PREVALENCE OF STUDENTS’ DROP OUT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EBONYI STATE

Abstract

The study investigated prevalence of students’ dropout in public secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Three research questions guided the study. The population of this study comprised all the 120,882 students in 222 public secondary schools in Ebonyi State. The instrument tagged Prevalence of Students Dropout Scale (PSDS) was used to collect data from the respondents. The instrument incorporated other useful data from the Students’ Annual Census Report Chart, Students Records. The instrument was presented for face validation by three experts, one expert from Measurement and Evaluation option of Science Education Department and two experts from Educational Administration and Planning (option) in the Department of Educational Foundations, all in Ebonyi State University. The reliability of the instrument using Cronbach Alpha Analysis yielded a coefficient of 0.76.  The data collected was analyzed using frequency and percentage to answer the research questions 1, 2 and 3 on prevalence of students’ dropout. Graphs were also used to illustrate the results. The findings among others revealed that the prevalence of students’ dropout from public secondary schools by education zones, recorded high students’ dropout in Abakaliki, Afikpo and Onueke zones in Ebonyi State. The finding is indeed worrisome and could be detrimental to the future of Nigerian students, especially in Ebonyi State. Among other recommendations, special intervention fund should be made available by the State government to revive the schools that are about to collapse and possibly carter for the educational needs of students in order to reduce high prevalence of students’ dropout from public secondary schools in Ebonyi State.