School dropout rate up, says new survey

The number of pupils who graduate to secondary school has dropped sharply, says a new study.

A recent survey indicates that only 22.8 per cent of the country’s population has secondary education and above, as opposed to the high number of Kenyans who complete primary schools.

Despite the high expansion in the education sector both in budgetary allocation and training personnel, the report reveals that 25 per cent of the population has no education.

According to the report ‘Pulling Apart or Pooling Together’, the trend can be partly attributed to the migration dynamics, which show a correlation between educational attainment and rural-urban migration.

The survey, which is set to be published Tuesday, has further exposed the gap in households headed by different genders.

The study reveals that households headed by women are more than those led by men. An estimated 17.2 million households are being headed by women while men only lead 16 million.

In terms of education for the male and female-headed households, families led by men have attained higher educational levels.

In the male-headed households, 23 per cent do not have any education while 24.7 per cent have attained more than secondary school education.

“Individuals in female-headed households in urban areas are 2.5 times more likely to have secondary education than those in rural areas. The size and proportion of the population with no education is higher in female-headed households in both urban and rural areas. Conversely, the proportion of the population with secondary education and above is highest in male-headed households in urban areas,” the report says.

However, the survey indicates that life is tougher in the urban centres for those who have little education as compared to individuals in the rural area.

Overall, individuals in urban areas who have no education are twice as likely to be without work as their counterparts in rural areas.

The report says people with secondary education and above are concentrated in Central and Western regions of the country.

The differential in access, the study says, can be attributed not only to a higher population density in these areas, but also to a historic lack of investment in provision of infrastructure that ensures equitable access to education opportunities.

The report says Turkana residents are seven times less likely to have access to secondary education than an average Kenyan.