Huge dropout recorded in Forms 3 and 4

Thousands of students are opting out of secondary school before KCSE, with the highest numbers recorded among those heading to Form 4.

Assessing a five-year period between 2014 and last year, data from the Economic Survey 2019 reveals a worrying pattern where thousands of learners are dropping out at Form 3.

In what could be a major worry to policymakers in education, official government data shows that about 407,300 teenagers who joined Form 1 got to Form 2 but dropped out either in their third or fourth year. 

This means an average of 81,460 students withdrew from either Form 3 or 4 every year.

This is even as the ministry boasts of increased enrollment in schools and heightened campaigns to ensure 100 per cent transition to secondary school.

The number of students in secondary school currently stands at 3.1 million up from 2.94 million last year.

Despite these numbers accounting for a minimal percentage of the total secondary enrollment, stakeholders now term the trend "a time bomb" that needs urgent attention.

Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Indimuli Kahi yesterday told the Star that poverty, retrogressive cultural practices and drugs account for the big percentage of those dropping out.

The data analysis shows in the last five years 299,700 students in Form 3 dropped out before getting to Form 4.

This is despite the government spending close to Sh20 billion on the students in the last four years. Last year alone, 94,100 who were in Form 3 did not proceed to Form 4.

Some 50,500 Form 3 students in 2014 did not proceed to Form 4, some 64,600 in 2015 and 90,500 in 2016.

"Examination phobia is a contributing factor in the high number of learners dropping out in Form 3. Most of them are in day school and from poor backgrounds," Kahi said.

Another 107,600 students dropped out in Form 2 before transiting to Form 3 during the same period.

However, the biggest chunk of those dropping out is girls.

For those headed to Form 3, girls accounted for 64,000 dropouts while boys accounted for 43,600 students. 

Further, for those headed to Form 4, about 162,600 were girls while boys were 137,100.

"Teen pregnancies are a major problem and in some areas, the female learners are not privileged to go back to school after they become mothers," Kahi said.

Data from the Ministry of Health’s District Health Information System (DHIS) show an estimated 378,497 adolescent girls between the ages of 10-19 dropped out of school due to pregnancy between July 2016 and June 2017.

More specifically, there were 28,932 girls ages 10-14 and 349,465 girls ages 15-19 who became pregnant. 

(Edited by R.Wamochie)