The Role of Educational Stakeholders in Mitigating Socio-Economic Shocks Causing Students to Drop Out of School in East Shewa, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study analyses the role that key education stakeholders play in mitigating socio-economic shocks causing students to drop out of school. The study investigated the role of teachers, parents, support providers, and administrators in four districts of East Shewa zone in Oromia Region, Ethiopia, with respect to their understanding of the severity of school drop-out, collaborative actions to combat it, and context-based handling of shocks. A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was employed. Pertinent data were collected from second-cycle primary schools in the areas of Adea, Dugda, Gimbichu, and Fentalle, which were selected based on cluster sampling. Semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions were utilised for the purposively selected participants and a binary-mode questionnaire for the randomly selected groups of teachers in the targeted schools. Data were collected and analysed systematically by means of percentage points and thematic analysis. The findings show that though causes of school drop-out were diverse from place to place in accordance with the socio-economic conditions of the respective communities, the actions taken to combat school drop-out were not cognisant of the communities’ socio-economic conditions as they did not consider the varied nature of shocks. While school drop-out was understood to be a misfortune among supportive groups, teachers, and supervisors, it was not equally understood so by parents, who appeared as representatives of the community. Strategies that different education stakeholders used to combat factors leading to school drop-out were not focused and context friendly.