The Impacts of Socio-Cultural Practices on Female Students' College Education in Oromia: the Case of Jimma College of Teachers Education Abdissa Ayana Biftu Abstract-The general purpose of this study was to identify some socio-cultural factors that affect female students' College education, and then to indicate intercultural educational issues in line with young female students' College education in Oromia by taking JCTE as the case study area. The study was a mixed approach investigation which involves index of qualitative variation that measure the dispersion of quantitative way that are available at nominal level variable through triangulating with qualitative inquires. The investigation of this qualitative approach was using purposive sampling through which case studies, personal observation, FGD and semi-structured interview was employed. The information gathered was organized and analyzed using tabulations showing both percentages and index of quantitative variations. The quotation of field narrations were also included. The result indicated that the major barriers to female students' college education in classroom participation of formal education were both the cultural and traditional values and their prospects for educational opportunities. Traditional beliefs, practices and proverbs perpetuate gender imbalance in terms of educational achievements and classroom performance. The study also found the factors that negatively affect female students' education in JCTE in emphasizing to pregnancy, lack of female models, low level parental education, and negative parental attitudes towards female students' education from their very growing up , low value attached to education and sexual harassments by their classmates and male teachers. To ameliorate the existing situation, the study suggested in a way of conclusion about the use of culture, procedures for teacher training, and applications of cultural information to curriculum. Therefore, it was also suggested that a serious consideration in educational teacher training that could be given on the following areas: Knowing the effects of cultural and socioeconomic variables on the student's learning styles (cognitive and affective) and on the student's general level of development and socialization, developing an awareness of the way in which learner's culture should permeate significant areas. In sum, because of the great disparity between theory presented in the context of a college environment and practical teaching realities in educational practices of classroom setting, it is essential that a portion of every teacher's training experience include on-site supervised teaching experience in a bicultural program. To the extent possible, relevant competencies should be demonstrated in the direct context of such a classroom setting. # Introduction a) Background of the Study Education is the subset of cultural practices since its process pervades the everyday conduct of social life. Such behaving of currently living human beings in social groups need anthropological investigation. Hence, as the study of culture, a phenomenon that is socially rather than naturally constructed and transmitted, anthropology can concern individuals who are capable of teaching and learning. Learning and teaching are fundamental, implicitly or explicitly, to human adaptation, socialization, culture change, and, at the broadest level, the production and reproduction of culture and society. Broadly conceived to encompass a range of possible forms, contents, and contexts, then, teaching and learning-the social processes involved in constructing, acquiring, and transforming knowledgelie at the heart of anthropology (Pelissier, 1991:2-3). In particular, anthropology of education as a subfield of social anthropology studies socio-cultural practices in education (Friedman &Judith, 1979:25). Various factors affect individual students directly or indirectly in educational institutions. The culture of classrooms, modes of education, methods appropriate to the study of educational phenomena and the classroom teaching are some of these factors. In this regard, education as a human right uses an essential tool for achieving the goals of equality, development and peace. Nowadays, evidence shows that education is helping to improve health and productivity in developing countries. The poorest people appear to be benefiting the most from it. For the perspectives of attaining these required productivity and health, considering the education of females is very necessary (King, 1990:11). In the contemporary world, however, a high degree of discrimination of females in various aspects including the area of education is prevalent in all developing countries; but it is not so pronounced in the developed ones (Adams, 1975). As indicated by UNESCO (2005), gender disparity in education in terms of enrollment, completion rate, dropout rate, and the like are characteristics of many of the African countries. The existence of such gender inequalities and injustice are the most persistent obstacles and blockage towards a steady development through education in developing countries (UNESCO, 2005). Consequently, the problem of female participation in education continues to exist until the problem at the primary level is solved. With regard to this problem, Coombs (1985:228) argues that low female participation rate is certain at the secondary level when there is low female enrollment at the primary level. Moreover, he argues that whenever low enrollment of girls exists in the preceding levels, the problem will be always prominent in the next educational levels. Furthermore, Kane (1996:5) explained educational disparity between male and female as follows: Education for a boy is often seen as a right which is sometimes denied for girls: it is a privilege to be earned if parents' fears about' her security and maintenance of traditional values can be met, if the school is not too distant, if she can continue to carry out her domestic tasks, if she doesn't have to marry early, if she doesn't become pregnant, if she does well on exams despite having little time to study, then she may get education. On the other hand, as far as education is concerned, the universal declaration of human rights adopted by the general assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 1948 stipulates that "Everyone has the right to education irrespective of sex, race, economic status and other differences" (Juvigny, 1963:9). Thus, female and male should have equal access to education in all forms and levels. According to Rosc (1997:4), giving females and males equal access to education is not only the question of individual right, but also it may likely have national benefits in the social and economic arena. Furthermore, recent research and empirical evaluation denotes that educating females yield far-reaching benefits for girls and women themselves as well as their families and the society in which they live (King, 1990:29). So, the disparity and discrimination between the education of female and male should not be seen in isolation from other disparities in a society. Gender issues arise when there is a differential treatment of an individual or group purely on the basis of the social expectations of their sex. This is usually the result of attitude based on customary practices, religious biases and social assumptions. Such practices create gender gaps through which one sex is discriminated against to such an extent that it is prevented from getting its fair share of resources or services (King, 1990). Still many researchers have focused on gender disparity and access to education. For instance, Lemessa (2007) identified some forms and basis of gender disparity in higher education in Ethiopia. In his study, he has shown that female students suffer from deprived academic base, gender-specific problems, sexual harassment and affirmative action policy which are acting against females as university students. Save the children (2005) reports al soon the power and promise of girls' education. Research consistently shows that education for girls is one of the most effective-if not the most investments a nation can make to improve the health and prosperity of present and future generations (Save the children, 2005 :11). Many initiatives on education for girls use the word "access" to an education as a key to social and economic well-being for girls, as if gaining 'access' to an educational institution will automatically provide girls with an education that will empower them further in life (Unterhalter,1999). UNICEF (2002) states that ensuring "access" to institution is not enough, it is equally and perhaps more important to ensure quality education. In addition, some might say that receiving education of poor quality is equivalent to receiving no education at all. Factors such as pedagogical content and social setting, which the institution provides for girls, are often ignored (Unterhalter, 1999). Recognition of quality education and not only promoting 'access' as enrollment to education has also been emphasized by the current researcher. The benefits and outcomes that blossom from educating girls are multifaceted. First, life skills and the confidence that the girls internalize is an empowering situation for them individually. Second, it enhances development at local and national levels (Save the Children, 2005).Finally, education has generational benefits. Educated mothers have educated children and, over time, returns on the investment of sending girls to school will become more visible to those who believe that these returns are only possible when boys are sent to school (UNICEF, 2004). In this research, the researcher has attempted to shed light on both retrospective and prospective scenarios of socio-cultural factors that influence female students' educational practices in Jimma College of Teachers Education (JCTE) and educational situation for girls attending The situation in Oromia also shows that the region is not an exception to many of the problems uncovered by educators. In spite of the efforts being made by the regional government to decrease gender disparity in education, still there are educational practices that separate young female students' learning in college (MOE, 2004/05:11). From the available data at regional level, it could be clearly seen that the enrollment rate of female students is increasing that indicates females' participation is higher than males at college level. The implication here is that the opportunity will continue in the next respective years until the female students improve their educational statuswith reference to college education in Oromia (MOE, 2005/06:35). college in JCTE as one of Oromia's higher learning institutions. Furthermore, the researcher would attempt to connect education to the concept of institutional practices. Certain factors that affect female students' education like experiences of female students, their socio-cultural background, educational practices including intercultural educational issues within organizational cultures are Hence, the focus of this research would be to investigate the socio-cultural factors which affect female students' college education in JCTE, and then it would also try to find out collegerelated factors that could influence female students' college education. # b) Statement of the Problem Very little studies have been conducted on the impacts of socio-cultural practices on female students' college education. Teklu (2013), for instance, concerned the identification of the disparity in academic achievement of female and male students in colleges of teachers' education in Or omia. He found out that there are statistically significant differences between male and female students in academic achievement and at stream levels, male students are significantly performing better than female students. He identified gender stereotype, problem of accommodation and in stitutional satisfaction as contributing factors for female students' low academic achievement. Another study by Yes him ebrat, et al ( 2009) dealt with university level female students' poor academic achievement in Ethiopia and concluded that schools and universities because of their prejudiced treatments and some other external factors become centers of gender disparity. Further, Wakgari and Teklu (2013:809), on their study in teachers college of Ethiopia say, "The most frequent reason for the low performance of college student is joining particular fields of study or tracks without their career choice. The other is variation in entry behavior between female and male students that affects their academic achievement at college level which is because of low academic self-concept." While Ethiopia has implemented various policy instruments on the goal of providing equal opportunities for female and male, only a few of them have implemented successfully the gender mainstreaming strategy in the field of education. Although the list of potential policy measures that aim at changing traditional gender roles and stereotypes is long, the same is not true for increasing female students' presence in higher institutions. The preceding researchers show that the influence of socio-cultural practices on female students' college education is inadequately studied though they have been in existence for several years. That is, there is no detail study about actual conditions of female students' college educationin Ethiopia as well as in Oromia. This means information about the impact of socio-cultural practices on female students' college education is quite absent. Hence, this research intends to fill the gap by investigating the influence of sociocultural practices on female students' college education in JCTE. Hence, the study answered the following basic questions: 1. What are the socio-cultural practices that affect female students' college education? 2. How do traditional proverbs influence female students' college education? 3. How do differences in teaching and learning styles affect female students' college education? 4. Are there any institutional practices affecting female students' college education? c) Objectives of the Study i. General Objective The general objective of this study is to investigate the socio-cultural influences on learning and teaching of female students' college education, and then to examine intercultural educational issues in line with young female students' college education. ii. Specific Objectives ? To identify influence of gender specific roles and expectation on female students' college education, ? To assess the influence of traditional proverbs onfemale students' college education, ? To find out how differences in teaching and learning styles affectfemale students' college education, ? To examine the influence of institutional practices on female students'college education. # d) Significance of the Study In anthropological investigation into sociocultural factors that affect female students' College education, the central issue lies within social anthropology is by the persistence of class of female students in determining the life course is extremely significant of the study. Of particular concern within the anthropology of education is the cross proverbial persistence of differences in both the educational achievement and higher educational aspirations of young female students from different class of female students' background. In this research, some of the ways that academic make sense of the role of this class within education would be examined and some of the ways that these ideas are taken up by police makers as they strive to raise both educational attainment and aspirations would be importantly addressed. Class is the term used to denote hierarchal distinctions between female college students that are found on economic differences, that is, occupation of their family background and income. Income and wealth remain at the very heart of conceptualizations of class because income mediates so many other important aspects of everyday life, for example, where one lives, the food one eats, leisure pursuits and social relationships and so on. On a more subjective level, class is also considered important in shaping opportunities, values and attitudes. Different socio-economic groups are situated within social networks that are predominantly composed of individuals sharing similar social backgrounds and experiences. This 'herding together' of individual bonded by strong social similarities generates a shared culture that is legitimized through practice. Class impose its own boundaries and horizons which, when applied to education, can be viewed as highly influential in shaping and influencing students ambitions and aspirations for themselves. Though class can be considered a somewhat abstract term, its importance with respect to educational outcomes becomes much more tangible when investigating into young female students of their college education. Accordingly, examining the following issues of education would be very helpful: ? The status of girls' education in JCTE in terms of quality education, ? The endeavor of support given for educational experts, policy makers and other concerned bodies in designing strategies that help to increase female students' capacity, ? As a result of this study, most of the College community will be aware tocreate conducive climate to females' College participation in education, ? Finally, the information gained from this study will stimulate researchers for further investigation on the problem areas. # e) Delimitation of the Study In order to have more comprehensive information, it is good if the study could have included all College in Oromia Region. However, for the sake of making the study more manageable, it was delimited to JCTE so as to investigate female students' level of institutional practices in gaining education.In addition to this, among the many college related factors that influenced females' education in college.The study was delimited to factors like cultural practices, lack of educational guidance and counseling services, female students' attitudes towards education, religion, girls' laborand sexual harassment in college. # f) Organization of the Study The study was organized and presented in five chapters. The first chapter gave a general idea on the background of the study, state the problem; explain the significance of the study and describe briefly the scope of the study. The second chapter (Literature Review) discussed the relevant literature from international and national perspectives. In this part, the historical and existing situations of females 'education in the developping world in general and in Ethiopia in particular was explained briefly. The third chapter (Research Design and methodology) described in detail how the study was conducted. The fourth chapter (presentation and analysis of Data) attempted to summarize and present the data collected from the fieldwork. In this part, attempt was also be made to examine, evaluate and interpret the implications of the results with respect to the research questions. Finally, the fifth chapter (Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations) tried to depict findings of the study. At the end, some suggestions was forwarded based on the main findings and conclusions of the research endeavor. # Chapter Two II. # Review of Related Literature a) Overview This chapter forms the framework of the study. The researcher selected and reviewed documents that are related to the study. Apart from definitions of education and their types, the review also focuses on factors that influence female students' education and gender concepts which were sourced from books and other secondary sources. It also discusses the relevant literature on gender theories and organizational culture from international and national perspectives. In this part, historical and existing situations of females' education in the developing world in general and in Ethiopia in particular are explained briefly. # b) Meaning of Education Education has been defined to mean many things by various authors. Offorma (2009), Afful Broni and Ziggah (2006), Ocho (2005), Bhushan (1997) and Aggarwal (1995) see education as the process of providing information to an inexperienced person to help him or her develop physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, spiritually, politically and economically. These authors say that the definition given means that the individual has to acquire adequate and appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes and values known as cognitive, psychomotor and affective behaviors to be able to function optimally as a citizen. These behaviours are the focus of training individuals in institutions of learning. Annor (1997), Bishop (1995) and Shafritz (1988) are of the view that education is what happens to human beings from the day they are born to the day they die. They perceive education beyond schooling and think it is a process that covers the total lifespan of every human being. This implies that education is more than a formal process and amounts to something more than formal learning as well. Antwi (1992) sees education as sharing, transmission or imparting of knowledge that is worthwhile. He adds that education is a process which involves helping those who are taught to become aware of what is happening. Arends (2002) claims that the proper meaning of education covers these four important aspects of how we become educated: 1. The necessity of having and manipulating knowledge, skills and information. 