Hagos, Taddele (PhD)Bedewi, Muktar2019-01-232023-11-102019-01-232023-11-102011-04http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/15967The purpose of this study was to examine the situation of internal efficiency in secondary schools of Guji zone, identify the major factors behind low school internal efficiency and to suggest possible solutions. A descriptive survey research method was applied. This involved an investigation of trends of internal efficiency and factors that affect it in one way or another. The study was conducted in 5 secondary schools selected using simple random sampling technique. The subjects of the study were 495, out of which 310 of them were students selected using simple random sampling, and the remaining 133, 2 1, 15, 10, and 6 of them were teachers, PTA members, parents, school principals and educational experts respectively selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected through questionnaire; a semi structured interview with parents; a focus group discussion with PTA members and document analysis. The data obtained were interpreted and analyzed using various statistical tools such as percentage, mean, standard deviation and ANOVA. Results that emerged from this study indicated that the average drop out and repetition rates for grade 9 during the five years under consideration were 17.4 percent and 15.3 percent respectively and similarly the average secondary school dropout and repetition rates were 12.65 percent and 11.2 percent respectively. In addition the result reveals that the problem with drop out and repletion rate is worse in boys than in girls. Moreover, results of this study indicated that the students experience several barriers to learning that are related to teachers, student themselves, school system, socio-economic, socio-cultural, and school management, which could cause them either to drop out of school or repeat grades. This includes factors such as students' lack of effort to study hard, low self conception, lack of interest in education and low future success in education, lack of teachers encouragement of students' performance and shortage of teachers, overcrowded class rooms and lacle of school facilities, poor school management and poor school community relationship, school distance and the need for child labor, and peer group initiation. Due to these factors secondary education of the zone is leaving behind about a quarter of its students every year. On the basis of these findings, taking the societies's settlement condition into account before opening new secondary school, early identification and targeting of learners at risk of either dropping out of schools or repeating grades, organizing workshops, evaluating students' performance continuously, and training more teachers on the basis of school needs are forwarded as recommendations to alleviate the problem of low secondary school internal efficiency in the zone.enexamine the situation of internal efficiencyThesis