Factors associated with school dropout of learners aged 6– 6 years in Uganda

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating factors associated with school dropout of learners aged 6-16 years in Uganda. The assessment was made using socio-demographic, economic and predisposing factors using secondary data sourced from the UWEZO (2012) survey comprising of 87,522 records of learners in the country. The analysis was made using a time-to-event analysis based on the Kaplan-Meier estimate, the Log-rank Chi-square test and Multi-level Cox-Proportional Hazard Model clustered by region. In the results, the median completion class among learners who dropped out of school (n = 1895) was P.4, range P.1 – S.4. In the multivariate analysis clustered by region, school drop-out varied significantly by learner’s age, father’s and mother’s education, having mid-day meals, family size, attainment in numeracy and literacy, child labor, provision of private tutoring as well as parent visit to child school (p < 0.05). Particularly, the risk of dropout was lower among learners born to fathers with primary and secondary education, learners who could recognize numbers 10 – 99, add, subtract and divide in numeracy; those who managed story problems, learners from households with more than five members; those who had access to private tutoring and learners whose parents visited them in school. On the other hand, the risk was higher among learners who were not provided by mid-day meals and those involved in hazardous work. In light of these findings, two measures for reducing school dropouts are recommended: Stepping up measures against child labor and promoting parent participation in children’s learning.