2. The helpfulness of teachers, without requiring them. 3. The constant need to see through the inherent illusion that arises from our unconscious mind. 4. Our inability to influence our states of mind. Based on the four criteria given, Arends sees education as a process of cognitive cartography which is explained as what all learners do to develop a map of reliable methods of getting from negative state of mind to positive state of mind. It can be inferred from the various definitions that education is the process of creating the awareness which leads to critical thinking and in effect leads to human development. In other words, education opens one's eyes about something for the person to get an interest in it and then develop a positive attitude towards something that arises once interest. c) Types of Education i. Formal Education Norris (1999) and Nie, Junn & Stehlik-Barry (1996) explain formal education as a process which helps one to acquire verbal and cognitive proficiency so that he/she would be able to construct his/her own ideas and thoughts critically. The definition above indicates that formal education aims at opening people's minds so that knowledge and skills acquired can be used profitably. Besides, Krueger & Mikael (2001) and Farrant (1996) agree that formal education is a process whereby children are provided with the tools for learning, such as reading, writing and manipulating numbers. It also introduces the children to the richness of the wider world and gives them the chance later on to obtain work and make a meaningful contribution to society. The authors imply that when children are given the necessary tuition, they will be able to read and write. When they are able to do so, it will help them to develop themselves and the society as a whole. Annoh (1997) has the same idea as Shafritz (1988) that formal education is the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills through the benefit of structured teaching. They further explain that formal education is that which is deliberately planned and is guided by specific aims and objects, it should be time bound. ii. Informal Education Norris (1999), Annoh (1997) and Shafritz (1988) have indicated that informal education is the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills without the benefit of structured teaching. Thus, it is based on a style or approach in which desired skills or behaviors are reached through means that are not intentionally organized, structured or planned. The authors simply see informal education as a way of behavior that has been traditionally accepted by the society and does not necessarily take place in the conventional classroom although some aspects of informal education do occur in the classroom. Roy and Woodcock (2010) point out that informal education is that learning which goes on outside of a formal learning environment such as a school, a college or a university. In other words they view informal education as learning which occur outside the classroom or lecture theatre. Smith (1997) adds that informal education is just the learning that goes on in our daily lives or learning projects that we undertake for ourselves. It can be seen that informal education is incidental as it does not occur in the formal classrooms and is not planned. It occurs unintentionally and the education can come from anywhere including one's home and church. iii. Non-Formal Education According to Spronk (1999), non-formal education is any skill that one acquires while he or she is growing. Carron and Carr-Hill (1991) define non-formal education as all educational activities organized outside the formal system and designed to serve identifiable clientele. Farrant (1996) sees non-formal education as any organized activity, outside the structure of the formal education system that is consciously aimed at meeting specific learning needs of particular groups of children, youths or adults in the community. Addison (2009) adds that non-formal education takes many forms like adult education, continuing education, on-the-job training, accelerated training, farmer or work training, functional literacy, extension services and second-chance schools. These three types of education reviewed are relevant to the study in the sense it will help the researcher to know how to explore the selected female students' education in JCTE. # iv. Alternative Education for the Female Students According to Dennis and Fentiman (2007), alternative education is the overarching term that refers to all types of education programmes that are often not considered formal education programmes by agencies, governments and donors. To them, alternative education normally goes on outside the classroom. The authors explain that alternative education programmes are generally designed for children and youth who have missed the opportunity to go to school or who have dropped out of school. Baxter and Bethke (2009) define alternative education as a perspective and not a procedure or programme. They explain that alternative is based upon the belief that there are many ways to become educated as well as many types of environments and structures within which this may occur. The authors stress that alternative education helps to achieve the goals of Education for All (EFA) and improvement of the quality of education. Baxter and Bethke say there are two broad types of alternative education programmes which are those that provide an alternative means of access to education (for example, accelerated learning programmes and home-based or community-based schools) and those that are alternative in curriculum provision. The authors explain the alternative access programmes as those that provide alternative methods of delivery to "fill the gap" of education provision for children who are not enrolled in the formal system due to age, gender, ethnicity or geographical location. Alternative access programmes generally include the use of a formal curriculum and pedagogy. According to the Baxter and Bethke (2009), case studies in Nepal, Sierra Leone as well as Liberia reveal that the introduction of such programmes often improve quality at the learner level but may not always address quality concerns related to the overall education system. Alternative curriculum provision programmes are those that offer non-traditional/alternative subjects such as HIV and AIDS prevention or landmine awareness within traditional formal curricula and sometimes in parallel to the formal system. Alternative curriculum provision programmes are designed to change behaviour. The discussion shows that alternative education may aim to support different types of skills to those in the formal system (professional and vocational training programmes) or aim to provide additional support to young children who might still have the opportunity to gain access to the formal system but require a particular kind of support to enable them do so. As Rose (2007) says, alternative education covers all educational activities that fall outside the traditional school system including special programmes for school dropouts, gifted students and home schooling. # d) Historical Background of Female Education Education, which is one of the major human activities, plays a vital role to promote national development and thus bring about positive changes in the lives of the people. It is believed that development is brought about not only by educating men only, but also women. Many studies have shown that in many African countries, women's participation in education is low. The enrollment at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels of education is characterized by gender disparity, and also a large number of female students' dropout from school and repeat in a class (GCE, 2003). The legal and political rights a woman may exercise and even the ability of a woman to care for herself and for her children depend on the level of education she gets (UNICEF, 1992). Accordingly, most developing countries recognize all the benefits of increasing female education and they regard it as an essential condition for national development. Despite this fact however, the provision of educational opportunities for females in most of the developing countries were not as desired. The traditional education which has a long history in Ethiopian education, was characterized by strengthening the traditional view of the society in widening the gender gap between men and women in different social activities, and it favored the patriarchal system based on the superior nature of males and heads of the households which recognizes women as dependents (Seyoum, 1986). The limited participation of female students in education is linked to the coming of western missionaries to the country in the 16th century. Women were not allowed to assume responsibilities in state and religious institutions when education system was religious oriented (Alemtsehay, 1985:18). The opening of the first girls' school in Addis Ababa in 1931 by Empress Menen was also a good foundation for the provision of modern education for girls in Ethiopia. However, there were only eighty students in the school in 1935 (Atsede, 1988:15-16 (Atsede, 1988:17). The 1940's government schools admitted both sexes but maintained separate classes for girls and boys. From those 540 government schools in 1950, 450 of them were co-educational: teaching girls and boys in the same classes. That was the major effort made in applying the principle of providing equal opportunity for education for both sexes. In-spite of the efforts made by the government to provide equal opportunities for sexes and nondiscriminatory policies, the actual situation in Ethiopia today confirms the superiority of the male in an indirect way in education (Almaz, 1995:5). Consequently women were deprived of education especially in many rural areas of Ethiopia, and their contribution in development is felt not to be fully actualized. In general terms, as the number of studies have been shown concerning the varies issues that are related to females' education, Ethiopia is one of the most disadvantaged countries of the world in its educational progress especially in providing equal opportunities for both sexes. This fact is evidenced by a recent statistics that tell us that only a little over one third of the school-age children attend schools which implies that a large properties of the country's school -age children attend schools which implies that a large proportion of the country's school -age children remain outside the school system (Demographic profile and population policy of Ethiopia, 1993). The research conducted in Ethiopia on females' education show that enrollment is low for female and also cases of dropping out and repeating in a grade are generally higher for female students than males. # e) Major College Related Factors Affecting Female Students' Education i. Lack of Educational Guidance and Counseling Services Guidance is any help provided to individual to individual or groups to manage their activities and develop their own talents (Chauhan, 1982: 27). Counseling on the other hand, requires qualified, competent and interested personnel that can promote the individual's ability to make decisions which leads him/her to independent life activities (Shertzer and Stone, 1980: 18). According to Stoops (1981: 344). Counseling helps the learner to adjust to his/her peers and to his/her school environment. According to UNESCO (1983) lack of educational guidance and counseling services in the institution often leads to attrition or premature specialization and too late to influence students' attitudes as well as their educational and careers choices. Thus, guidance and counseling activities are assumed to be needed in college for most of the students. In the study of females' school participating by Yelfign and others (1995), it is found that girls have to face additional problems not necessarily faced by boys such as early marriage, unnecessary pregnancy and illegal abortion which contribute to class repetition and dropping out from school. Yusuf (1993) reported that in most of Ethiopian schools, lack of educational guidance and counseling especially for female students results in dropouts, being exposed to some kinds of sexually transmitted diseases, lack of knowledge of contraceptives, communication problems with family members, teachers, peers and school personnel. According to Yusuf, this is mainly because lack of enough professionally trained counselors in many Ethiopian Schools. Although the importance of educational guidance and counseling services in schools are recommended by scholars in the field, they have not been given the necessary attention by the Ethiopian educational policy makers. Educational guidance and counseling services are non-existent especially in regional colleges (Befekadu, 1998). According to Yusuf (1998), even though there are few counselors in few Ethiopian high schools who are professionally trained in the discipline, they are complaining that they do not have any support (in providing the necessary facilities such as budget, office and the like) from the school personnel, teachers, the community and other concerned bodies. In general, a series of studies have shown that lack of educational guidance and counseling services in varied institutions are found to be a barrier and have considerable impact on the institutions enrollment of both girls and boys, but it is more serious in the case of female students. # ii. Parental Attitudes towards Female Students' College Education The reason for low enrollment of females in different levels of education may be attributed to the values and attitudes that the society attaches towards education of female students. Such perception of the society towards the education of female is usually based on the so called traditional constraints. These constraints include the following: Females have special needs for physical protection and tradition often demands special concern for females' privacy and special reputations. In those cultures where female seclusion is practiced, the impact of that tradition on females' enrollment after puberty is likely to be substantial (Kelly and Elliott, 1992 cited in world Bank, 1995). Moreover, traditional constraints such as college related problems which lead to safety and culture concerns may force parents not to send females to colleges. This could be possible even when the opportunity cost of girls, chore time is low, unless schools are located close to home, equipped with facilities such as separate toilets for boys and girls (Hyde, 1989). This negative perception for female education is predominantly observed in the modern schooling systems of most African countries with far-reaching adverse consequences for both individual and national well-being (kinyanjui, 1993). The illiteracy and under education of African women vividly hinder their ability to articulate and express their interests in a wide variety of fields, ranging from politics to the economy. Realization of the rights to education serves the goal of individual and reproductive health. Access to contraception, knowledge about different mechanisms of child spacing, health and welfare, invariability means that women are operating in a more liberated context. Denied of these benefits which are attained by education, women in Africa face the blunt end of aggression from the system (Genet, 1991). In most parts of Ethiopia where patriarchal thinking dominates the culture, people believe that men are superior to women and it also institutes division of labor by gender. As a result, women are given the role of Similarly, just as in other developing countries, in Ethiopia too, several research findings have also confirmed the low rate of female students' enrollment at different educational levels of the country. The major causes for such a low rate of female enrollment seem to be distance to school, lack of educational guidance and counseling services, parental attitudes towards girls' education, religion, early marriage or abduction, economic barriers, girls' labour at home, and sexual harassment (Genet, 1991;Tilaye, 1997;Kinyanjui 1993;etc). a wife, a mother and a house-keeper while men are given the role of a bread winner, a protector and supporter. Thus, the attitude that education is not necessary for females and women are eminent in patriarchal societies since it is believed that education has no role of preparing women to be good housewives and mothers (Lglitin, 1976). Such attitudes have great impact on the values attached to women's education by each group of society that is directly or indirectly involved in education women especially female students' parents and leaders of the culture. According to Odaga and Heneveld (1995:20), the cultural beliefs of most rural parents that boys are more intelligent than girls, boys perform better in schools than girls were found definitely affect attitude of parents' decision and desire to invest on the education of their daughters. Parents' with these types of cultural practices and beliefs tend to judge the value of education by the returns from the labor market, (ibid). These expectations by the parents force them to give priority to boys' education, and the perception of girls' education as equally important as that of boys among the family found to be not encouraging (Njeuma, 1993). Furthermore, the worry of most parents about the investment on their daughters' education is that they leave the family when they get married, and they also think that the income that girl acquires through education directly goes to her husband instead of supporting her family (Odaga and Heneveld, 1995). As different studies indicated, societal attitudes towards girls' education vary from community to community especially where the majority of the people are illiterate. For instance, studies conducted in Chad indicated that some parents believe that schools tend to push girls to prostitution and difficult to control them by parents, and studies conducted in Cameroon also indicated that educated girls are like to challenge the traditional roles expected of them during marriage (Bell, 1993 andCommish et al, 1995). # iii. Religion Religion is another factor that limits female students' participation in the socio-cultural situation of the people. Some religions are usually characterized by low females' participation in secular educational institutes, and encourage them to religious those to religious institutes (Teitjen, 1991: 23: Hyde, 1989:6). This is because religion has a powerful influence on access to education in some society. Education in some of the world's poorest countries, with some of the world's highest illiteracy rates which lie in sub -Saharan Africa, has been shaped by a mix of influences among the indigenous cultures, Christianity and Islam (Hyde, 1989). According to Odaga and Heneveld (1995: 24) in the society if there is a strong support from religious body and cultural reactionaries, the action of distributing educational services will be easier. For instance, the study made by Hyde (1989:20) in Nigeria revealed that religion was the major determinant of girls' school participation. Similarly, some research findings show that parents in Christian areas believe that all children should go to school than Islam parents, who give priority to send their sons only, and because of this they usually characterized by low girls' school participation particularly in rural areas (Odaga and Heneveld, 1995:24). According to these writers, people with different religion, stress the significance of literacy and 'girls' education differently in different areas. Furthermore, Bowman and Anderson (1980) stated that the rate of females' school enrollment was found to be very low in the areas where Muslims lived. Similarly, Coombs (1985:226) noted that parents in Muslim areas were reluctant to send their daughter to schools particularly in rural areas. On the other hand, other researchers such as Al-Hariri (1987) and Hyde (1989) oppose the above findings in such a way that in Muslim areas both sexes are encouraged to get education in order to get knowledge for their life. For example, Al-Hariri (1987:51) quotes the saying of Mohammed which says that "Every Muslim male and female is requested to seek for knowledge" According to this researcher in Muslim people both sexes have equal opportunity to education. Therefore, from the above discussion, the researcher can understand that researchers themselves do not agree on whether religion affects females' opportunity to schooling or not. However, a series of studies have shown that some religion is found to be a barrier and has considerable impact on females' school participation than boys. # iv. Female Students' Labor at Home As several research findings show, females are the major sources of labour in the household. Even if females get the opportunity to attend college, the time she spends on household chores before and after college makes them tired during lessons. According to UNESCO (1983), African women perform so many household chores under harsh conditions with poor training and tools. Some of these household chores which mostly accomplished by girls especially in rural areas are:-to fetch water, collect firewood, drying animal dung, cooking food, washing clothes, looking after younger children, weeding, etc. These activities which they engage starting from their school age do not allow girls free time to study and to do their homework, because of these their performance in schools will be poor which indirectly force them to class repetitions (Kelly, 1989). Hence, female students' labor is a major source of daily life especially for rural parents, and one of the obstacles for the participation of rural girls in schools (odaga and Heneveld, 1995). In rural Ethiopia women spend at least fifteen hours a day working different tasks where the largest amount of time is spent on activities required to feed the family, fetching water and firewood (IDS, 1996). Reasonable opportunity costs of girls' time have been shown to be a reason for girls not attending school mostly in rural Ethiopia (Anbessu and Junge, 1988). # a. Sexual Harassment Various studies on the issue of sexual harassment have revealed that low rate of girls' school enrollment is remarkably attributed to sexual harassment (Summers, 1992;Thomas, 1990;Odaga and Heneveled, 1995). However, "While many social and economic constraints on women education in Africa are the subject of concern, the issue of sexual harassment has been largely neglected" (Hallam, 1994 in Odaga and Heneveld, 1995: 34). Later on from various surveys and articles chronicling incidents of sexual harassment, society is beginning to understand sexual harassments negative impact on education through absenteeism, lower achievement, loss of self-esteem and dropping out of school by the victims. According to Thomas (1990:17), female students are harassed often sexually by the college boys and the problem is ignored or treated by the concerned college community (Such as teachers, administrators, etc) as it is a normal boyish behavior. The learning environment is difficult for girls with harassment, teasing and ridicule from boys for being unfeminine if one is intelligent and the other is not too intelligent (Summers, 1992). In addition to this, he noted that the boys sometimes used physical threats of violence, and personal teasing to keep girls quite in class and discourage them from taking leadership roles. Hallam, 1994 in Odaga and Heneveld (1995) noted that in groups, as members of clubs and cults, male students prey on female students, abuse them verbally, cartoon them in absence in campus publications, harass, beat and rape them. Furthermore, Summers (1992) has noted that college sexual risks are also attributed to teachers which force many female students to drop out of college. Moreover, African Rights (1994) has noted that sexual abuse by teachers which exploits the trust of both female students and parents is far more spread than most institutions care to admit. Such abuses range from sexual advances, treats of examination failure to a outright rape By any means female students are forgotten of sexual harassment ranging from having sexual rumors spread about them to being toughed grabbed, or pinched in a sexual way. Indeed "the phenomena of sexual harassment have been perceived to be so common that many women have come to regard it as normal" (African Rights, 1994:8). Strauss, 1993 in African Rights (1994) has noted that most female students ignored the harassing because they do not want to make waves and afraid of others for they would think as they were making a big deal out of nothing. In line with this idea Reilly et at (1986) cited in African Rights (1994) has noted that the victims of sexual harassment try to handle the problem by simply avoiding the harasser whenever possible, or they tell family members and friends about it. Neither of these tactics may be helpful, particularly the later one since family and friends may blame the victim or just tell to ignore the harassment. Furthermore, Brandenburg (1997) noted that some complain about too much attention to sexual harassment is destroying male-female relationships and eliminating spontaneity in personal and professional interactions. In general, as many research findings indicate, sexual harassment creates an unpleasant and hostile learning environment for female students, which affect their college participation and persistence, their personal and professional growth and ultimately their future careers. The lack of remedy by college community, parents, and other concerned authorities and the abuse of female students within the college system, grossly undermine the efforts to increase females' college participation and achievement in education. To sum up, sexual harassment and violence against female students in educational institutions do have considerable effect on their enrollment and persistence. b. Factors that Influence Female Students' Education Randell and Gergel (2009) and Rena (2007) give some of the factors that influence female students' Education as follows: Curricula that reinforce traditional gender stereotypes, Lack of provision of sanitary, Sexual harassment by male teachers and classmates and Lack