THE GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL DROPOUTS IN BOTSWANA

Abstract

This study used secondary data from the Statistics Botswana report for the year 2019 to assess
spatial distribution of secondary school dropout (n= 2,201) in Botswana. School enrolment was
used to measure access to education while quality was measured using the number of teachers
and the number of those who are trained, as well as student-classroom ratio. Efficiency was
measured using variables school dropout and number of repeaters. Analysis was done using
multiple linear regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR). The findings
showed that truancy was the leading (45.4%) cause of dropouts followed by pregnancy (29.2%)
and other undisclosed reasons (12.7%). The highest secondary school dropout was found in
rural and semi-urban districts ranging from 4-10%. Dropping out of school was elevated due
to having special needs  and decreased with having trained teachers. These findings illustrate that high school dropout in rural and semi-urban districts warrant specific interventions in these areas.