To Evaluate the Effectiveness of Forum For African Women Educationalists of Zambia(FAWEZA) in Dissemination Information About the School Re-entry policy to Female Pupils Who become Pregnant while at School: a case Study of Matero Girls Secondary School

Abstract

The paper reports on the research that was conducted on problem pregnancy as one of the major factors contributing to high dropout rates for Matero Girls Secondary School pupils despite the re-entry policy being put in place. The general object of the research was to evaluate the effectiveness of FAWEZA in disseminating information about the school re-entry policy to Matero Girls Secondary school pupils. The methodology used to carry out the research involved the use of a non- experimental design and a simple random sampling method. 70 respondents were selected from a sample of 320 female grade 12 pupils. Self- administered questionnaires were used to solicit information from the respondent. The responses were entered, interpreted and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).The major findings of the research were that the respondents have access to information on the re-entry poA'cy as we/Y as on a6stihence ancf ofner reproductive information. The findings a/so indicated that only a small number of respondents have received information on the re-entry policy from FAWEZA. It was further discovered that the means used by FAWEZA to communicate the information to pupils is not very effective. However, the majority of the respondents knew about the re-entry policy but most of them did not get the information from FAWEZA. Nevertheless, the respondents were in support of the re-entry policy saying that the girls need to be given a second chance to continue with their education. The research findings also showed that the number of pregnancies have increased with the introduction of the re¬entry policy.Recommendations given by respondents to FAWEZA included the need to improve on sensitizing the pupils on the re-entry policy than just give them scholarships. The respondents also recommended that government should partner with FAWEZA and provide them with financial support. They also recommended that FAWEZA should visit their school more often for the provision of information to pupils.