Challenges and coping strategies of student mothers of UCC college of distance education: the case of the Cape Coast centre

Abstract

Distance Education has been institutionalised in the public universities in Ghana and women who enrol in the programmes have to combine their family roles with work and their academic pursuits. This study sought to find out the challenges and coping strategies of student mothers of the College of Distance Education of the University of Cape Coast (CoDE, UCC). The study employed the descriptive survey. A questionnaire in the Likert-type scale was used to collect data from 175 student mothers of CoDE, UCC at the Cape Coast study centre. The data collected was analysed and discussed using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. It was found that the student mothers (a minimum of 71%) performed a lot of laborious nonacademic activities daily in their homes and the combination of these roles with their academics pose negative high effect on their family lives and academics. Unfortunately, the coping strategies they employed were, to a large extent, ineffective and wished for better ones.Among the conclusions was the supposition that student mothers have inevitable academic impediments that emanate from the non-academic activities that they perform, and therefore, the success of their academic pursuit is at the expense of the time they have for their families. It is recommended that CoDE, in collaboration with the Counselling Unit of the University of Cape Coast should, as part of their orientation programme, provide intensive counselling services to all the female students to be aware of the academic challenges that awaits them when they conceive or deliver in the course of reading their programmes.