A comparative investigation on the implementation of the re-entry policy between government and grant aided/mission schools: A case study of selected secondary schools in Mazabuka District, Southern Province, Zambia
Date
2016
Authors
Simatama, Simatama
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
This study comparatively investigated the implementation of the re-entry policy between selected government and mission or grant aided schools. The main interest was to explore and compare the way government and mission schools implemented the re-entry policy and to find out if the implementation procedures followed by each school type had a direct bearing on the overall number of girls re-entered.
The study sample consisted of six (06) selected secondary schools; three mission schools and three government schools, two (02) ministry of general education officials, six (06) head teachers, eighteen (18) teachers and one hundred and thirty-six (136) pupils. Sampling means to set a limit of a larger group or population understudy with a view of making the study manageable, (Ary, 2002; Johnson and Christensen, 2012). Purposive sampling of knowledgeable informants was used because it enabled the researcher to select participants that were known, reliable and provided needed information.
For data collection, both structured and unstructured interview schedules were conducted. Unstructured interview schedules provided in-depth information as the informants emotional attachments were another added source of relevant information. Questionnaires were also used as data collection instruments.
To analyze the data, frequency tables were used and the results of the study indicated that mission schools and government schools all had experienced cases of pregnancy (36 in 2015 from the three government schools and 21 in 2015 from the three sampled mission schools. It was revealed that pregnancy cases in mission schools were low compared to government schools largely because of the re-entry policy implementation procedures that mission schools followed. The study also revealed that due to the re-entry policy implementation procedures that mission schools were following, the number of re-entered girls collectively at district level especially that Mazabuka had many mission schools still remained disturbingly low,(37%).
The findings in this study were that mission schools secretly re-entered girls deemed close relations to any of the officers holding positions of authority such as head teachers, heads of department and teachers. For example, the daughter to a secondary school head teacher would be secretly re-entered.
Description
Master of Education in Educational Management
Keywords
Education Secondary -- Zambia , Mission Schools -- Policy -- Zambia