EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF RE-ENTRY POLICY FOR TEENAGEMOTHERSTUDENTS AND COMPLETION OF SCHOOLING IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN GATUNDU SOUTH SUB-COUNTY, KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study examined the effective implementation of re-entry policy for teenage motherstudents and completion of schooling in public secondary schools in Gatundu South SubCounty. Research questions that guided this study were; what are the government initiatives affecting the re-entry policy implementation for teenage mother-students in public secondary schools? To what extent has community support affected the implementation of the re-entry policy for teenage mother-students? How has early pregnancy affected the completion rates of girls in the implementation of the re-entry policy? To what extent have the school factors affected the implementation of the re-entry policy in public secondary schools? To what extent have the social cultural practices affected school completion for teenage mother-students in public secondary schools? Opportunity theory guided this study. Mixed research design was applied in this study. The study targeted 30 public secondary schools where 421 participants comprising of class teachers, principals, and ministry of education officials, mother-students and parents/guardians to mother-student were targeted. Questionnaires, interview guide and document analysis were used to collect data. Analysis for qualitative data was done in verbatim and thematic approach while quantitative data was done using descriptive statistics where SPSS software was used for Chi-Square test and correlation analysis and results presented in charts, tables and graphs. Researcher considered some ethics by seeking permission from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and NACOSTI for data collection. The study findings revealed that Government support the teen mothers through allocating resources to school that encourage learning process after delivery. Community support by creating awareness about reentry policy for teenage mother-students has improved the implementation of the re-entry policy. Early pregnancy has affected the completion rates of girls since it has made motherstudents loose interest due to missing hope of community reactions when teens get pregnant. Social cultural practices such as early marriages affect the policy since teen mothers are treated like any other mother in the family. The cultural norms of the community subject the teen mothers to labeling and stereotyping hence affecting their schooling process. Recommendation was that there is need for the government to establish rules and procedures governing fair allocation of these supports in order to demonstrate goodwill and support for the readmission of the girls after delivery to institutions.