of female teachers as role models. Ocho (2005) adds that in developing countries, despite the decrease in the gender gap, girls still receive less education than boys for reasons such as institutional structure which exhibits biases against girls' school choice and cultural impediments. In India, specifically Andhra Pradesh, Rena (2007) found that parents' inability to pay their wards' school fees have made them to decide not to send their girl children to school because of inadequate income. Rena (2007 claims that parents try to keep the girl-children in the house with the view that the girls will help them both in the farm and also take care of the younger siblings. On the other hand, parents in Andhra Pradesh who managed to send their girl-children to school withdrew them so that they can help their mothers to manufacture local cigarettes known as "beedi" which they sell to earn money for survival as well as for the girls' marriage in future. Other factors that militate against female students' education, according to Fant (2008) and King & Hill (1993), are demand and supply factors while Hyde (1993) adds household, societal and institutional factors. Lungwangwa, Kelly & Sililo (1999) agree with Odaga and Heneveld (1995) that the factors that impede female students' education are college-related factors, political and institutional factors, socio-cultural factors and socio-economic factors. The college-related factors and political and institutional factors represent supply while socio-cultural factors and socio-economic factors represent demand. The socioeconomic and socio-cultural factors can further be characterized as limiting the demand for female education. The authors opinion is that at the household and community levels, demand for female education is limited, particularly in poorer communities and rural areas. The authors claim poverty is a major depressing factor that prevents female education and where resources are scarce and choices have to be made, boys are more likely to be sent to school. Socio-cultural factors are a major deterrent to schooling for girls. This is because some parents hold very strong negative views or are ambivalent about girls' schooling and see little relevance in formal education for girls. Bista (2004) and Houston (2003) are of the opinion that social and cultural beliefs, practices and attitudes often do not favor girls in their pursuit of education as boys. The authors cite factors that influence female students' education in Ghana as financial factors, societal /parental attitudes to females' education and lack of female role models. Houston's(2003) explanation is that financial strain on parents particularly parents in the rural areas who are unable to provide some basic needs of their female is an obstacle for their daughters to further their education. Kasente (2004) and Kukuru (2003) mention that in Uganda, early marriage is a factor that influences females' education. They found out that when the girl grows and marries, it helps the family to escape the route from poverty. The authors found that parents think that if their girls are sent to school, they will get pregnant and the parental investment in them will be a waste of money. Holmes (2003) expounds that overall, females receive less education than males, and they tend to dropout, or are withdrawn earlier for economic and socio-cultural reasons. Fig. 1 Low levels of parents' education, religious practices, poverty and pregnancy. Wilson stresses that due to these factors some girls in Africa, especially Malawi, are to go to school as their male counterparts. As a result, girls have been relegated to the background and find it difficult to forge ahead in life.Anin and Huq (2008) are of the opinion that girls in Bangladesh are prevented from schooling by marriage. According to them, parents prefer collecting dowry prices on their girl children than to send them to school. The reason is that the parents think it is a waste of resources to send the girl child to school because at all cost the girl will marry and her education will be useless. Ngounoue (2010), Hart (2009), Uwakwe (2008) and Osita-Oleribe (2007) assert that girls education has suffered several setbacks over the years due to socio-cultural, economic and political factors. They add that girls constitute thelargest population of illiterate children worldwide and because In view of this there has been a serious human and economic impact on the society. Hart stresses that despite the Kenyan government's abolition of fees, more than 800,000 children continue to miss out in education particularly girls. By investigating why girls were still out of school, Hart (2009) found the cause to be pregnancy, sexual harassment, negative parental attitude towards education and gender stereotypes. Although these factors exist, Hart believes girls need to be empowered in order to become future leaders, self-fulfilled individuals and rolemodels in the communities. In Malawi, cultural factors and gender-specific attitudes about the division of labour also shape decisions about whether a child should or should not be in school (Davison and Kanyuka,1992). c. Strategies to Improve Female Students' Education Mumba (2002) explains education as a tool which helps human beings to develop very well. Education for girls in Zambia was not encouraging so the Programme for advance of Girls Education (PAGE) was instituted in 1994 to focus on capacity building, gender sensitization, and quality education for all children especially girls. This was done to empower girls and women to fully participate in economic and social development of the nation. Pigozzi (1999) thinks an import ant aspect of the measures that can be taken to mediate girl education is to check the mental and physical health of the girl, her economic needs and educational needs. The author insists that life skills such as safety and sanitation are very important to the girl so she must be taught this. To Pigozzi attention must be paid to skills training to increase the livelihood of girls and women. To increase the participation of girls in secondary school in Malawi, the government of Malawi in 1993 adopted a policy which allowed girls who had become pregnant to return to school one year later (Mazloum, 2000). This was because girls were dismissed from school due to pregnancy from 1997 to 2000 while 541 were readmitted within that same period as a result of the policy. Bernard (2000) is of the view that making education free and compulsory is the keystone of any national plan to eliminate gender disparity in education and achieve universal education. Bernard emphasizes the need to make the classroom more child-centered and gender sensitive so that there will be high enrolment rate for girls. Bernard adds that both male and female teachers must receive training in gender awareness in the classroom and be given regular salaries so that they can help implement the policies that will be introduced. Furthermore, the author adds that allowing young mothers to return to school and providing alternative education for girls also increase girls' participation in education. Bernard (2002) cites an example that in 2000, Chile allowed girls who had dropped out of school due to pregnancy to continue and complete their education after they have given birth while in Turkey, learning centres were opened in five provinces to enable girls who did not get formal education acquire alternative education. Another strategy that Bernard (2002) talks about is to recruit more female teachers who can serve as role models and make the girls feel more comfortable in school. Besides, girls must be given the opportunity to participate in sports because female athletes gain recognition and they become mentors to others. Through sports, girls are given the chance to be leaders and improve their confidence and self-esteem. According to Vescio (2005), sports play a major role in girl education. That is when girls are involved in sporting activities it helps them to stay in school and the sports also broaden their minds. He suggests that girls should be forced to engage in sports so that it can be used as a strategy to boost girl education. Similarly, Bernard (2002), says sports can contribute to achieving gender parity in education because as girls participate in sports, they acquire new interpersonal skills. And through additional social networks, the girls gain access to different opportunities which allow them to become more engaged in school and community life. The author cites an example that in Romania, sports has increased school participation among girls and their academic performance as well. Lincove (2006) agrees with Bruce(1997) that educating girls produces considerable social and welfare benefits, such as lower infant mortality and fertility rates. In Bruce's (1997) view, girls' education in Ghana has some strategies which are quantitative (targeting access to and participation in education), and qualitative (focusing on transforming the learning environment and increasing achievement). They also include improving management efficiency, which could increase retention and completion. Other strategies that can help increase access to education of girls are: Use of role models, Mobilizing parents, communities and the private sector in support of girls' education, Supporting guardians or parents to cater for their children or wards schooling, Addressing local problems. There are also qualitative strategies in girls' education that make education relevant to the lives of girls as indicated in the following: Providing incentives to female teachers to teach in remote areas, providing teachers with sensitization and training, increasing the supply of college infrastructure or teaching and learning materials. It has immediate benefits for nutrition, health, savings and reinvestment at the family, community, and ultimately country level. In other words, educating girls is a social development policy that works. It is a long term investment that yields an exceptional high return. We Year 2016 they are discriminated against in education they are unable to occupy high positions as their male counterparts. need those with power to change things to come together in an alliance for girls' education: governments, voluntary progressive groups and above all, local communities, schools and families. Tomasevski (2005:11) and De Jaeg here (2004) are of the view that there must be a strategy which will ensure that all girls start and finish secondary schools. Their reason is that education is a lever to provide girls with choices in life. Because Secondary education may not be enough, theauthors add the need to apply human rights law to mold girls' education. This suggests that girls should have an equal right in education and their equal rights should be promoted through education. Tomasevski (2005) and De Jaeg here (2004) further stress that integrating girls into mainstream institutions without altering curricula and textbooks perpetuates the stereotypes that impede gender equality. They indicate that some textbooks tend to portray women as staying at home whiles men are making history. An example is where textbooks inPeru, women are mentioned ten times less than men while in Croatia, the study of secondary school textbook showed that sons are the subject of 42% of the material on family life, and daughters only 17%. Thus, girls and other disadvantaged groups, must be encouraged to enroll in school. Besides, the Education Strategic Plan stipulates that there must be improvement in the quality of teaching and learning for enhanced girls' achievement in school. Vocational/Technical education must be improved and extended to all schools so that girls will be motivated to go to school. Randell and Gergel (2009) outline some strategies that can improve girl education and these strategies are as follows. The first strategy is making the classroom more child-centred and gender sensitive. To the authors teachers should involve students in their lessons so that the girls will be able to participate actively in class. The authors cite an example in Guatemala, where teachers used participatory teaching and learning methods to encourage girls to express themselves freely in class. In addition, teachers make full use of the local language in teaching for students to understand whatever is being taught and this has improved the enrolment rate of girls in schools. Randell and Gergel mention that in Zambia, the Ministry of Education has recruited and trained teachers to become sensitive to gender and child rights issues in the country. They recommend that both female and male teachers should receive training in gender issues so that they can cope with every student in the classroom. Without this, some teachers may value and encourage boys' participationin classmore than they value girls' and may allocate school tasks along strict gender lines, leaving girls to sweep the floors and the toilets. Another strategy that Bernard (2002) mentions is eliminating gender bias from textbooks and learning materials. He outlines that in Viet Nam, the government has developed a new gender-sensitive teacher-training module which ensures that textbooks are gender neutral and has increased girls' enrolment in colleges to 28 percent. More so, Bernard (2002) is of the view that supplying safe water and latrines encourage girls to go to college. The reason is that some girls drop out of college at the onset of menstruation partly because there are no separate toilet facilities for both boys and girls. This shows that a wide variety of strategies could be implemented to promote girls' education across the world. # d. Feminist Theories Feminist theory and its attention to diversity offer a sound framework for organizations working to change women's inferior social position and the social, political and economic discrimination that perpetuates it. Many of these organizations come together in networks under the umbrella of feminism, an inclusive worldwide movement to end sexism and sexist oppression by empowering women. Thirty years ago the women's movement faltered because it did not realistically account for how intersecting categories of oppression can divide women (Breines, 2006). Through efforts of feminist networks across the globe and under the leadership of the United Nations and the women's conferences they organized, many of these divides have been bridged. Global social change presents new and ongoing challenges for women, so a feminist agenda addressing the needs of all women is never in a finalized form. Feminists accept the goal of ending sexism by empowering women, but there is a great deal of disagreement about how that goal is to be accomplished. Because the feminist movement is inclusive, it is unlikely there will ever be full agreement on identifying problems and determining strategies to address the problems. The very inclusiveness and diversity of the movement makes unity on some issues virtually impossible. Indeed, absence of complete unity is appropriate because it fuels those worldwide debates that often result in the most creative, realistic, and innovative strategies for women's empowerment. Reflecting the difficulty of adopting one agenda, the movement has tended to partition itself into several different branches according to general philosophical differences. Women and men identify with organizations and principles that may fall under more than one branch. In addition, the branches are fluid; they continue to recreate themselves as different waves of feminism flow through society. Feminist branches, therefore, are neither mutually exclusive nor exhaustive. Feminists as individuals or in the formal groups to which they belong, however, generally subscribe to the principles of one or another of the following branches. Liberal feminism, also called "egalitarian or mainstream feminism," is considered the most moderate branch. It is based on the simple proposition that all people are created equal and should not be denied equality of opportunity because of gender. Because both genders benefit by the elimination of sexism, men are integrated into its ranks. Liberal feminism is based on Enlightenment beliefs of rationality, education, and the natural rights that extend to all men and women. This is articulated in John Stuart Mill's (2002) The Subjection of Women, with his statement that "what is now called the nature of women is an eminently artificial thing-the result of forced oppression in some directions, unnatural stimulation in others." Women can work together within a pluralistic system and mobilize their constituents to effect positive and productive social change. Demands will be met if mobilization is effective and pressure is efficiently wielded (Deckard, 1983:463). Liberal feminists believe society does not have to be completely restructured to achieve empowerment for women and to incorporate women into meaningful and equitable roles. This view tends to be adopted by professional, middle-class women who place a high value on education and achievement. These women are likely to have the economic resources to better compete with men for desirable. Liberal feminism thus appeals to "mainstream" women who have no disagreement with the overall structure of the present social system, only that it should be nonsexist. The National Organization for Women is the formal group representing this branch, with a statement of purpose calling for an end to restrictive gender roles that serve to diminish opportunities for both women and men. Cultural Feminism. Liberal feminists may also embrace "cultural feminism" with its focus on empowering women by emphasizing the positive qualities that are associated with women's roles such as nurturing, caring, cooperation, and connectedness to others (Worell, 1996:360). The issue of how much women are alike and how much they are different is highlighted in this emphasis. Although it does not constitute a separate branch of feminism per se, the debate around the "degree of gender difference or similarity" has allowed cultural feminism to become incorporated in all the feminist branches at some level. Liberal feminists, however, are more likely to subscribe to these principles than women in other branches. Socialist Feminism also referred to as "Marxist feminism," socialist feminism generally adopts the Marx-Engels model described earlier that links the inferior position of women to class-based capitalism and its alignment with the patriarchal family in capitalistic societies. Socialist feminism argues that sexism and capitalism are mutually supportive. The unpaid labor of women in the home and their paid labor in a reserve labor force simultaneously serve patriarchy capitalism. Many socialist feminists-both men and women-also believe that economic and emotional dependence go hand in hand. Fearful of the loss of economic security, a husband's power over his wife is absolute. Capitalism needs to be eliminated and socialist principles adopted to both home and workplace. Sexism and economic oppression are mutually reinforcing, so a socialist revolutionary agenda is needed to change both. Socialist feminism appeals to working-class women and those who feel disenfranchised from the presumed economic opportunities in capitalism. It has made a great deal of headway in Latin America and has served as a powerful rallying point for women in other developing nations. It is ironic that it's most vivid expression occurred in the former Soviet Union, where women continued to carry the heavy burden of unpaid household labor while also functioning in the paid labor force. Although socialist feminism is explicitly tied to Marxist theory, there are key differences between the two. Whereas Marxist theory focuses on property and economic conditions to build an ideology, socialist feminism focuses on sexuality and gender. Men and women retain interest in their own gender group, so it is unclear if the socialism being struggled for is the same for both men and women (Hartmann, 1993). A humane socialist approach to feminism requires consensus on what the new society should be and would require men to renounce their privileges as men. # e. Organizational culture Organizational culture is a widely used term but one that seems to give rise to a degree of ambiguity. Watson (2006) emphasizes that the concept of culture originally derived from a metaphor of the organization as 'something cultivated'. For the past number of decades, most academics and practitioners studying organizations suggest the concept of culture is the climate and practices that organizations develop around their handling of people, or to the promoted values and statement of beliefs of an organization (Schein, 2004). Schein (2004:11) highlights that "the only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture; that the unique talent of leaders is their ability to understand and work with culture; and that it is an ultimate act of leadership to destroy culture when itis viewed as dysfunctional." Culture therefore gives organizations a sense of identityand determines, through the organization's legends, rituals, beliefs, meanings, values, norms and language, the way in which 'things are done around here'. An organizations' culture encapsulates what it has been good at and what has worked in the past. These practices can often be accepted without question by long-serving members of an organization. One of the first things a new employee learns is some of the organization's legends. Legends can stay with an organization and become part of the established way of doing things. Over time the organization will develop 'norms' i.e. established (normal) expected behavior patterns within the organization. A norm is defined as an established behavior pattern that is part of a culture. Schein (2004:8) emphasizes that "perhaps the most intriguing aspect of culture as a concept is that it points us to phenomena that are below the surface, that are powerful in their impact but invisible and to a considerable degree unconscious. " Schein uses an analogy that culture is to a group what personality or character is to an individual. 