WASTAGE RATE AMONG GIRLS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF ONDO NORTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT OF ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Despite government efforts to ensure that all citizens have equitable access to education, educators remain gravely concerned about issues of inequality, false beliefs, low academic success leading to repeat, and girl child dropout. In Ondo State, Nigeria's Senior Secondary Schools in the Ondo North Senatorial District, the study examined the rate of waste among female students. For the study, the ex-post-facto and descriptive research designs were used. The population of the 91 state-owned public secondary schools in the Ondo North Senatorial District was made up of all the principals, instructors, and female students. The investigation includes the selection of 25 secondary schools using multi-stage sampling methodologies. There were 458 female students and 75 teachers among the responders. The "Wastage Among Girls in Secondary Schools Proforma" (WAGSSP) was used to gather data on the cohort flow of female students for enrolment, promotion, repetition, dropout, and WAEC results. The "Teachers and Students Perception on Wastage Among Girls in Secondary Schools" (TSPWAGSS) questionnaire was used to gather information from teachers and students on the causes and preventative measures of wastage among female students. The study was led by four hypotheses and five research questions. The study questions were addressed using refined waste rates, percentages, and means. At the 0.05 level of significance, t-test analysis was used to evaluate the hypotheses. The study's conclusions demonstrated that, throughout the study period, there was a 78.3% overall level of waste and a high cohort waste rate of 40%. The study also showed that there was no significant difference between the perceptions of teachers and students on the causal factors (t-cal -.073; p>0.05) or the control measures (t-cal 0.79; p>0.05) of waste among the girls in the Ondo North Senatorial District. The results showed that there was waste among girls in public secondary schools and that the overall rate of waste was high. Based on the mean scores of teachers and students, students in the sampled areas perceived causal factors and control measures of waste higher than their teachers did. It was suggested that to investigate female failure instances, schools should establish a functional advice and counselling unit. The issues of girls staying in and finishing their secondary education will be resolved by offering scholarships for deserving female students and creating a school climate that is friendly to girls