Primary school dropout : case of Chicualacuala, Mozambique

Abstract

In 2004 Mozambique has made amazing efforts that opened up educational opportunities for many primary school children. According to Ministério da Educação (2012: 1), the number of children who enrolled in primary schools jumped from 1,5 million in 1992 to about 6 million in 2011. Despite these commendable efforts, many children drop out from primary schools after gaining initial access. As stated by the Ministério da Educação (2012: 57), the dropout rate in the country was over 10%. Thus, this study sought to delve into the reasons that lead primary school children to drop out from school and identify measures to curb the problem. To do so, a case study approach was used. Specifically, the study used in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation of behaviour in a single school in Chicualacuala. The study revealed that at least four categories of factors namely child-based-, household-based-, school-based- and community-based factors give rise to dropout. These factors were informed by the Bronfenbrenner ecological framework, which is the lens through which this study was conducted. Indeed, it was found that dropout was a process rather than a single event and almost always it had signs to predict its occurrence. In the light of these findings, the study gave a number of recommendations. These include enrolling children early, improving the performance of children, providing quality adult education, monitoring absenteeism appropriately, supporting orphans, convincing organisations that provide food for work support to tie this support to the education of children, banning various activities that affect sustained schooling of children and improving the quality of school management.