'We can see the behavior that results, but often we cannot see the forces underneath that cause certain kinds of behavior. Yet, just as our personality and character guide and constrain our behavior, so does "culture guide and constrain the behavior of members of a group through the shared norms that are held in that group" (2004:8). Schein (1990) emphasizes that there are visible and invisible levels of corporate culture (the 'culture iceberg' analogy -the visible levels (surface manifestations) of the 'culture iceberg' incorporate observable symbols, ceremonies, stories, slogans, behaviors, dress and physical settings. The invisible levels of the 'culture iceberg' include underlying values, assumptions, beliefs, attitudes and feelings. Often, change strategies focus on the visible levels. Deal and Kennedy (1982) emphasize the more visible levels of culture (heroes, rites, rituals, legends and ceremonies) because it is these attributes they believe shape behavior. But it is the invisible levels that may be of more interest to public sector organizations in terms of their influence in progressing or impeding organizational change. Rousseau (1990) in his critique of researchers who concentrate on one or a few attributes, proposes a multilayered model which he structured as a ring (see Figure 2). Rousseau's rings are 'organized from readily accessible (outer layers) too difficult to access (inner layers)'. Rousseau's model appears to capture all the key elements of culture: "a continuum from unconscious to conscious, from interpretative to behavior, from inaccessible to accessible" (Rousseau 1990:158). Sou rce: Rousseau (1990) cited in cooper (1994) Organizational culture, then, is made up of more 'superficial' aspects such as patterns of behavior and observable symbols and ceremonies, and more deep seated and underlying values, assumptions and beliefs. Some proponents argue that organizational culture can be changed by focusing on the more visible aspects such as rites and rituals, as these help shape behavior. However, others argue that this is a misunderstanding of culture and that the 'deeper' aspects of culture such as beliefs and feelings must be taken into account when considering organizational culture and potential changes to culture. # Chapter Three III. # Methodology This study looks at socio-cultural factors affecting female students' college education with specific reference to JCTE The research applies both quantitative and qualitative approaches to clarify concepts, characteristics, description, counts and measures to demonstrate implications of the issue under question. The researcher employed both cross-sectional survey for quantitative questionnaire and grounded theory design that uses fieldwork data for qualitative approaches. This is because of the nature of the study. Though the influence of socio-cultural factors required the qualitative approach of anthropological investigation methods, its effect on the other two variables were examined solely with the application of quantitative approach. In this regard, closed and open ended questionnaires were used. # i. Quantitative Approach The quantitative research relies on field data collected using structured questionnaire that included questions on different variables affecting female students' college education, demographic and socioeconomic situation of survey respondents. Imperative information was collected on socio-cultural practices affecting female students' college education. The questionnaire was coded by Stream to distinguish the five streams because, each stream comprises of independent population from which sample considered for the study. Accordingly, 'Education Stream '1', Language Stream '2', Natural Science Stream, '3', Physical Education '4' and Social Science Stream '5' simply representing alphabetical order of their designations. Thus, measures of dispersion with the Index of Qualitative Variation (IQV) in a quantitative way and precise way will substantiate the researcher earlier impressions as revealed by scholar known as Healey, J. (2012: [90][91]. This is the only measure of dispersion available for nominal level variables that deserve some consideration. The IQV is essentially the ratio of the amount of variation actually observed in a distribution of scores to the maximum variation that could exist in that distribution. The index varies from 0.00 (no variation) to 1.00 (maximum variation). Generally, in the analysis section of table 9,10,11,12 and 13, the researcher used Index of Qualitative Variation (IQV) in quantitative way. The formulas are indicated as follows: # Formula Where K= the number of categories ??=????? ???????????? ??ð??"ð??" ?????????? ?ð??"ð??"2=????? ?????? ??ð??"ð??" ????? ?????????????? ð??"ð??"???????????????????? # ii. Qualitative research approach The qualitative research approach mainly focused on gathering information on traditional proverbs, gender specific roles, differences in teaching institutional practices and cultural attitudes and values that affect female students' college education. This research approach needs interpretation and explanation of socio-cultural facts incorporating the type of methodology in which the description of observation is not ordinarily expressed in quantitative terms (Leedy & Ormrod 2005). Although qualitative research uses numbers or numerals, it places more emphasis on methods of description such as narration and observation. As Creswell (2003) argued that qualitative approach gives no prior social order external to the lived experience of the actors that predetermines outcomes of the research. The approach seeks to interpret the meaning people make of their lives in natural setting rather than describing statistical associations between variables. The qualitative research approach used purposive sampling. This is one of the common sampling strategies for its preselected criteria relevant to a particular research question. It also analyses, describes and gives interpretations to insights that are discovered. It asks broad questions and generates data from participants. According to Enti (2008), the aim of qualitative research is to select either informants or documents or visual images who or that would best answer the research question(s) or meet the objectives of the study. The four parameters that had to be noted in such a study are (1) the setting or where the research would take place, (2) the actors, that is those who would be observed or interviewed, (3) what the actors would be observed doing or interviewed about, and (4) the process (the evolving nature of events undertaken by the actors within the setting). Purposive sample sizes are often determined on the basis of theoretical saturation (the point in data collection when new data no longer bring additional insights to the research question). Purposive sampling is, therefore, most successful when data review and analysis are done in conjunction with data collection. However, data gathered from qualitative research are sometimes expressed in quantitative terms such as tables and charts. Given (2008) is also of the view that in quantitative and qualitative analysis it is important to summarise all data gathered so that it would be very easy to study it. In qualitative research, descriptive statistics are typically observed in mixed methods designs for example, Case Study, or other qualitative designs. In this study, the researcher would use the case study strategy that would be conducted from October, 2014-May, 2015 to collect information on anthropological investigation of education. This method is a popular method within anthropology of educational research. Again among the various types of research designs within qualitative approach, this case study was taken as appropriate research design to attain these ??? = ?(? 2 ? ?ð??" 2 ) ? 2 (? ? 1) research objectives. As Kitchin and Tane (2000) claimed that since case study research seeks to extract meaning from the data, it focuses on detail and natural order of events. Additionally, the study employed semistructured interviews for selected informants to extract supportive information about the issue. Moreover, in order to crosscheck and validate the data obtained via interviews and to come up with a common understanding about the influences of socio-cultural practices on female students' college education, the researcher facilitated focus group discussion with female students. To this effect, one focus discussion was held and the discussion consisted of 8 persons. The discussion was held in Afan Oromo and the information recorded through note taking. The criteria of selecting the interviewed female students were having of assertiveness behavior and staying at least one year in college. To find this group of female students, the researcher got prior knowledge from their teachers and the representative of gender at college. Before beginning the interview, the researcher repeatedly told the purpose of the research and continually assumed them that the recording and note taking are only used for the purpose of the research. Besides, the researcher informed them that their identity would be kept confidential and not disclosed even after the study. This encouraged them to be free to reveal things without fear. The interview session was arranged based on discussion with informant female students and conducted in private and safe place. The interview and discussion were conducted in Afan Oromo and the information recorded through note taking and tape recording. To interpret the data obtained from the above stated tools, the researcher employed a thematic qualitative data analysis. In this regard, the analysis o0f the raw data involved five stages. At the beginning, the raw data obtained from interviews, key informant interview and focus group discussion were translated from Afan Oromo to English; the raw data were then coded and organized on the bases of their dimension; the condition of each dimension and category of data were interpreted. Following this, the description and classification of raw the data was made, and finally they were analyzed qualitatively. During analysis, the redundant information obtained from the data was eliminated. Generally, information collected would include female students' justification for socio-cultural factors that affect students' College education. Then the data would be analyzed and recommendations would be forwarded based on the findings of the study. In conclusion, data presented in the study were obtained from primary and secondary sources. Primary data is collected directly from respondents using quantitative and qualitative approaches. This primary data was collected from the female students, female teachers, administrators and instructors who were selected to be representative sample. Secondary data is collected through review of relevant literatures on sociocultural practices revealed from institutional variables affecting female students' college education. This secondary data was also collected from magazines, journals, documents of concerned organizations and internet sources having relevant information to the topic under investigation. # b) Study Population The study population for this research were female students at JCTE. All female students in the college educational circuit, their teachers and administrators were involved. From this population, the accessible population consisted of all female students of the college, teachers and administrators. The adult target population was made up of teachers, the headmistress of the college. # c) Sampling Technique and Sample Size The list of female College students and their administrators in the college was used as a sampling frame and the final sample was selected using purposive sampling technique. The sample size was determined after the total female students and their administrators in college were known. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the population of students. Convenience sampling technique was also employed to select those who provided the needed data. Besides, the researcher used convenience technique to select students for the study. The sample use for the quantitative approaches were people of varied background chosen from JCTE 1-3 year for all Five (5) Streams ,namely Education ( 36), Language (63), Natural Science (118), Physical Education (15) and Social Science (68). In sum, there were 300 female students. Such total number of female students were chosen from each stream and the criteria for the selection was based on knowledge that they own. Besides, both the Dean and the Vice Dean of the College, one gender office representative and Five (5) Stream Heads would be also sampled and their selection would be based on their professional ability. These all sample size would be applicable only for quantitative approach as indicated below. The sample size for collecting quantitative data is determined using Cochran's formula as indicated on Bartlett Kotrlik and Higgins (Bartlett and Higgins, 2001). This study used the following formula to calculate sample size The following step is used to determine sample size derived from the above formula to collect quantitative data using questionnaire: Where: n -Designates the sample size the research uses; N -Designates the total number of female students in all streams of the JCTE assuming that female students are affected by socio-cultural practices. e -Designates maximum variability or margin of error 5%(.05 %); In the qualitative approach, the major data collection methods employed wascase study, personal observation, FGD and semi structured interview. There were key informant interviews. Likewise, key informant interview and focus group discussions, (FGD) were used. Two (2) focus group discussions were conducted. The size of each FGD members would be 8-10 individuals. The participants were selected from college teachers, students and administrators based on their knowledge and experience. In addition, case study of individual encounters regarding to socio-cultural factors and education was examined. In general, the sample size for the qualitative approach session was determined by saturation point. # e) Instruments of Data Collection Guided semi-formal questions in each method was prepared separately for both the teachers of female students and college female students. Similarly, FGD checklist and interview guide would be prepared for the focus group discussions and the key informant interview respectively. f) Methods of Data Analysis Thematic categorization, explanations of facts, quoting, narrations and tables were analyzed using qualitative methods of data analysis. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis in general. Since the mixed approach was employed, the variables of quantitative approach were analyzed in order to triangulate the results of the findings. # g) Research Ethics The objective of the study was explained for the research participants and informed consent. Information was obtained orally. Information collected was kept confidentially. To this end, the name of the research participant was mentioned in the research report. It goes without saying that such an important social event, the inauguration of JCTE, which came along after nearly three decades of its inception as a TTI, it created both excitement and anxiety among those who are strongly affiliated with institution as a whole. The implementation required vigorous human mind and great material resources to be successfully carried out. In regarded to this, though JCTE has gota long way to go before it comes up to a full blown higher academic institution, one may dare say that it has made a good start on the way to meet the growing regional demand for qualified teachers of primary schools. The College has different training programs that vary in the numbers of years required to complete studying the course. There have been Four Streams and One Department namely, Language, Social Science, Education, Natural Science Streams and Physical Education Department in which the college has been offering diploma level training. According to the curriculum, which is expected to phase out totally next years, evening and summer programs four years to complete all courses to be eligible to graduate. In line with its legal status, pursuant to Article 54 (6) of the Constitution of Oromia, Executive Committee of the regional state proclaimed on Yekatit 27, 1989 the establishment of JCTE as an autonomous higher education institution having its own legal personality (Megelata Oromia Regulation No 9/1998). Very importantly, its need for promotion is to produce primary school teachers who can meet the demand of the 1994 Education and Training Policy of the Country, it was timely question for each region to establish its own College of Teachers Education. Hence, Oromia Regional State had taken the responsibility of founding College in Jimma town that has been supposed to train primary school teachers at diploma level. # i) Brief descriptions of the study areas The study would be conducted in JCTE. The reason for selecting the area is that most researched on females' education has been carried at the national level. Though no authentic source is readily available, the researcher can ascertain that anthropological investigation into educational arena with reference to College female students is not studied in the study area. This is not an amazing observation, considering the fact that anthropology of education did not deny the formal education. This has been aggravated by cultural practices in the area which deprive female students' education the right of gaining quality education in formal education. The researcher is interested in the issues of female students' education with the belief that when female students are educated in socio cultural friendly educational setting, they would be in a better position to fight discrimination held against women. # Chapter Four IV. # Data Presentation and Analysis a) Introduction This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of data gathered from the sample population (Female Students, both their female teachers and male teachers and administrators) through questionnaire in terms of the Index of Qualitative Variation (IQV) in a quantitative way. However, the data generated through instruments of qualitative approach uses guided semiformal questions. The instruments are case study, personal observation, focus group discussion and semi structured interview which considers key informant interview. These generated data are used to see the impacts of socio-cultural practices on female students' college education. The triangulation of instruments using mixed approaches is extremely significant to observe the actual existence of the findings. Field works and discussion of cultural practices in line with anthropology of education are explained in this chapter. It is a discussion of the effects of gender representation on the female students' educational opportunities. The main informants were female student representatives of the college, with their teachers, and male administrators of the college providing supplementary information. The presentation begins with background of the respondents as indicated in the following list of sample population of the study revealing each stream. # b) General Characteristics of all Respondents i. Background Information As it was already described in Chapter Three, large number of the data sources for the study were sample female students selected from five streams of the college. Some of the characteristics of these data sources as indicated by respondents in the questionnaire are in the table 1 below. # Table 3: Characteristics of sample female students As it can be observed from table 3 above, there were a total of 300 female students who responded to the questionnaire. Regarding their Streams 118 (39%) were attending their educations in Natural Science. Showing that most the female students are Muslim background. The table also shows that regarding marital status 287 (95 %) were unmarried, 11(4 %) were married and 2 (1 %) were divorced. As they indicated in their personal information, out of 95% unmarried female students 39% of them are attending their education in Natural Science and 5% of them are in Physical Education. Similarly, out of those married female students 4 % of them are Muslims. This shows that marriage before college education is to some extent practiced in Muslim society. On the other hand, the divorced 1 % is Christian. As it could be explained in above table, being a divorced person paves the way to the negative impacts of socio-cultural practices on college education. The other respondents for the study were female teachers, female administrators, male teachers and male administrators as it is displayed in table 4 above. Some of the characteristics of these respondents who responded to the questionnaire are indicated in the same table 4. Accordingly, 29 (66%) of the male teachers are married. The other 7 (16 %) of male administrators are also married. In sum, since the majorities are married, it seems that the sexual harassments are minimized. In the higher education sector like JCTE, however, it seems to be an established fact that having a female teacher in certain courses ,in one's first course in a predominantly "male" course encourages female students to continue, and vice versa. It shows from interview that teachers view their students more positively if they are of the same sex, the same ethnic background and the same religion as them, especially if they come from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, and that students have better academic results when they have a teacher of the same sex and the same ethnic background. The social characteristics examined include these variables: age, marital status, religion background, and the streams where they are belonging to. # ii. Age of Respondents The age of female students are the indicators to a certain extent that gives idea as to whether they are in the educational system and their potential off-college roles, which could also have implications for learning. The data returns in Table 5 further gives a detailed picture of the age of respondents. For instance, this was the breakdown at the various year levels of the JCTE female students. Out of a number of 6 females, aged 20, who were interviewed, there were: 4, 1, and 1 JCTE Language Stream, Social Science Stream and Education Stream respectively. At age 18, it was also observed that the distribution of the section was 2, 4 and 2 Language, Social Science and Natural Science respectively. For age 20-22, it was observed that, 1 was Education, 1 in Physical Education and 4 Language. The age distribution in the Table 3 seemingly contradicts with each other's learning standards. This is because at ages 17 and 18 those are about 37 %, by which time they should have been near completion of High School. The reasons responsible for this, as this research unraveled, are varied. For instance a girl informant at the age of 17 who ordinarily should be in High School but now in College explain her circumstance as suggested in the interview. She was made a herds-girl when she was at high school. So, these conceptions revealed that the girl did not have strong educational background. As it was observed from table 6, 28 (63%) of the male teachers were above 30 years which made them aware of taking for female students for the training that they obtained from higher institutions. The others which included 5%, 2% and 14 % indicated that they were less than 30 years. That meant that they were at the fire that paved them to sexual harassment. On the other hand, age of the persons were the other factors that led varied types of persons to sexual harassment in JCTE as their ages were revealed in table 6. 