Influence of school regulations on dropout among students in public secondary schools in Gasabo District,Rwanda

Abstract

The concern of this study was to assess the influence of school regulations on dropout among students in public secondary schools in Gasabo District, Rwanda. Specifically, the objectives of this study were to establish the contribution of standards for quality learning on students’ dropout rate in Gasabo public secondary schools and to examine the influence of school rules and regulations on students drop-out rate in the public secondary schools of Gasabo. The study was guided by the descriptive research design using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The target population was 1336. Purposive and random sampling techniques were used to sample 177 respondents. Data was collected by using of questionnaires, interview and focus group discussion. Findings of the study revealed that the majority of respondents (77%) agreed that the contribution of standards for quality learning on students’ influences dropout rate in Gasabo public secondary schools. Further, the study also showed that rules and regulations are communicated to all students on regular basis, even parents have not had the chance to contribute in the development and revision of them but most of respondents (62.3%) from six selected schools agreed that in those schools even though the school rules and regulations are fair as they enable discipline for students to make school orderly and maintain the quality of the school, they also contribute to student’s dropout. From the findings, it was concluded that rules and regulations are very important as they help students to meet the acceptable minimum standards for scholastic materials that should allow the students not to dropout the school. The study recommends that school leaders should consider the school general regulations as the foundation of any leadership success in secondary schools by making sure that all the decisions made comply with the school general regulations in order to avoid unnecessary discipline litigations with the students.