Girls’ Education and Literacy in Marginalized Areas and its Impact on Sustainable Economic Development: The Interlink Between Gender Equality and Women’s Socio-Economic Empowerment: Turkana South Sub-County, Kenya

Education is the pillar of any development, (UNESCO, 2010) and is also anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 4: Quality Education). In Kenya, targeted interventions have been by the government in the education sector to bridge gender disparities but they are but they are still observed and evident at all levels (Leal Filho et al., 2019). Furthermore, Turkana County lags behind and was ranked second last in adult literacy (KNBS, 2019). Specifically, the study sought to establish the socio-cultural, economic and infrastructural determinants of enrolment, transition and retention among boys and girls. The study was guided by Sara Longwe's 1995 analytical framework on women's economic empowerment model. It was further guided Friedman’s 1992 dis empowerment theory. The study established that the overall primary school enrolment rate for the study area was 0.9343 (mean enrolment of 213.1 for boys and 199.1 for girls). The study also established that there were large fluctuations in the number of girls enrolled in schools. The difference in enrolment rates between boys and girls were statistically significant. The number of pupils in each primary school was about 200 hundred and less than 200 for secondary schools hence the conclusion that 100 per cent transition is not possible. Girls had lower enrolment rates as compared to the boys. Girls from regions practicing farming/pastoralism registered higher enrolment rates as compared to those from trade/pastoralism regions hence the conclusion that economic factors contribute to educational outcomes in the study area. The findings also indicate that the school feeding programs have been a motivation for attendance benefitting both parents and pupils. The study makes recommendations for future research, policies and programs.