ABSTRACT
Education is an important life process that plays a vital role in forming the foundation for girls’. Female education especially in secondary level has been realized as a critical pathway in promoting social, political and economic benefits for the developing countries. In spite of the government’s progress in narrowing the gender gap in education at secondary level, girls’ low retention in secondary school remains unresolved in some parts of the country. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the parentrelated determinants and their effects in girls retention in public secondary school in Kaloleni Sub-County. The objectives of the study were to; determine the effects of parental level of education on girls’ retention of girls in schools, determine parental involvement in girls’ academics in schools, to find out if parents partnering with the schools affect the retention of girls in secondary education. The study based on the Classical Liberal Theory of equal opportunity and Social Darwinism which asserts that each person is born with a given amount of capacity (Orodho 2003). The main areas of literature review were; parental level of education, parental involvement, partnering with parents in school. The study adopted a descriptive survey design to collect information. The selected area for the study was Kaloleni Sub-County in Kilifi County. The target population was 1690 where the sample population of the study was 351; 5 principals, 15 class teachers, 330 students and 1 SQASO. The study utilized questionnaires and interview schedule for data collection. Descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency distribution were used to analyze the data. The study established that majority of the students 128 (40.9% ) had their fathers and 114 (36.4%) had mothers who had only attained primary level of education which implied that majority of the girls had no role models and lacked the motivation to continue with their studies which had resulted to low retention of girls. Majority of the principals 3 (60%,) class teachers 8 (53.3%) and 198 (63.26%) of the students showed that majority of parents were not involved in the learning process causing most of the girls from poor economic backgrounds to stay away from school and others dropping out leading to low retention of girls. The study further revealed from the 4 (90%) principals, that majority of the parents to a small extent partnered with the schools on going activities which implied that most parents were not concerned with their daughters’ education making most of the girls to have low retention in secondary schools. The study recommended parental partnership to be embedded in teaching and learning policies so that girl-child problems and challenges are addressed. The study further recommended for more research to be done on a large area or the whole country as it had been done in a Sub-County