14 % (6) of the sample populations were 27-30 in their ages but 63% (28) above 30 in their ages. Therefore, these age factors also paved the way to the sexual harassment in the JCTE. Beside to these conceptions, the focus group discussion was held with 8 (eight) members of female teachers, female administrators, male teachers and male administrators by taking two persons from each type of respondents respectively. The group members reached on consensus with the fact that educational settings are often ones of sexual terrorism as male monopolies are held in place through threat, intimidation, coercion and violence. It was agreed that the visual experience of female students was that they were sexually harassed by males on the playground, in the corridors and even in females' washrooms. Females were frequently verbally abused and "put down" by males while being expected to provide services for them. All major players in the educational settings-female teachers, female administrators, male teachers and male administrators-regarded these experiences as normal, as males "simply being males. "These conceptions of cultural backgrounds are also considered normal in JCTE as it was understood from the group discussions. c) The Influence of Cultural differences across disci-pline on female students disappeared when examining college education. Among high grade recipients who were awarded certificate because of their efficiency, female students were much less likely than male students to have taken courses in Physical science, Chemistry, Mathematics and English, but were more likely to have taken courses in Social Sciences and Afan Oromo. In the Social and behavioral sciences, females were likely than males to have taken Civics and Ethical Education and were likely to have taken History and Geography. In this regard, differences in the College course taking patterns of males and females were related to the fields in which they chose to major. At the Kinder Garden (KG) level, it was observed that females were about three times as likely as men to graduate with certificates in education of JCTE although this represented a decline from 2014. Females were also more likely than males to major in Afan Oromo, Physical Education and Civics. In general, it was recognized from 8 female students in their focus group discussion and personal observation of 5 classes that female students have made important advances in educational enrolments of JCTE, closing the gender gap in educational attainment among younger females that existed in College. In JCTE, females performed high results in Music and Ethical Science than males although they performed worse in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and English. The Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and English that females and males took in JCTE were similar, with the exception that females were less likely than males to study Physics. Moreover, females were more likely than males to go to Colleges immediately after high school and were just as likely to earn diplomas. Although females tended to major in different fields than males in College, many of these differences have narrowed over time. But despite large gained in educational attainment labor force participation, significant differences in earnings persisted between females and males, even at similar levels of education, i.e., Kinder Garden (KG) to diploma certificates. The interview held with administrators also supported the existing burden of female students. When the Five (5) administrators of the College were interviewed, it was revealed that some of the female students do not come to college because they have nobody to take care of them. The administrators added that some of the female students are made to buy something from the market in order to help themselves .The administrators said "A female student had to go to Kochi every day to buy vegetables from the small market before coming to college and by the time she gets home, it is already 9.30 am and so she does not come to college at all." Besides, they explained that due to lack of self-control some of the female students get pregnant and drop out of college. The administrators added that some of the female students are academically weak and so they either absent themselves from college or are not punctual to college and for that reason, female students are not attending their education in the classroom properly. The administrators said that some of them went to the place where some of the female students rent home for living to see the renters in charge of female students and discussed the issue with them. One of the female students was registered to be a member of female students' club in the college. In this regard, the female students began to create contact with one of the female teachers who were the coordinator of the club as well as the officer of the patron. However, female teachers were only 2 (two) in number. They could not be a mentor for all the female teachers. Through the interview, the administrator said he consulted with each other in the college to provide toilets and urinals for both the girls and the boys because he realized that both the boys and girls were using the same toilet in the college. Thus, he said, this could be a factor that deters the female students from coming to college. In the interview with female teachers and male teachers at JCTE, there were also certain responses from them. Some of the teachers' interview indicated that about 80% of the female students in the college did not take care about their education because of some cultural background that hinders them not take much attention to their educations. The interviewed teachers said that there are no role models in the college whom the female students would follow the footsteps of that person. This is why some of them do not attend their educations. The teachers added that the female students in the college do not attend their education due to poverty. They said the reason was that some females come to college without eating and for that matter they find it difficult to stay in college. Another thing they mentioned was that some of the females do not get their basic needs like sanitary pad, books and college closings and so they find it difficult to come to college. One of the teachers interviewed mentioned that some of the male teachers who try to help some of the females because of their plight tend to impregnate them and they drop out college. In addition, the interview revealed that some of the females sell things in the night and so whenever they come to college, they sleep in class and are unable to perform and because of that, they do not attend their education. The teachers also said that if females are sent to college, they do not acknowledge the customs and cultural values of the society in which they lived and that is why some families feel reluctant to send their females to educational institutions. The eight (8) female students who were interviewed also revealed that some of the male teachers do harass them and that is why some of them do not come to college. They further explained that if a teacher proposes to a girl and the girl refuses, that teacher will make sure that he punishes that girl any time he sees her. One of the girls whom researcher interviewed mentioned that a teacher proposed to her and she refused and since then she has been getting zero in that teacher's course. Other girls said they do not get their basic need like sanitary pads and panties from their parents' that is why they do not attend college education. The girls added that some of the teachers insult and embarrass them when they are unable to answer questions in class that is why they do not go to college education. Some of the girls interviewed said they stay with their boyfriends who are at Jimma University and so they do a lot of work in the house and for that matter, are unable to come to college early that is why they do not have interest in education. The researcher used an observation checklist to observe both teachers and students in the classroom. It was observed that some of the teachers do not ask the girls questions during instructional periods. These teachers, most of the time, direct their questions to the boys in the classroom. In view of this the girls always become quiet and dull in class. This normally happens during science and mathematics lessons. In addition, it was observed that the teachers do not use teaching-learning materials during the teaching and learning process. For example, the researcher observed a Social Studies lesson when the teacher was teaching a lesson on teaching topic "The Nine Regions of Ethiopia and their Capitals". This teacher did not bring a map of Ethiopia to the classroom and neither did he sketch it on the board. The students were just looking at him while he was talking without making any contribution. Again, it was observed that because teachers do not involve the girls in their lessons, they do not pay attention in the classroom at all but rather they always sit at the back and converse. It was also observed that the girls were interested in practical courses like Music and Ethical Arts which consists of Visual Arts, Pre-Technical and Home Taking Works. For example, whenever there was a practical lesson in Home Taking Works, the attendance of girls in the college increased. Furthermore, it was also observed that some of the teachers send the girls to go and bring some teaching materials for them during class hours which make the girls miss lessons. As it is displayed in the quantitative survey of table 8, the residential place size contains more than two persons in each stream. 88 % of the female students were in more than two in their residential home but the rest 12 % were single. In addition to this, 86 % of the female students were studying less than two hours but 14 % of the female students were studying more than two hours. The indication of this was that female students were consuming their time in indoor works. Table 8 shows that the number of more than two persons in the sample are 30, 59, 96, 13 and 65 respectively in each stream. The key informants in the semi structured interview also explained the same conceptions. From Table 8. The informants live in large households. This clearly depicted that most of college females' informants are members of large households. This can be attributed to the extended family relations and the prestige associated with having more females and other friends in the study area. According to my informants, a normal household size in the area should be three to four. It is clear that, even according to their standard, the area still has large household size. # d) Barriers of Female students' Study Time at Resi-dential places The result of large household size on female students' education is that where the income of the household is inadequate to cater for the members of the household, females are denied the opportunity to participate in college education. The socio-cultural values of their background glorify more girlfriends. Thus prioritization of living in one rented home as a socioculture is the argument for the practice of sexual intercourse. According to the most of interviewees, 'the motives behind the desire for large family have been institutionalized through various and complex rites, taboos, social behavior and beliefs. Source: Fieldwork, 2015.The above ideas could be also seen in comparison with the focus group discussion of female students held on March 2015. Most of the female students explained that the residential places are the smallest task-oriented and culturally defined framework for meeting the welfare needs of individuals. The residential place is usually organized around human needs, which have social, cultural, historical and psychological dimensions. These socially constructed needs include food, shelter, sleep, cleanliness, clothing, sex, reproduction, companionship and recreation. The composition of residential place of female students includes male class mates, female class mates and other friends living under the same roof and, at least sharing some meals together. All female students have identified production and distribution of resources as two of the most important categories of activities that residential places across cultures have been observed to perform. There could be inequalities in the distribution of resources on the basis of gender and age. One person has argued that the residential place size or composition is a determinant factor of the capabilities, choices and strategies available to it. Therefore, the viability of females 'education may be affected in terms of distribution resource. In the end all the participants of the focus group discussion agreed on theseissues. e) The Extent of Service Provision to Female Students Table 9: The guidance and counselling services that the female students get at college. # Item of question Responses Type As it is presented in table 9 above, responses of the majority of female students 198(66%) indicated that female students always get guidance and counselling services in the college. Similarly, the table makes clear that 34(94%) of the instructors and 8(100%) of the administrators confirms the fact that most of the female students got guidance and counselling services at JCTE. In addition to this, reports by the interviewed male teachers, female administrators, female teachers and male administrators indicated that female students have enough guidance and counselling services from counselors of female students established by the college from female teachers. According to the interview even though they are not professionally trained in the discipline, model female students are also contributing much in this regard. In the same table above, responses of some female students 35 (12%) who say not at all and 67 (22%) who say sometimes indicated when they are interviewed that absence of guidance and counselling service or not functioning of the existing one has a great influence on female students' college education. This seems that they have a good experience on the benefits of guidance and counselling services in educational process of their college experience. In general, the data indicated that even though lack of guidance and counselling services have a great impact on females' college education. There is no problem of such services in the study areas. There is no professionally trained personnel in the discipline, the attempt to use model female students seems a good practice. The variation which lies from 0.17-0.75 also reveals the same conceptions. f) The Impact of Religion on Female Students' Education Table 11: The Impacts of distance to college, workload and traditional proverbs on Female # Students' College Education As it is shown in table 11 above, the question item number 1, 193 (64%) of the female students, 31 (86%) of the instructors and 6 (75%) of the administrators were responded to the questionnaire by supporting that the distance between homes and College often affect the punctuality of female students to college, participation in class, retention and completion. The variations on the responses of each question extends from 0.00-0.92. Accordingly, table 7 tells us that traditional proverbs are hindrances to female students' education in the college. For example, the College areas are far away from the down town and they are mostly situated on the hilly mountainous areas. Female students were not comfortable with going to the classroom since the Colleges is far from where they live. Increased the likelihood of non-enrolment or nonattendance and dropping out after enrolment. Source: Fieldwork, March, 2015. This data shows that most of the college female students walk long distance from their rented homes to college. Due to the nature of female students work at home, which they have to do before going to college, distance to college gives most of them a lot of problems. Distance prevented female students from going to college. Therefore, in most cases distance impeded enrolment especially the females. Issues of safety and security of college female students is a concern for themselves and they would less likely be to allow themselves to attend college if they have to travel long distances. A female informant had this to say about the distance to college residential area: 'My village is far away, it takes more than one hour on foot to attend college every day. This makes me late for college, tired and I cannot concentrate in the classroom'. (5th April 2015) Similarly, a female informant noted that: 'Since college is located far away between towns, and since females have to walk these distance, our friends of female students are weak as compared to boys to survive these long walks'.(5th April 2015).Therefore long distance to college is a concern to college female students and their friends. This could then be noted as one of the many obstacles for females' regular attendance, retention and completion of college especially at the college level. # No. Item of the questions # Responses # Types In addition to the above discussions, female students are also working in door works that hinders them not follow up their college education. Most of JCTE female students have male friends with whom they are enjoying during afternoon shift. Some of the male friends are from their classmates but others are from Jimma University. Hence, female students of JCTE are very busy in the afternoon because they are requested to make coffee and other things for their male counterpart. This conception was evidenced by the responses of female students 170(57%), instructors 33(92%) and administrators 7 (88%). They proved that female students of JCTE had workloads at the residential place while they were attending their college education. The following case study realized the responses held by female students, instructors and administrators. Leliftu said: I became domestic worker when I was in grade seven since (1997 E.C.) I lost my parents. Currently, I am a student in JCTE studying Physics. I used to be a fairly good performing student and that is why I joined the college, but I failed to join University. The work burden, coupled with my health problem, made me fail. When I was in grade 9and 10, I used to perform well since I was not loaded but later on, as fulfilling sustenance has become a priority, I started to use much of my time for domestic work. I work in four hour houses as part-time domestic worker and earn 100 birr per month, out of which 52 birr is allocated for house rent and college fees. I use only 48 birr for my living expense. Generally, my income is not constant or guaranteed. So, I am usually full of problems. I have not yet got any solution. This case study found that given their low wages, domestic workers spend most of their salaries on basic need like food, cloth and shelter. Due to their low wages, most of them were not able to perform in their educational activities. As it can be seen from the same table above in the question item number 3, female students have been grown up by getting pieces of advices from traditional proverbs that undermine females' participation in anywhere. In this regard, 292 (97%) of female students, 34 (94%) of instructors and 8(100%) of the administrators responded the fact that female students lack of current classroom participation and shyness are the result of their childhood rearing in their families. Hence, the classroom instructors were observed to be bicultural need to differentiate between beliefs, values and behaviors which were part of their enculturation (first culture learning) and acculturation (second culture learning or adaptation). This exercise in the classroom teaching and learning itself provides valuable information and insights on the female students. Table 12 reveals about the curriculum that reinforces traditional stereotype. Hence, there are ideally similar responses among female students, instructors and administrators, i.e. 95%, 86% and 63 % respectively. On the other hand, when the responses of female students, instructors and administrators observed from the table, the variation lies between 0.00-0.95. This dispersion reveals that sometimes there is no variation among the responses to indicate the degree of influences. However, the maximum variation tells us that there is great variation among the responses in the table above. This means that the degree of influence depends on the expressed type of statements. This indicates that the curriculum is reinforcing traditional stereotype. # g) Socio-Cultural Influences on Female Students' Education Moreover, all of the areas of culture in which the researcher suggested questions (Semi-Structured Interview Guide with Female teachers, question number 5) are relevant for curriculum selection or development -even religion, which the researcher usually doesn't think what the teachers are teaching at college. The basic question related to cultural differences is: What is considered religious and what is secular? Much of what would appear to be relevant native cultural content for educational practice may have religious significance, and it is important to find out what is not appropriate for college. Many aspects of culture with religious significance have long been included in the curriculum content of Oromia Colleges, including the observance of special days and information on their history and meaning, and many topics in physical education, natural science, or social studies may be considered religious by other cultures. The dominant religion is evident in oaths of office and mottos on coins, and serves as a base for many present laws and holidays. In the area of food, the native cultural component of the curriculum should deal not just with the 'special' or the 'exotic', but with regular patterns of eating, and with sociolinguistic and other behavioral rules which are observed in conjunction with eating. Cultural taboos concerning food should be respected, both in lessons on nutrition and in the college cafeteria. As a practical matter, this means providing for a choice of food when it is to be consumed at college, or at least not forcing female students to 'clean their plates' differently from the males. This social restriction of each workload to the females becomes hindrance to the educational practices of females. In the area of history and traditions, the role of the particular group to which the female students belong-in its own right and in Oromo peoples history-should be included, and not merely that of a foreign culture in the country of origin. Social studies books from other countries may be quite irrelevant for this area, at least for younger female students. They will probably be of interest and value for the intermediate and secondary levels, but cultural relevance should not be assumed just because they are in the female students' native language. The kinds of curricular content to guard against would be exemplified by English history textbook translated into Afan Oromo for education, but excluding attention to the role of the English cultures in the settlement and applications of cultural information in instruction. Cultural factors are critically relevant to all evaluation of female student achievement, teacher performance, and program effectiveness. Testing is itself a social event, and female students may perform differentially in differing testing conditions. Evaluation instruments can never be considered culturally neutral, no matter how 'objective' their format. It is important that external program evaluators also be sensitive to cultural differences, and that they do not impose their own cultural expectations and experiences on the evaluation process. Too many evaluation reports simply constitute reflections of the evaluator's values: trial and error learning, 'learning by doing', adherence to time schedules and routines, competitiveness, or the use of tests for diagnostic/prescriptive purposes. Program evaluation should take into account the goals and expectations which parents and the community have for the education of their children, as well as those set by teachers, school, and the larger society, and parents and community leaders should have a significant role in the evaluation process. In the discussion of table 10 above on question item number 5, the responses of female students 232 (77%) instructors 34 (94%) and administrators 6 (75%) indicate that female students of JCTE are often ridiculed and harassed for performing well in the classroom by their male classmates which tends to depress their achievement as they are afraid of excelling in case they provoke a negative reaction from males. In this regard, the concepts and methods should prove useful not only in instructional programs, but for improving equal educational opportunity for all female students, and for all those commonly labeled the 'disadvantaged': one of the major unresolved problems in their education is the lack of consonance between the culture of lower socioeconomic groups and that of the college, or that which is taught in the college, no matter what the language of instruction. Whether the female students from a lower class Afan Oromo-speaking background, it is well known that they are likely to have greater difficulty in secondary school than if they are from college background because the medium of instruction. # Volume XVI Issue IX Version I The complex factors which are frequently labeled merely 'low socioeconomic background' currently lack explanatory power and need to be 'unpacked' in order to identify the specific cultural variables which lead to inequality in educational achievement. Female students from higher socioeconomic groups are also frequently from culturally different backgrounds, of course. Although they are less