In Sub-Saharan Africa, 15-19 year-olds account for a large segment for the growing population. The region has the world's highest rates of early child-bearing, with more than 50 percent giving birth before the age of 20. Adolescents who become pregnant must drop out of school. Health problems, lack of education and the responsibilities of parenthood combine to further restrict their life options. Sierra, Leone, being a Sub-Saharan country does not only perpetuate the same problems, but the situation is exacerbated by her adverse economy, political instability, endemic corruption, inequalities to access resources and the generally very low literacy rates to which females contribute the most. In this thesis, the author's argument is that despite the government's intention to improve female education in particular, administrative inequalities and financial constraints experienced all over the country will prove inhibitive, as girls will continue to be excluded from enrolment ratios as well as drop out from the school system. A field study was undertaken to investigate whether teenagers who drop out of the system because of pregnancy or related issues would welcome the continuation of formal education to achieve their desired goals. Questionnaires for In-school and Out-of-school Respondents were used to investigate perceptions and actualities. Problems encountered included limitations to the field study caused by the war which was current. Lack of proper and concise data in the country constituted a great obstacle to the researcher's work progress. The findings revealed that researches into education for young women who drop out of school needs to be given more attention by the government and academics, for the development of a structured approach which would be integrated into the education system. Education is central to social progress and national developmental and unless education is provided in its entirety, the country's development will continue to stagnate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:583412 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Baiete-Coker, Olivia R. |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/55375/ |
Page generated in 0.1887 seconds