Teenage motherhood and academic performance in secondary school

The target population included 392 school teenage mothers drawn from 144 public secondary within Uasin-Gishu County. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the public secondary schools while the purposive sampling technique was used to select the respondents of the study. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The major findings from the study showed that teenage motherhood negatively affected academic performance due inability to raise funds to feed themselves and their children. Constant absenteeism and lack of adequate time to accomplish school tasks due to divided attention led to repeating of classes which in turn affected their self-esteem and confidence. It was also established from this study that most schools had strategies in place to enhance mother return to school policy which included a no-abortion policy and guidance and counseling services. Conclusions arising from the findings are as follows: Most of the teenage mothers are not able to attend school five days a week; majority of the respondents have repeated classes involuntary and their self-esteem is low due to hurdles they face in their schooling.