likely to have difficulty in college education, recognition and understanding of these differences can only enrich the educational experience of all with whom they are in contact, and increase their level of personal fulfillment and the contribution they will ultimately make to the society as the above highest percentage put clear insights into once mind. Therefore, this proved the fact that man is a cultural animal. All of us in one way or another are products of our culture, and many of our behaviors, values, and goals are culturally determined. Our task is to explore how the positive and humanistic aspects of this force can be maximized in education, how it can be used to further our goals and enhance the opportunities of both teachers and female students to develop to their full potentials, and how the potentially distorting effect of cultural conditioning (which can result in stereotyping and in prejudice) must be minimized as it is observed in the table 13. Because classroom teachers are human, they can never hope to be culture-free in teaching and evaluating their female students, but they can at least attempt to be culture-fair by being sensitive to their own biases and by recognizing that cultural differences do not represent deficiencies. There are indeed real differences between groups of people; they must recognize, understand, and respect these real cultural differences, and not simplistically proclaim that 'all people are the same underneath the skin'. This assertion seems to be egalitarian, but it often hides a basic ethnocentric assumption, that all people are like me, and that to say otherwise would be degrading them. Just as administrators are now accepting Afan Oromo as a positive resource in education, they must learn to accept and use the wider range of cultural differences of which Afan Oromo is a part. And as in teaching process, both the administrators and teachers must view teaching a second culture as an additive process, and not as replacing the culture of the home that all female students of the college practiced. The concept of culture represents differing ranges of human behaviors, products, and institutions to female students with differing academic and experiential backgrounds. The most common range included in the definition is the narrowest, encompassing only 'the arts', or perhaps admitting the uniquely identifiable behavior of 'cultured' individuals of female students, such as extending the little finger at an appropriate angle when holding a tea cup with the 'proper' sound for educators have generally recognized a broader scope of phenomena: evidence of 'culture' in a classroom is observed in this regard. Meetings and in-service workshops for teachers often feature 'cultural events', defined as singing and/or dancing typical of 'folk' in another country. This is good; this is certainly fun; but this is also an entirely inadequate perspective on 'culture' for the nature and goals of educational practices. To the anthropologist, the ethnographer who describes and explains the life-ways of diverse groups of female students, culture includes all of the rules for appropriate behavior which are learned by this females as a result of being members of the same group or community, and also the values and beliefs which underlie overt behaviors and are themselves shared products of this group membership. It is this scope of 'culture' which the researcher believes must be understood, accepted, and accounted for in educational practices of the college classroom. education is itself a cultural invention. In JCTE, it is a system which serves primarily to prepare female students to participate in their own culture. Female students who come into the system from other cultures, including the lower social classes, have generally been considered 'disadvantaged' or 'deficient' to the degree that their own cultural experiences differ from the mainstream, middle class 'norms'. (Programs in compensatory education in the JCTE have been based primarily on this rationale, and serve to provide middle-class cultural experiences to female students who have been 'deprived' of them.) The researcher observed that educational system cannot be blamed for attempting to teach the dominant Oromia Region culture to all of its female students, since such enculturation (or socialization) is the essential purpose of education in all cultures. He can blame the traditional educational system for inadequate provision or respect for female students culturally diverse backgrounds, however, and such criticism has constituted one of the basic motivations for the implementation of educational programs. Culture is not an optional component of educational practices, whether or not the female students add the term bicultural to the title of their programs nor is it an optional component of the programs which train professional female teachers. Whether consciously recognized or not, culture is a central force in all education. Such a usage implies that formal recognition is given to aspects of the female students' traditional culture within the instructional program, both to ensure that the female student has the opportunity to learn about it, and to enhance the students' feelings of acceptance within the college context. To what extent is learning a second culture necessarily related to learning irrelevant curricula in the classroom? Historically, the pragmatic answer to this question has been somewhat imperialistic in nature, and often also in intent. It has been considered axiomatic that because irrelevant curricula is an integral component of culture, only the culture of the community from which educational practice derives is appropriate content for its expression, and that teachers must transmit that content to those who are learning education in the classroom as 89 %, 75% and 50 % of the respondents of female students, instructors and administrators confirmed respectively in table statement number 12 above. # Volume XVI Issue IX Version I Similarly, when the focus is explicitly on inculcating a second culture, teaching the varied education that goes along with it has been considered a primary and necessary means to that end. This has been shown clearly in table 12 statement number 4 stating political institution and educational policies adopted toward Oromia Region as it can be deduced in the table that 78 %, 72% and 12 % of the JCTE college female students, instructors and administrators respectively confirmed the same conception. The relationship between an instructional language and the culture in which it is used depends on the social context for learning and teaching the education, and the social functions which it assumes. In the learning of the mother tongue that language is both part of the native culture being acquired in the process of children's enculturation, or socialization, and a primary medium for the transmission of other aspects of that culture from one generation to the next, such as values, beliefs, and rules for social behavior. If female students remain in contact with their native culture, their mother tongue proficiency, expands to include expression of the new concepts they develop, the new domains in which they function, and the new role-relationships in which they participate. This intrinsic relationship of language to culture is so 'natural' as to operate at an unconscious level for most female students, furthered by informal means more than by formal education, and by family and peers more than by professional educators. One possible result of this acculturation process is loss of the native culture or the merger of cultures until they are indistinguishable, called assimilation, and the resulting society a 'melting pot'. Perhaps one of the most important contributions of the movement for unclear female students' education in JCTE has been the valuation of another possible result of acculturation: the selective maintenance and use of both cultural systems, and biculturalism. The nature and extent of female students' cultural competence is thus just as important as their linguistic competence for determining appropriate level and content for instruction in educational cultures. It is now beginning to be recognized that female students who enrolled in education of college programs in JCTE offers varying degrees of proficiency in the one language of instruction. Cultural competence will also vary. There is no reason to assume, for instance, that Amharic-dominant female students have acquired the culture of such Amharic-speaking institutions as observed in some colleges. They indeed have acquired a culture, but it might well be the beliefs, values, and rules for appropriate behavior common to the dominant Oromo society; in this case, being 'bicultural' would involve learning about their ancestral cultural heritage, which is analogous in many respects to learning about the culture associated with other education. While recognizing and accepting the culture which female students bring to college is important, however, the fact remains that the same reasons exist for learning the dominant Oromo culture as for learning Afan Oromo: it is necessary for full participation in the larger society. Much of the sociocultural influences on learning and teaching are depicted in table 13, statement number 1 expressing 86%, 61% and 63 % of the female students, instructors and administrators respectively indicate the fact that there is a negative influence on female students' college education. To understand and facilitate learning in any area of the curriculum, teachers should know not only what it is that is being acquired, but how it relates to what has already been learned. The learning of culture, like the learning of language, begins with a child's first experiences with the family into which he/ she is born, the community to which he/she belongs, and the environment in which he/she lives. By the time children begin their formal education at the age of six or seven, they have already internalized many of the basic values and beliefs of their native culture, learned the rules of behavior which are considered appropriate for their role in the community, and established the procedures for continued socialization; they have learned how to learn. Different child-rearing practices are preferred in different cultures, and these will have a significant effect on later learning at college level. They range from very lenient when compared to dominant group standards, with little physical restraint or coercion employed, to very strict control of early behaviors. For example, although few pronouncements can be made about 'Oromo children' as a group, since the many societies maintaining their identity in the Oromia are very homogeneous with regard to language, culture, and even physical traits, there are a few social values and practices that are quite wide-spread among the various Oromo communities. In general, little or no physical punishment is used, for instance, with children commonly disciplined by teasing, ridicule, or fear or by indirect example through folklore. Their learning of physical tasks is often With regard to personal observation in the classroom, there are varied techniques of differential treatment that the instructor provides for female students. These techniques reveal the fact that there are cultural differences in teaching styles as well, although the acquisition of specific teaching skills during professional training is part of the socialization of educators to the subculture of the college. The observation checklists are also confirmed as indicated in table 12. It is not at all certain that teachers from a similar cultural background to the students' will teach them more effectively. It does seem clear, however, that all teachers would profit from greater understanding of differences in learning styles, and greater tolerance of differences. Particularly inappropriate for bicultural education are categorical claims about the best way to learn or teach anything (which are all too common in teacher training); the claim that 'children learn best by doing', for instance, is not true for all children. Cultural sensitivity and respect requires relativism and flexibility in teaching styles. Such eclecticism is nothing new as an option in pedagogy, but it is necessary, not optional, when teaching students from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. Also clearly affecting learning are the attitudes and motivation of female students and their parents, many of which are culture-specific. In this respect, the personal observation to the female's participations in the classroom became a witness to this conception. As it was observed, cultural attitudes and values most assuredly affect teaching as well, since instructors acquire these as members of their own cultural group, learn and generally adopt those of the dominant group where it is different, and have different attitudes and expectations toward female students from different subcultures. The educational goals are not limited to instructional objectives, but include the enculturation or gender socialization to values and expectations as well. Most of the responses to the level of influencing factors in table 13 depicted this expression demonstrating 86%, 61% and 63% of the students', instructors' and administrators' responses respectively. This involves a weighty responsibility and requires careful thought, because, for good or ill, female students often succeed. For example, accepting the goal 'success in college' often requires alienation from home, family, friends, and cultural heritage, and this is a terrible price to ask female students to pay particular attention while teaching is going on as indicated in observation checklist question number 1. Female students must learn to understand both the medium and the content of what they are doing in the classroom, and learn to be sensitive to the differences between what their instructors are teaching and what the female student brings to the classroom, so that the teaching becomes an aid and not a hindrance to the full realization of the female student's potential as a human being. The responses to question number 6 in the observation checklist reveals that there are certain forms of gender disparities in the classroom. Obviously, it is claimed that science is sometimes considered as a culturally neutral area of the curriculum, but many of the topics taught under that label are loaded with culturespecific beliefs, values, and behavioral rules. While many female students succeed in keeping the theories learned at home and college compartmentalized so they may 'believe' both concurrently, with one or the other called to consciousness depending on the context and even the medium of instruction being used, many others find this area of the curriculum a source of cultural conflict and confrontation because of gender disparities. Whenever such conflict can be anticipated, or when female students question a scientific theory on the basis of teachings from home and community, the teacher should not hesitate to say that while the college theories are believed by many, there are also many who disagree (which is quite true). Above all, the teacher should not convey the impression that there is only one explanation for natural phenomena, or that people who hold differing views are stupid or superstitious. Even scientists today are increasingly becoming aware of the extent to which culture affects their concepts and perceptions. Science, as a cultural phenomenon itself, can never be entirely culture-free. Question number 4 in the observation checklist geared toward the methods of the teacher that attracts female students. Hence, in the classroom the teacher teaches learning through play which is often not valued positively in classroom culture, but is counterpoised to the serious business of which the teacher calls teaching methods. Nevertheless, as anthropologists have shown, what the teaching process is thought of as play which could have a strong educational function aimed at developing certain patterns of socialization. In addition, the educational practices that would superficially appear to an outside observer to play could have a serious religious purpose. The system of rewards associated with the attainment of particular roles or the fulfillment of various kinds of activities would differ considerably between cultural groups or even between social classes, and are subject to change over time or under conditions of acculturation. The teacher should be familiar with these factors, particularly in implementing a career education program, to minimize cross-cultural conflict and maximize effective learning. One of the primary rationales for educational practice is the enhancement of female students' selfimage, but little attention is given to the cultural relativity of that concept. Adopting dominant values for personal 'success' and 'fulfillment' is usually a late stage in the process of acculturation; dominant-culture expectations and aspirations should never be assumed of children who are still primarily under the enculturation influences of the home, and they should never be imposed on individuals who choose to find their own fulfillment and satisfaction within the native community. # h) Negative Effect of Traditional Practices on Female Students More members of female student groups today are seeking to find fulfillment within their traditional communities, and the expectation that success is to be measured in the context of the larger society--which is implicit or subtly present in much college text materials, tests, and teacher attitudes or behaviors--can have the strong and dysfunctional effect of contributing to a sense of failure on the part of the female student. To restate, education is not just formal schooling, but includes all of the formal and informal procedures for transmitting the knowledge and values of a female student group from one generation to another, whether in the form of telling stories and proverbs in the family or holding organized classes to teach factual or technical information. For instance, female students raised Oromo proverbs that hinder female students' participation in the classroom. They raised the following proverbs in the semi-structured interview question number 3: Dubartiin beektuu hin qabdu, beekaa deessi malee, Dubartiin dheertuu malee beektuu hin qabdu, Dubartiin dubbii hin tolchitu, soora tolchiti. Dubartiin lama hin beektu tokko hin wallaaltu, Dubartiin akkuma harmi gadii qalbiin isheen gadi.'' College female students have grown up in the families that treat them not to participate in anywhere as it can be understood from the above Oromo Proverbs. So the classroom teachers' task should be targeted to break these traditional practices that hinder female students' ways sharing ideas in the classroom. Similarly, preferred styles of learning may be present among certain groups of females or in particular contexts. Trial and error learning, the cornerstone of the educational methodology (including the use of tests), should be antithetical to female students' cultural values and have dysfunctional results because it causes embarrassment by forcing female students to demonstrate knowledge or skill mastery before they are ready. Traditional education in some cultures are primarily religious in orientation, or should have the important function of supporting the maintenance of social structures or values which are at variance with those taught in the majority-culture secular college education. The potential conflicts which could arise in bicultural situations clearly need to be recognized if the female students' educational experience is to be positive, and consonant with the expectations and desires of the parents and the community. Because of the different learning styles which are brought to college by female students, whatever their cultural background, the teacher should use a variety of instructional methods whenever possible (including visual and manipulative) and never assume there is one best way to teach anything. Inductive procedures for dealing with such topics as 'what is a family' are increasingly being incorporated in social studies text books, and this is clearly more appropriate than an approach which assumes that family composition and role-relationships are the same for all female students. Teachers must still be alert, however, to the need for an inductive approach for other topics which may still be treated in an ethnocentric manner in many books, and must be particularly careful to allow for cultural differences without degrading or ridiculing them. A lesson on 'pets', for example, should not begin with a preconceived list of animals that are included in that category, nor a lesson on 'food' with a preconceived list of things that are considered edible. Cultural differences in such categories will, of course, be part of the content for 'lessons designed to develop biculturalism. Attitudes toward categories or objects within categories also differ. There is danger of developing negative feelings about other cultures, for example, by saying that they eat dogs, or snails, or by presenting differences as 'funny' in any respect. However, the concept of cultural relativity might be enhanced by conveying the contrastive opinions of some other groups about the dominant Oromo culture: some feel that donkeys and dogs are unclean, and think it is odd that Oromo people eat corn, and consider it appropriate only for pigs, etc. Teacher attitudes and behavior may be much more significant than curriculum content in teaching culture and teaching culture should be distinguished from teaching about culture. Teachers are models; what they value and respect is often valued and respected by their female students as well. Female students may differ in their willingness to ask questions or volunteer information because of cultural differences in the appropriateness of these behaviors. Teachers should both use and allow a variety of procedures, and be sensitive to which procedures are appropriate for which female students, and to which differences in behaviors are due to cultural differences between groups of female students and which to individual personality factors. Many female students have been incorrectly stereotyped as 'shy' because the teacher was requiring inappropriate behavior (From the perspective of the female student's native culture). At the same time, female students should be taught, at least by the secondary level, that asking questions and volunteering information is not considered inappropriate or overly aggressive in college, but rather is valued, and often rewarded with a higher grade. Teaching this, and guiding female students to behave accordingly, is part of teaching the second culture. Other classroom procedures and behaviors may need to be explained or taught, including some which generally operate below the level of consciousness. The researcher already recognizes such behaviors as walking in line, or raising a hand to talk or ask permission to go to the bathroom, as unique to the subculture of the college, and therefore the teachers formally teach them. But many female students will also not know the more subtle sociolinguistic rules which are appropriate for college, and these, too, should be made the subject of explicit instruction. Techniques for motivating female students should also be adapted to provide for cultural differences. Competitive games may be inappropriate, as may stress on individual achievement, and praise by the teacher may be more embarrassing than rewarding. In this area of culture, it is quite possible that the values of the second culture cannot or should not be explicitly taught, although they may be acquired as part of the acculturation process. It is possible for individuals to comfortably hold culturally different motivating forces in a dynamic relationship, but there is also great potential for cultural interference. Effective classroom management and discipline requires a mutual adaptation, first on the part of teachers to cultural differences among female students, and then on the part of female students to what behavior is considered appropriate in the subculture of the college. Teachers must recognize that even unconscious signals used in communicating classroom management expectations may not be read in the same way by female students from different cultural backgrounds. It is particularly important to know how particular disciplinary measures are perceived by female students, and to be sure that a female student knows and understands a behavioral requirement or expectation before she is disciplined for not complying with it. Classroom instructors can make positive use of the internal social organization of the class as an instrument in management procedures, with leaders given responsibility for collecting playground equipment or other tasks which may require some authority. These are often the female students who conform least to the dominant behavioral norms and are thus most alienated from the college; those who are marginal to the community culture often adopt most easily the subculture of the college (and are thus more likely to be used as 'helpers' of various kinds), but they will be alienated even more from their peers in the process of classroom participation. 