Effect of Early Pregnancy on Girls’ Academic Achievement in Public Secondary Schools in Rwanda
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t50110Abstract
Early pregnancy in secondary schools is a problem of great concern. It is likely to affect the academic achievement, for instance in adolescent girls. Hence, the purpose of this paper therefore, was to assess the effects of early pregnancy on the girls’ academic achievement in public secondary schools in Bugesera District, Rwanda. The study adopted the correlation research design. The target population was 220, including 200 students, 15 teachers and 5 school head teachers. The study used a simple random sampling and convenient sampling techniques to get the sample size of 154 respondents. Questionnaire and interview guide were used as data collection instruments. The analysis of data was done using SPSS version 21. The findings revealed that 71.9% of students and 47.7% of teachers agreed that various causes of early pregnancies to girls in public secondary schools located in Bugesera district include peer pressure, use of social media, lack of sex education and parental guidance. The study found that 70.4% of students and 56.0% of teachers agreed that there was girls’ academic achievement in terms of getting degree and certificate and career and professional development in public secondary schools. The study indicated there is a significance correlation between girls’ early pregnancies and academic achievement. Based on the findings, the study recommends that parents should make close guidance to their children. The school administration and head teachers should make effective control and supervision about the students’ behavior in school setting. The government should put much emphasis of allocating punishment that should be given to people that make sex violence, mostly children who are in school ages.
Keywords: Adolescent girls, early pregnancy, academic achievement and public secondary school.
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