Girls School Dropout Rate in Malawi: a Threat to National Development

Girls’ school dropout is a global problem that is affecting many countries around the world especially on the African continent. Dropping out of school especially for the girl child is costing countries millions of dollars, locking the full socio-economic potential of women, depriving women in taking up leadership roles, creating a room for social injustice and gender violence against women and slowing down national development. This article synthesized girls dropout rate, its root causes, impacts of dropout on national development, actions taken by authorities to remedy the situation, and recommends the way forward. The study examined secondary sources of data such as United Nations reports, Malawian Statistics reports, News Papers, workshop and conference proceedings dealing with female education in Malawi. In Malawi, the dropout rate of females far exceeds their male counterpart in both primary and secondary school. Based on literature, poverty, early marriages, long distance to school, pregnancy, domestic responsibilities, gender-based violence, and lack of school feminine infrastructure were identified to be the causes of high school dropout rates among girls in Malawi. The article argues that; girls dropping out of school will affect national development, their families and their socio-economic lifestyle in the near future. The study recommended that the Malawian government should adopt loan scheme for girls coming from poor background, improve on the current schools' infrastructure and take into consideration girls’ privacy when constructing new school facilities. Additionally, a nationwide campaign and awareness-raising should be conducted to attract and motivate young girls to attend school.

Keywords:

school dropout , Girl child , Absenteeism , Education , Malawi