Early Pregnancy And School Dropout Among Girls In Selected Secondary Schools In W Akiso District

Abstract

In conducting the research on the topic mentioned, this chapter brings forth the introducti,,11 background of the study. statement of the problem, purpose of the study. study objecti, •· , research questions. the scope of the study in terms or geography. content/'ariables and time. ,ignificance of the study. conceptual frame\ork and eventually operational delinitions or', · :erms. LI Background of the study feenage or adolescent pregnancy means pregnanc) in a woman aged IO to 19 years (Trc·!'i,, W04:5). The el-low (Spencer. 201 I) der1nes teenage pregnancy as pregnancy occurring , , 1ot111g girl between the age of 13 and 19, whereas Macleod (2011 :45) defines teenage pregnu, 1s a social problem in which adult practices and functions (sexual intercourse. reproduct, nothering) are displayed by a person who. owing to her age and developmental status. is not-,·:• 1dult, that is. adult. but not adult. child. but not child. Teenage pregnancy in this study elll,, ' alling pregnant and parenting or younger girls in secondary schools. aged betwee11 1., ,nis 1 ind enrolled in grades 8 lo 12. which l1,1,c 'arious cl'lects on one·s educatiunal progress"' 1egative implications for one's future adjustment into lile in general. ,chool dropout relers to the rate at 11hili1 the students leave schools clue lo the reasons usu :· ,eyond the control of the family or the indi,-idual students. This usually occurs due 10 sci,; actors that make it hard for a student to continue with education. llobally, 15 million women under the age of 20 give birth. representing up to one-filih o! ,.ii irths and 529. 000 women die due to pregnancy and childbirth related complications e1ery I c··, Dev Raj. Rabi, Amudha. Van Teijlingen & Chapman. 2010:4). Teenage pregnancy is a 111:•1" oncern to world communities with the US being at the top with almost l.000.000 tee;:, · regnancies each year (Williams. 2010:1). The United States has the highest pregnanc, . irths among adolescents (Coley & Lmsdak. !998) cited in Changach (2012:3). Accclrdin, 1e Inter-press Ser'ice (2011 ). the global rate lt1r teenage pregnancy fo1· the year 201 l las 5 1·egnanc1es per l.000 female adolescents. In. 2000 the total number of teenage prcgnaneic·· the United States was 821, 81 (84 pregnancies per 1000 people), as compared to Canada whose total rate of teenage pregnancies in 2000 was 38.600 (38 pregnancies per 1000 people) (Changach, 2012:4). In England there are nearly 90,000 teenage conceptions per year; around 7.700 to girls under the age 16 and 2,200 to girls aged 14 or under (Holgate, Evans & Yuen, 2006:9). The Department of Health (United Kingdom) in Macleod (2011 :137) reports that in England and Wales, more women in their early twenties find themselves with unwanted Jregnancies that end in abortion. The United States has the highest teenage birth rate of all :!eveloped countries (