Expanding access to secondary school education for teenage mothers in Kenya: A baseline study report
Abstract
This report documents baseline study findings from Homa Bay County in Kenya’s former Nyanza Province as a first step toward understanding how to expand access to education for out-of-school teenage mothers. Kenya’s now defunct Nyanza Province is an area characterized by high, unintended, teenage pregnancy and female school dropout rates. Nationally, levels of teenage childbearing are second highest in Homa Bay County (at 33%), according to the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KNBS et al. 2015). The primary school completion rate for girls in Homa Bay County is at 54% (KNBS, 2013). Fifty-two percent of girls in this county transition to secondary school (ibid.), meaning that nearly half (48%) are out of school. Further, 40% of girls aged 15-19 have begun childbearing.
The objectives of the study were to: (1) foster an understanding of the current situation and context in regard to out-of-school teenage mothers and their potential support systems for school re-entry at the household and school levels in Homa Bay County, (2) clarify possible solutions for promoting school re-entry on the part of out-of-school girls, their families, and the education sector, and (3) provide a benchmark against which changes resulting from an intervention to promote school re-entry may be measured by the endline period.
Citation
Undie, C.C.; Birungi, H.; Odwe, G.; Obare, F. Expanding access to secondary school education for teenage mothers in Kenya: A baseline study report. Population Council, (2015) 27 pp. [STEP UP Technical Report]
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