Achieving Universal Primary Education: A Case Study of Drop Out in Ghana.

Drop out among school children especially at the basic school level has over the years gained the attention of many ministries of education, international organizations and scholars in the academia. It is said to inhabit threat to achieving universal primary education (UPE) everywhere, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. To some recent studies, the phenomenon of drop out is said to be somewhat responsible for increased crime in some parts of Africa. It is the goal of this study to understand why students drop out of school in Ghana and also what strategies there are to mitigate it. The study does so by comparing rural drop out to that of the urban as it carried out field work in four schools in five different communities. The study used the qualitative research approach to address what factors there were in causing children to drop out of school and what strategies are laid down by the government, better still the Ghana Education service in reducing drop out. The study employed semi-structured interviews to gather data from the various stake holders- directors of education, circuit supervisors , head teachers, teachers, parents and most importantly the drop outs themselves. Such data was collected from the four schools in the five communities in both the rural and urban areas chosen for this study. The study investigated six factors as influencing drop out among school children in the selected areas. It also identified both macro and micro- level strategies for mitigating drop out in the rural and urban schools. The study shows how the contextual differences of children, among others can influence their decision to drop out of school. The study indicates that drop out among school children in both rural and urban areas is predominantly caused by poverty, child labour, academic performance, pregnancy, corporal punishment (CP) and school context. The study makes clearer that such factors that cause children to drop out of school are not adequately independent but there are cases where one factor may coincide with the other to bring about drop out decision. It makes explicit that that the individual and institutional related factors of drop out sometimes work in connection with one another culminating in drop out. Like it has been said earlier, macro and micro level strategies are found for mitigating drop out in rural and urban schools in Ghana. The macro strategies identified include, school feeding programme, free school uniform distribution and free education. The micro strategies include effective teaching, child safety, child friendly school environment, scholarship, guidance and counseling, introduction of kindergarten, role of NGOs, role of the family, communal by laws, among others. Frank Yeboah-Obeng June, 2016