Teenage Pregnancy and Female Students’ Academic Progression in Secondary School

ABSTRACT

This study examined teenage pregnancy and female students’ academic progression in secondary school in Central Senatorial District of Bayelsa State. The variable considered were school dropout, absenteeism, early marriage, study time and labelling. Five research questions as well as three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The descriptive survey design was used; the population used for the study was 2,140 teachers. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select 24 schools and 264 teachers were selected using simple random sampling technique in carrying out the research work a self-structured questionnaire was used with 20 items. The simple percentage was used to analyze the demographic data and answer the research questions while three hypotheses were tested in the study at 0.05 level of significance using t-test statistics. The findings reveal that teenage pregnancy influences school dropout, absenteeism, early marriage, study time and labelling of female students in secondary school. Perception of teachers on the influence of teenage pregnancy on academic progression based on years of working experience did not have any significant difference on female students’ academic progression. Therefore, based on the findings, it was recommended among others that social welfare agencies (public and private) should redouble efforts in education, counseling and rehabilitation of victims by these efforts many of them could be encouraged to continue their education or engage in other meaningful activities like acquiring skills.