Gender bias, girl child labour and school dropout amongst public secondary schools students in Odukapni Local Government Area of Cross River State

Abstract

This study investigated the influences of gender bias and girl child labour on drop out of public secondary schools students in Odukpani local government area of Cross River State. The Ex-post facto design was be adopted for this study. The population of this study consisted of all senior secondary school students in public secondary schools in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State. The population of this study consisted of all senior secondary school students in public secondary schools in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State. The sample for this study consisted of two hundred and seventy-three (273) senior secondary school two students being about 20% of the population of the study, that was randomly selected from public secondary schools in Odukpani local government areas in Cross River State. A 40 items structured questionnaire titled: “Gender Bias and Child Labour Questionnaire” (GBCLQ) was used for data collection in the study. Cronbach Alpha was to estimate the reliability of the instrument. The two hypothesis formulated for the study were analyzed using One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and tested at 0.5 level of significance. The finding revealed that there is a significant influence of gender bias and girl child labour on senior school dropout in Odukpani LGA of Cross River State. Two recommendations were made by the researcher based on the findings of ,the study that there is need for strengthening of the family values and reduce gender bias or inequality in the family. There is equally the need for the screening for adverse childhood experiences particularly domestic violence exposure and girl child labour devoting greater academic and social service resources to supporting the vulnerable girl-child from the caused and effects school dropout