Relationship Between Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation and Girls' Completion of Secondary Education in Narok West Sub-County, Narok County

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation and girls’ completion of secondary education in Narok West Sub- County, Narok County, occasioned by challenges related to the completion of girls in secondary education. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) remains one of the major barriers to girls’ educational attainment. As a result, the Kenyan government passed legislation to prohibit the practice, but little research has been conducted to establish the legislation's effectiveness in improving girls’ educational outcomes. The paper is anchored on Adam’s Equity Theory, which supports the study by explaining the psychological and social motivation behind girls' persistence in school. The descriptive correlational design was employed. The target population was 3000 female students and 658 teachers in the 7 girls’ secondary schools in Narok West Sub-County. Census sampling was used to select all the 7 girls’ secondary schools in Narok West Sub-County to participate in the study. Simple random sampling was then used to calculate a sample of 1078 students and 182 teachers. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The instruments’ reliability was determined using Cronbach’s alpha and the test-retest method. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and the hypothesis was tested using Pearson Correlation analysis. The results indicated a positive relationship (r=.019) between the prohibition of FGM and girls' completion of secondary school. Further analysis showed a statistically insignificant relationship between the two constructs (p=.858). The findings of the study are useful for guiding the strengthening of the law's implementation by government officials and by school administrators, and for raising awareness of the law among the school community, in order to increase completion rates for girls in secondary education.