekumagbe, Akplabanya, Anyamam, Goi, and Lolonya. A survey was carried out using a combination of cluster, purposive, snowball and simple random sampling techniques. A sample of 110 respondents was selected from Akplabanya and Anyamam Basic Schools. The Study revealed that basic schools in the Songor Ramsar Site faced high rate of school drop-out. The study also revealed that as first step for school drop-out, pupils became truants and eventually drop-out of school. Most pupils dropped out of school to engage in salt mining and fishing mainly due to the inability of parents to provide the basic needs of their children, poor lighting system in the home due to lack of money to buy kerosene and child neglect. It is recommended among others that parents should provide the basic needs of their wards and monitor their school attendance. The Central Government through the District Assembly and Ministry of Education through her various bodies at the grassroot level like the District Oversight Committee on Education, the School Management Committee and the Parent Teacher Association must play their roles and institute rules and regulations to ensure that parents and guardians fulfil their responsibilities towards their children in school.