A recent report by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates that school going girls in the country are likely to drop out at the age of 17.
Dropout rate among girls stands at 6.5 percent while that of boys of the same age stands at 5.9 percent.
These high dropout levels among girls especially in primary schools have been attributed to teenage pregnancy, early marriage, peer influence, repetition, and child labour.
In 2018 a study by ActionAid discovered that school environment, religion, the economic strength of families, insecurity and broken families led to high dropout levels among girls in Baringo, West Pokot, Migori, Garissa, Kajiado, Embu, Taita Taveta and Isiolo counties.
On child labour, the report released on the data of Women and Men in Kenya 2022 by KNBS indicates that working children, as of 2019, were between five to 17 years.
Further it found that more children are subjected to child labour in urban areas than rural areas with those aged five and nine being the majority. Boys were the most exploited in urban area.
Girls of five to nine years working in rural areas constitute 48 per cent while those in urban areas are 50 per cent. Boys in that age bracket constitute 52 per cent in rural areas and 50 per cent in urban the report found.
45 percent of girls between 10 to 14 years worked in rural areas while 45 percent worked in urban areas.
On the other hand, 55 percent of boys in the same age bracket worked areas in rural and 55 percent worked in urban areas.
Between the ages of 15 to 17 years, girls working in urban areas were 54 percent while in rural areas, they were 44 percent.
46 percent of boys in the same age bracket worked in urban areas and 56 percent in rural areas.
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