FREE EDUCATION POLICY: KEY CHALLENGES FACED BY GIRLS IN ACCESSING SECONDARY EDUCATION IN RURAL ZAMBIA. STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Aim: The free education policy is intended to remove financial barriers in form of tuition fees and other related costs so that students can have access to education. However, despite the implementation of the free education policy, studies have shown that students especially girls have challenges in accessing secondary education. Thus the aim of the current study is to explore the key challenges that girls in rural areas face in accessing secondary education despite the free education policy implemented in Zambia in 2022. Theory: In the current study the five dimensions of the socio-ecological model by McLeroy et al., (1988) were used to comprehensively understand the challenges that girls in rural areas face in accessing secondary education, despite the presence of the free education policy in Zambia in 2022. The five dimensions utilized include: individual; interpersonal; institutional; community and public policy level. Method: Qualitative study was utilized to conduct this study. The study involved semi-structured interviews with five girls drawn from a school located in ‘Village X’ in Zambia. Results: The new understanding that emerged from the explored interpersonal challenges faced by girls in accessing secondary education in rural areas was ‘embarrassment’ which acts as an impediment in girls’ access to secondary education in rural areas. Embarrassment is situational dependent and varies from one case to the other. Further, classroom discrimination was also cited as one of the major interpersonal challenges that girl’s face in accessing secondary education in rural areas that acts as a barrier to girl’s access to secondary education. The current study reveals that classroom discrimination can acts as a barrier to girl’s education access without teachers or the school management understanding, especially if the students (girls) are not engaged to find out the challenges that they are facing in accessing secondary education. Other challenges were also noted and categorized according to the dimensions of the socio-ecological model. For instance, individual challenges explored include: lack of interest in school; limited financial resources; poor academic performance and low self-esteem; as well as hunger. Institutional challenges explored include: limited Infrastructure and school materials; as well as lack of access to clean water. Community challenges explored include: negative perception on the value of girl’s education and poor transportation infrastructure. Finally, the public policy challenge noted is the absence of the holistic free education policy.