'Accepting the culture of the home' does not necessarily entail that all behaviors allowed there should be allowed in college. It may be considered 'normal', for instance, for males to establish a hierarchy of dominance in their neighborhood according to physical strength, but they cannot be allowed to fight with each new male who enrolls in the class--at least not at college. Also, female students of one group may hear cultural epithets regularly used about another group by their family or community, but these cannot be allowed at college. Part of socialization to the subculture of the college is learning what appropriate or inappropriate behavior for that context is. This should involve explicit statements by the teacher, and not depend on informal learning (although that is the way most of these rules are discovered by successful female students in a dominant and homogeneous group-students figure them out for themselves). Instruction should be in terms of 'appropriate' and 'inappropriate' for college, and not 'right' and 'wrong' or 'good' and 'bad', in order to avoid moral 'judgments about behaviors which may be appropriate in the home or community. Serious discipline problems have occasionally developed for the young female teacher with a group of female students from a culture in which authority is accorded to age and males. In these cases, hiring a male aide from the community is a very reasonable solution, which can help in maintaining discipline at the same time that it allows for female students eventually learning that female teachers are accorded authority in the second culture as well. When the college wishes to make contact with the home regarding an individual discipline problem, it is important to know who in the family is an appropriate person to reach. The assumption in the dominant society would be that this is the father, but in some cultures it may be another family member who assumes this responsibility (e.g., the mother's oldest brother), or no one at all. Discipline problems of older female students may be due to acculturative stress within the family itself, in which case the family cannot deal with the problem, and may be part of the cause. If it is determined that this is the case, there should be some source of additional educational and community support made available to the family, and teachers need to have information about such resources. # Case Studies This section of the research project reflects JCTE Female students' perception of their learning experiences in their class rooms. It appeared that different female students at JCTE held different views about their learning in the class room. Some female students held positive views towards their teachers, teaching methods and the techniques of classroom organizations. However, most of the female students did not seeto enjoy their study at JCTE. A careful examination of their views indicates that they were not accustomed to the teaching methods, especially the interactive or spontaneous teaching approaches, which were deemed incompatible with JCTE female students' conceptualization of what constitutes good learning and good teaching. In addition, some teachers' performance was disappointing. Female students learning needs and expectations were not fulfilled. There was a strong resentment among some JCTE female students against the current educational teaching practices at the Colleges. The challenges and opportunities that the female students of JCTE face in their educational life was gathered from three key informs as revealed in the following expressions. # The Case Study One The first recurring theme includes positive learning experience Kumashe was born from economically weak parents in 1987 E.C. She was a protestant Christian having her parents still alive. She completed grade 10 in 2005 E.C. and jointed JCTE in Civics and Ethical education. She didn't drop any grade. She completed her secondary education by travelling 10 kms weekly from some to seka secondary school of seka town. Her parents were uneducated persons coming from Sombo to Seka Secondary School of Seka Town. Her parents were uneducated persons coming from farmer groups. She was a very extremely clever female students in her class. In her college education, she used to study in the night time from 6:00 __ 10:00 during weekends and in the afternoon shift. She was satisfied with her study at JCTE. She held a very positive view towards her instructors and she expressed her gratitude to those instructors who were very friendly, help full and very much committed to their teaching. Equally, she was pleased with her learning environment and her active participation in JCTE education system. She agreed that some teachers at JCTE were experienced and competent teachers. They adopted different kinds of interactive teachings styles, which she had not experienced before. She believed that such interactive styles were much better than secondary school teaching styles. Feature of such interactive styles included teachers' patience, encouragement, friendliness understanding, empathy, responsibility, dedication, classroom democracy (compared to Secondary School teachers' authority), female students' involvement, small class size, useful learning materials and course content, and a pressure free learning environment. # She pointed out I like the small class size. Students have more opportunities to interact with the teachers (than in secondary school). The teacher does not just teach. She is interested in my feelings. She often asks me about my view on her teaching. This is impossible in secondary school. According to the key information view , the teaching methods used by JCTE instructors contrast sharply to those in many secondary schools where the transmission style of teaching is still popular. The key in format reported that she had made rapid progress in her study. Generally, she gained much confidence in her learning. However, the other case study indicates that not all JCTE all female students were happy with their learning. This should not be a surprise. These female students came from different family backgrounds and they held different learning expectations. Also, their conceptualizations about what constitutes good teaching and learning differed from those of their secondary school teachers. Among the college instructors themselves, views also differed sharply. The following documentation of the female students' narratives would reflect these conflicting views. # The Case Study Two The second recurring theme of the case study involves the teaching approach implemented by JCTE instructors. Gadise was born from the economically subsistent parents at the country side of Arsi Zone. She joined domestic work in order to get access to education as her parents had no the capacity to cover the necessary stationary materials that she needs in the course of her learning in the JCTE: Interactive, communicative or task based teaching approach that emphasizes meaning based interaction, student participation and involvement, group work, pair work, debates and discussions and interactive tasks to be "performed" in the classroom. However, her responses to the above popular teaching approach appeared to be more negative than positive. While not rejecting the advantages of group work and participation, more than two thirds of the informants complained that group activities were over emphasized at the sacrifice of linguistic forms that make Gadise not different from the other informants. In spite of her more than one-year study at JCTE, Gadise still found it difficult to adapt herself to the teaching method. She found learning at JCTE boring because instructors were not serious with their teaching. They seemed to send too much times involving students in group work, discussions, debates, and games. She revealed her words by expressing that "The teacher says, 'hojii garee', the students, 'walitti galagale', the result is 'Waree'. As it can be understood from this student expression, the result of the teaching is valueless. The teaching approach was considered as a waste of time. In her expression, she was sure that her instructors did not know and did not bother to know what student learning needs and expectations were and they routinely organized the class to play games and to engage in group activities that had nothing to do with learning. Teachers' routine classroom activities did not seem to change. As a result, Gadise found such a rigid teaching style unacceptable. Such complained: The class is boring. It's very boring. It is the same every day. All the same: passing a dirty old teddy bears from student A to student B and then to student C and you talk and talk. To her, group work was time consuming and very counter-productive and it was organized for a very good students only. She expressed her frustration with the noise and the many classroom activities that would disrupt her thoughts. In a similar way, she felt that she was humiliated by these teachers who treated her like preschool child by forcing her to play games and to engage in group work and activities that she did not find useful to her educational practices. In sum, the researcher understood from this case study that cultural differences in teaching styles is part of the socialization of educators to the subculture of the college. It is not at all certain that instructors form a similar cultural background to the female students will teach them more effectively. It does seem clear, however, that all teachers would profit from greater understanding of difference in learning styles, and greater tolerance of differences. # Case Study Three Mergitu explained about herself as follows: My parents passed away while I was a kid, making me helpless in the rural area. I had no one to live with. Then, I became a cow keeper where by my teacher got me and brought me to Waliso to live with his mother. I started again schooling in Waliso serving as a domestic worker of my former teacher's mother. I have attended school up to grade 4. Unluckily, the old woman got tired and she felt short of money to cover my school expenses. I did not want to quit my education. So, I looked for another domestic work. I succeeded in getting a new employment as well as for my project of education up to College level. It is obvious that I learn to learn in one culture and then must learn in modes of another must experience some confusion and dislocation in the process. I am unfamiliar with JCTE. Structure when I joined there, i.e. the expectations of the instructors and classroom procedures. I encounter very different values which are being considered essential for learning (i.e., cleanliness, attendance and punctuality). I find behaviors which I have been taught to follow suddenly and in explicably penalized or rejected. To conclude what I have perceived before had a great influence in my College education. As the indicators of the socio-cultural influences on female students' college education, the interview with Mr. Senbe to shows how the instructor can take advantage of female students' experiences and build bridges among the many cultures that are represented in his classrooms, including the culture of the college itself. Mr. Senbeto teaches Psychology at JCTE. He has been teaching for 20 years. He received his master's degree in Measurement and Evaluation, with an emphasis in learning disabilities, and his bachelor's degree in general psychology, Addis Ababa University. Mr. Senbeto is contributing lots of experience sharing to JCTE. He is also writing project on teacher consultant for the National Writing Project Network. Mr. Senbeto's classroom is supported by varied teaching aids in his classroom. His project on family memoirs connects learning inside and outside the classroom by bringing families and their stories into the college. Female students become researchers to learn about their ethnic and national identities, their family heritage, and what it means to be an Ethiopian. Female students learn about social history, while their instructor learns more about them-knowledge that will allow him to draw connections to their lives throughout the college year. ? What are some ways you can make your classroom a place where female students feel safe sharing personal experiences? ? How can you encourage your female students to respect one another's contributions? ? What are some of the ways you might make connections to your female students' personal experiences in your classroom? ? How do you find this influences your teaching? ? How did your female students' cultural backgrounds and the culture of the classroom factor link into your curriculum case? The researcher triangulated the interview with Mr. Senbeto with the personal observation of his classroom JCTE. He is a culturally responsive instructor who seeks to become knowledgeable about the social history of his female students-and the resources represented by their families and communities-as another tool is observed in his teaching kit. Such knowledge can facilitate personal connections between curriculum and female students. But culturally responsive teaching is also a constant awareness that the instructor is involved in a cultural activity when he is teaching. This means going beyond the classroom walls, figuring out what else is out there that can be used to help female students learn and develop, and expanding the resources that he is using for instruction. ''Can one teach well without being culture-ally aware?'' this is observation question. Perhaps he can in situations where he owns cultural assumptions and referents happen to match those of the female students he is teaching. But if he teaches in a context that is different than the one in which he grew up, or that includes a wide range of cultures, he will encounter teaching puzzles that can only be answered by deepening his understanding of his female students' experiences. Culturally responsive teaching includes elements of teaching described in several of the other sessions in every course. In this session, the researcher has discussed developing caring classroom environments [JCTE], building on female students' strengths, fostering both individual and collaborative learning and the importance of clear and constructive feedback around authentic assessment. However, culturally responsive teaching cannot be summed up by listing a specific set of teaching practices; rather, it encompasses a sensitivity to individuals, as well as culture and language, that influences the smallest interaction with a female student and also underlies the larger decisions an instructor makes about the materials and topics he teaches. This sensitivity is built over time, through experiences with female students, other instructors, parents, and community members. Cultural awareness can be built in part by continually asking questions about one's own practice: "How can I build a climate of respect, inclusion, and high expectations? What do I know about the cultures and languages represented in my classroom? How can I (and my female students) learn more about these differences? In what ways might my teaching mesh with or conflict with female students' home cultures? What tools can I (and my female students) use to consider materials, assessments, and the culture of college itself through a broader, cultural lens?" And "How can I think about assessing my female students' learning in ways that allow them to develop and share their competence?" In asking these questions, cultural "backgrounds" are placed in the foreground as valuable sources of learning for instructors and female students. In general speaking, culture is part of who we are and everything we do-where we grew up, the social groups we are part of, and the way we talk, or dance, and think. If our experience shapes our learning and if culture shapes our experience, cultural connections are extremely important in the classroom. # i) Parents Level of Education In the focus group discussion, it was observed that the level of education of parents play crucial role in the decision-making process as to which of their children will be allowed to attend college and the type job they are involved in. The FGD reveals that education equips the individual with the skills toread, write, and record receive training and seek information. Parents' level of education makes critical contributions to children achievement from preschool through high school. A home, the environment encourages learning that is more important to children achievement than income. Source: Fieldwork, 2007. Semi-structured interview with female students indicates the percentage of respondents with no formal education at all (illiterates), low or high education. Low education is defined as elementary education (classified as primary), and high education as Teaching Training College education. 15 of the total population of informants' parents for the interview had no education. Three of the informants' parents had low education. Only 2 of the informants' parents selected for this interview had high education. The interview further shows that 7 of female informants' parents were illiterates. Two of the female informants' parents had low education and 1of the female informants' parents had high education. On the male side, 8 of the informants' parents were illiterates. One had low education and another 1had high education. The interview is suggestive that level of education of parents in the area is generally low. Most parents themselves have had no opportunity of attending school. Many reasons could be attributed to this. The late introduction of formal education by the colonial government, because of its colonial policy of favoring or 'protecting' one group or section against another denied most people from the area of educational opportunities. The fact that the area is poverty endemic has also contributed to the high illiteracy rate in their family's background. When researcher asked about a female informant parent why he did not go to school as a child. Her response was as such: 'In those days schooling was perceived as something fearful and therefore only orphans who were send to school to suffer. But we those of us who had our parents alive were not sent to school' (10thMarch, 2015). # j) Occupation of Parents The study also investigated occupational composition of parents to determine the extent to which their occupation has impacted on the female students' college education. The interview shows the occupational background of the informants' parents. Source: Fieldwork, 2015. The interview of female students illustrate that 14 out ofthe total 20informants' parents were farmers, while the rest of the 6 of the informants' parents were engaged in non-farming activities. The interview of female students depict that whereas 12 of 13 male informants' parents were farmers, 1 was engaged in non-farming activity, which is trading. On the top of female informants' parents, 2 out of the total number of 7 were farmers while 5 of female informants' parents were also engaged into non-farming activities for example income generating activities. The overall picture in this interview depicts that majority of the informants' parents were farmers. Also, a large number of the female informants' parents were engaged in nonfarm activities. From the interview, it is suggestive that most informants' parents in the study area are predominately small-scale farmers who depend on their own labor service and that of their household. Again, as result of population explosions, lands accessible to households are fast diminishing. With diminishing farmland, increasing cost of farm inputs, the yields of household were beginning to drop. The rainfall pattern is becoming more and more erratic making the main occupation of informants' parents' insecure and also poor. Thus, informants' parents either have to their children from going to school during school days or drop out of school to help them in the farm. As we can discern from the interview that majority of the female informant are into nonfarm activities. This is due to fact that in the study area, females traditionally do not have control over household productive activity like farming. Due to the patrilineal descent practice in the area of females' parents, where land is passed on from fathers to sons, daughters are always excluded from land ownership, though land constitutes the major source of rural work. Therefore, according to (Ansoglenang, 2006:4), for women to free themselves from such predicaments and also to contribute to meet the domestic expenditure requirements, women have resorted to income generating activities. This is to afford them income to pay children school fees, buy cloth and everyday household provisions for the family. # k) Professional Training of Teachers by Sex The study further looked at male teachers and female teachers' ratio in the study area and whether this could have an impact on the female students' college education or not. The researcher also found out that teachers in the area of study had professional training. Source: Fieldwork, 2015. The data generated from the fieldwork shows that42 teachers out of the total number of 44instructors were males. There was 2 female teacher out of the total number of 44 sample instructors. In addition to the professional qualification of teachers, 20 out of the total of 42 male teachers were trained teachers on gender issues, whilst 22 were untrained teachers on gender issues. The other female teacher informant was a trained teacher. Therefore, the overall picture painted by this interview is that a greater majority of teachers selected for this research were trained teachers. The interview reveals that the number of male teachers out number that of the female teachers in the study area. In this case, female students in the research area do not have more female teachers who will serve as mentor. Mentors are advisors, people with career experience willing to share their knowledge; supporters, people who give emotional and moral encouragement; models, of the kind of person one should be to be successful. With this, one observes that the female students would lack all these due to absence of female teachers would serve as mentors. The explanation to this disparity may be due to cultural beliefs of the people of the study area where female students' education has long not been given the necessary encouragement like that of the males. Another reason has to do with the cost-benefit relationship of the education of females to the family. A female students' friend said that the benefits of education for only boys and he felt it a waste of time and funds educating female students who on completion would go to marry and become part of a different family, leaving us with no material benefits (15thApril 2015). Generally, in this chapter, the researcher organized and explained a presentation of the major characteristics of the female students; boyfriends and teachers. From the above, it has been shown that main informants were in the age group of 17-25 years. It also came to light that, the household size of respondents is large. The college is far from rented homes thus making them walk at least one kilometer for a day. The field evidence showed that a staggering 75 % of female students' parents are illiterates. With this high illiteracy rate, female students' parents could not come to terms with the cost-benefit relationship of females' education. Occupation of female students' parents were looked at and most of the female students' parents were predominately smallscale farmers for the male parents and the females are into income generation activities. It also came to light that teachers in the study area are professional teachers. # Chapter Five V. Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation In the previous chapter, the researchers began the presentation with both the background study of the respondents and the general discussions on the gathered information of the data of the research. The main informants were college female students, with their teachers, and female teachers providing supplementary information. However, in this final chapter the researcher explains the summary, the conclusion and recommenddation in brief. # a) Summary This chapter provided the summary, conclusions and recommendations of the research undertaken. The following findings were made at the end of the study: 1. The study revealed that sexual harassment by male teachers is a factor that affects girls' education at JCTE. Female students continue to miss out in college due to sexual harassment and other related factors, they need to take training that changes their mind in order to become future leaders, self-fulfilled individuals and role models in the communities. 2. Most of the teachers in JTCE do not use appropriate methods in teaching their lessons and they also do not involve the female students in their lessons because they think the female students are not academically good. So the teacher must use variety of methods in teaching to help students acquire the needed skills and knowledge. Volume XVI Issue IX Version I 3. The study revealed that there are very few female role models whom the female students would look up to. The reason is that the college has five streams with 79 teachers and out of this number only 3 are female. For this reason, the female students do not get enough female teachers to relate to as their role model to encourage them to pursue education to a higher level. 4. The study revealed that some of the teachers have wrong perceptions about female students. The reason is that some of the teachers claimed the female students are dull and cannot do anything but when the females were introduced to the day's lesson, they exhibited creative skills and produced good quality works. This suggests that the girls are intelligent in practical ways and not absorbing abstract lessons. 5. Sociocultural practices like traditional proverbs against female, college related factors and lack of sanitary provisions are negatively influencing female students in JCTE, 6. Lack guidance and counselling services are also aspects that bring negative effect on females' education. # b) Conclusion This study had shown that although there were several factors that influence female students' education, the following relevant measures were taken into consideration concerning female students' college education. # i. Cultural Practices of Female Students Birth, marriage and the death are the rites of passage in the lives of people. Of these rites, only marriage is the one that is a matter of choice. Yet many girls and a small number of boys enter marriage without any chance of exercising the right to choose. Young girls within the Oromo area are often times given out in marriage without their consent. The marriages are usually contracted for them at a very tender age. The findings from the field reveal that, this is a common practice of the people. A key informant in response to a question as to his view(s) on the main factors that affect girls' education in area attributed the culture of the Oromo people as the main factors. He also cited such practices as infant betrothal and exchange marriages as the problem that affect girls' educational attainments. A parent interviewed consequently indicated that his colleagues have been mocking him of sending his girls to school instead of giving their hands in marriage. When a woman in her mid-18s was interviewed on why she did not get the opportunity of going to college, she said: 'my father values marriage more than education. I stopped schooling because I got married at age 18.This can be likened with an interview I had with the first head teacher of the college, he complained that retention of girls in college is not encouraging and he cited marriage as a factor. From the aforementioned, it is seen that marriage affects girls' education. Girls are either taken out of college or not even given the opportunity to attend. Marriages inevitably deny girls of college at their going age, their rights to education, which is crucial for their personal development and their effective contribution to the future wellbeing of their families and societies. Lack of access to formal education also means that these girls are also denied the needed technical know-how and professional skills that is a pre-requisite to their attaining jobs that can earn them a good living. It is uncommon to observe that illiterate girls who are abandoned, widowed or divorced, or even who are victims of growing urban poverty are forced into commercialized versions of their work as wives: cleaning, cooking, and child minding. They even stand the risk of entering into commercial sex trade. # ii. Traditional Gender Roles Traditional gender roles within household delegate certain areas to women in the study area. All that has to do with childcare, what the family eats, firewood and water, cleaning and washing, traditionally was and still is within women's domain. In the area of study, women for the entire household works except renovating the house are the preserve of girls. Among the Oromo people, although it is socially accepted for a man to do some cooking if he has no woman in the house, he will invariably try hard to find a female relative to save him from the social stigma. Girls help in all domestic work, boys can be asked to do most things, but among the Oromo people usually boys only help if there are no girls around. It was noted that as girls and boys grow older, they share more workload of their mother and father respectively. The girls' share of work in the household would keep especially female children busy all day. Most informants bemoaned the work burden of girls in the study area that do not allow girls to educational attainments. For example, a female students' friend told me in an answer to a question as who does domestic work in the rented home she said: It is the females, for example cooking, sweeping, fetching of water is the preserve of the females in the Oromo culture. She further said that, because they are females, they have to be taught how to do some of these domestic works so that when they get married, they would not bring disgrace to family for not knowing how to do these domestic jobs that makes them complete women. (5 th April, 2015). Another female students' friend had this to say: 'It is the creation of God that females are made to do whatever they do in the home'. (4 th April, 2015). This field interviews reveals that this above assertion cuts across. Families are therefore reluctant to send their girls to school for the fear that they will learn new values, and become less inclined to accept domestic work. Consequently, girls perform less well than boys in school due to among other things, gendered division of labor at home whereby girls get to do almost all the household chores. Joseph ides (1985: 116) in alluding to gender roles within households, using a model of gendered division of labor among the Oromo, posits that women tend gardens, pigs, and children. Women usually cook for the household and keep the house clean. Nowadays they do washing, most market selling, and a lot of coffee picking, and cleaning. Men prepare gardens sites, hunt, transact exchanges, and arrange pig kills fight wars and lead religions. This gendered division of labor is effectively defining men as independent, and women as necessarily dependent. The traditional insights have negative impacts in the female students' college education. # iii. Teenage Pregnancy Though not a cultural issue, but it is social problem. It has become a way of life among female students of the college. This has equally become a bad habit among female students. The issue of Teenage pregnancy was frequently popping up especially among parents, teachers and opinion leaders. As a result the prevalence of teenage pregnancy in the study area most parents felt that, it is not worth investing in their daughters' education even if they are aware the benefits of educating their girls. Teenage pregnancy will ruin the future of girls or set back their clock of development. A key informant of female students about their parents answer questions as to which sex they prefers to send to school said the informants. When asked why the choice of the male boy and not the female, they had to say: 'The fears of pregnancy are always a worry to them as parents for this bring about disgrace and frustration upon them. The female students terminating her education as a result of pregnancy is also a waste of resources' (5thApril 2015). A survey conducted on Teenage Pregnancy in schools by Oromia Education Service (OES), reports that teenage pregnancy is one of the main cause of girls dropping out of College-level. The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) states that in 2007, 14 percent of Oromia Region 17-20 year-old girls had begun childbearing; a high percentage given that it does not take into account pregnancies that had not reached them, either because of miscarriage or abortion (Daily Graphic, 2007). The Oromia District Director of Health Service (ODHS) also raised a similar concern when they said that the district was going through what the district public health nurse describe as a teenage pregnancy epidemic. According to the director, teenage pregnancy is a serious threat to the future of development of the district. They claimed: 'the future of the district is in the hands of the young boys and girls. Unfortunately, the future of these boys and girls are jeopardized by teenage pregnancy and child parenting in the district.' she disclosed that, the District Health Management Team (DHMT) and Oromia Health Service (OHS) between January and June this year registered 134 cases of teenage pregnancy, explaining that what makes it more alarming is that the ages of pregnant girls range from eleven (11) to eighteen (18) years with most of them being College girls (High School and College) dropouts. They further disclosed that there are many other unreported cases since many of the girls deliver at home for lack of money to attend antenatal care. # iv. Significance of Formal Education for Female Students Formal education has had positive and significant effect on girls' educational attainments and women empowerment. Findings of this research threw light on the success of formal education as a way of reducing poverty, and most of their arguments are in favor girls' formal education are based on the fact that it affect the wellbeing of others, that is national productivity, population reduction, and the welfare of household and children. It is also, of course, a basic human right and contributing to the wellbeing of the girl herself. Educated girls are better equipped to exact the most benefit from available services and existing opportunities and to take advantage of alternative opportunities, roles, and support structures. In sum, these empowering effects of girls' education are shown in a different ways: increased income-earning potential; ability to bargain or negotiate for resources within the household; decision-making autonomy; control over their own fertility; and participation in public life. # v. The Influence of Domestic Labor There is the need to discourage child labor, especially those that hinder the education of children and further the researcher recommended that there should be enactment of laws to ban children from roaming the street or selling at certain hours of the night. Policy makers should ensure that those who violate the laws and conventions on child rights are made to face the full rigors of the law. Greater emphasis on extensive college education to be carried with all actors dealing with children due to the high level of ignorance of the laws by various partners who are always in contact with children. Change of attitude and beliefs by parents that children are seen and not heard. Children are not robots; they need to be allowed to develop properly. In the study area, local culture has marginalized and discriminated against female students in terms of access to attainments of formal education. It came out that, the discrimination of female students in the study area had begun at birth as it was reported by female students' informants. Unless it is a couple that has been eager to have a girl in the ordinary reflexive reaction against the baby girl is a big frown: 'it is someone else property'. Moreover, it was realized that girls are denied education because formal education is an investment to be reaped tangibly in the future by which time they would have been married. It also came out that boys are preferred to girls because the boys will plough back into family any benefits associated with formal education. The local culture perceives formal education as a time wasting as it delays marriage and the related bride price and children the ultimate symbol of womanhood. The majority of informants reported that sexual harassments are common practice in the study area. These practices do not allow the female students to enroll for the courses and complete college education. The field returns further reveals that the local culture has assigned certain roles to female students. All that has to do with childcare, with the handling of what the family eats, with firewood and water, cleaning and washing, traditionally was and still is within women's domain. A female informant said it is the creation of God that girls are made to do whatever they do in the home. The findings further reveal that because they are girls, there is the need to teach them how to do these domestic works. It came out that when girls are not taught, they would bring disgrace to their family. Indeed female students in the study area are faced with different roles within the household where they have to combine these works and academic work. Ever increasing teenage pregnancy also result in increasing issue of dropout rate of female students. The study reveals that most parents have fears of their female students for becoming pregnant. An informant remarked that the fear of pregnancy is always a worry to them, since this bring disgrace and frustration on the family and waste of resources. Therefore, the researcher gives recommenddation as follows. # c) Recommendation i. Policy Planning The role of formal education in modern society is not only its contribution to the individual social mobility, but to the economic growth of nations as well. The possession and use of formal education can improve the quality of life. Many aspect of life can be changed merely by the use of available knowledge, which can be provided through formal education. Formal education provides the channel not only to better socio-economic status, but also to social mobility in the broader sense. In this direction, formal education is a basic need, which acts as a crucial step towards meeting other basic needs like clothing, shelter, health care and food. Thus, the female students must be educated in such a way that they find their footholds in all sectors of the society. There is, therefore, the need for all stakeholders to put in measures in order to improve on the education of female students in the college. Finally, all the government policy planners should consider the role of formal education in modern community since it provides a lot for environmental adaptation as a component of culture. # ii. Educating Parents As a way of increasing access to the female students' education, parents and guardian should be educated and be reminded of their primary responsibility in caring for and ensuring that their children especially the girl-child obtain minimum formal education. Both boys and girls can wear the same colors in clothing; not black for boys and white for girls. This means that both the boy child and the girl child will grow up with a motto that won't discriminate each other. The colors of white and black are among the first indicators used by Oromo people to distinguish female from male. The incredible power of gender socialization is largely responsible for such behaviors. Black and white begin this lifelong process. Fathers should equally take special interest in their girls, spend time with them and get involved in their upbringing for that will change their attitude when they reach for attending college. # iii. The Need for Cultural Component of Educational Program All of the followings are important competencies, but the researcher began those which he believed to be particularly important for the cultural component of educational programs. These have been taken into account in the preceding discussion as the researcher has provided questions that ask about cultural practices. Therefore, the researcher would recommend that they further be given serious consideration in educational teacher training, in certification, and in teacher selection so as to bring positive effect on female students' college education. The major points are explained here under: ? Personal qualities ? Culture ? Instructional methods ? Curriculum utilization and adaptation ? Assessment ? Supervised teaching ? Personal Qualities The teacher of bicultural education should have the following qualifications: 1. A thorough knowledge of the philosophy and theory concerning bicultural education and its application. 2. A genuine and sincere interest in the education of female students regardless of their linguistic and cultural background, and personal qualities which contribute to success as a classroom teacher. # ? Curriculum Utilization And Adaptation The teacher should demonstrate the ability to: 1. Identify current biases and deficiencies in existing curriculum teacher-prepared materials of instruction. 2. Acquire, evaluate, adapt, and develop materials appropriate to the bicultural classroom. # ? Assessment The teacher should demonstrate the ability to: 1. Recognize potential linguistic and cultural biases of existing assessment instruments and procedures when prescribing a program for female students. 2. Utilize continuous assessment as part of the learning process. 3. Interpret diagnostic data for the purpose of prescribing instructional programs for the individual. 4. Use assessment data as basis for program planning and implementation. The teacher should demonstrate the ability to: 1. Evaluate growth using teacher-prepared as well as standard instruments, in cognitive skills and knowledge of content areas utilizing the language of the home. 2. Assess accuracy and relevance of materials utilized in the classroom. # Acknowledgment First and foremost I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Alexandra Sellassie Antohin who did not hesitate to take me as her advisee. I am grateful for her unreserved advice, comment and encouragement. Her critical comments and genuine concern was great in bringing this research into being. I would also like to thank Mr. Hika Negash for his advice at the beginning of the research work. Special thanks to RTI Project for showing interest to assist this research and the financial support. I would like to acknowledge all participants for their great input to the research. My special thanks go to the female students and the teacher in the case studies who contributed me ample information in the research. However, I kept their names for confidentiality purpose, and then I used my own created names that became representative to JCTE. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my friends Mitiku Hasabu for his all rounded support , motivation and making smart the computer writing. Last but not least my special thanks go to my wife W/o Melesech Berhanu whose support was so great. My special thanks go to my brother Waktole Ayana for his all rounded support and encouragement. I also thank my sister Gemede Ayana for her support and encouragement. I like to express my gratitude to my beloved children Siweye Abdissa, Gutu Abdissa and Mercy Abdissa for their tolerance while missing my attention. I am grateful especially to Dereje Regassa for his support and being by my side whenever I need him in computer writing and any other supports. No. # Factors that influence female students' college education Level of Influences Agree Not Sure Disagree The information you provided in answering each question as thoroughly and frankly as possible will be useful to promote and improve female education. Therefore, 1.most questions can be completed by making tick (/) mark in the space provided, 2. Please answer all questions in order, 3. No need of writing your name. This questionnaire is intended to gather information about the present effects of socio-cultural practices on Female Students' College Education as well as the underlying college related and out of college factors influencing Female Students' College Education. The information you provided in answering each question as thoroughly and frankly as possible will be useful to promote and improve female education. Therefore, 1.most questions can be completed by making tick (/) mark in the space provided, 2. Please answer all questions in order, The information you provided in answering each question as thoroughly and frankly as possible will be useful to promote and improve female education. Therefore, 1.most questions can be completed by making tick (/) mark in the space provided, 2. Please answer all questions in order, 3. No need of writing your name. Thank you for your cooperation! No . # Factors that influence female students' college education # Level of Influences Agree Not Sure Disagree 5.1 Curricula that reinforces traditional stereotype 5.2 Lack of female teachers as role models 5.3 Sexual harassment by male teachers 5.4 Sexual harassment by classmates 5.5 Lack of sanitary provision 6. The followings are various statements expressing the impact of socio-cultural practices on female students' college education. Indicate your level of agreement to the statements by making a tick (/) mark with one of the three alternatives given correspondingly. Mamii Walii hin galu 6.1 Barteewwan hawaas-aadaa (Dafanii eerumuu, amantaa, walqixxummaa dhiiraafi dubaraa hawaasa keessaa , jechama adda addaa ykn mammaaksa durbatoota qeequu jiraachuu) 6.2 Wantoota kolleejjii waliin walqabatu ( sirna barnoota mijataa, bakka bultii barattoota dubartoota , tutuqqaa saalaa, ulfaa'uu) 6.3 Wantoota hawaas-dinagdee waliin walqabatu (Baasii kallattii kolleejjiif, hanqina waa'ee qacarrii yaaduun walqabatu, duudhaa dinagdee barattoota dubaraa, sadarkaa barnootaa kan maatii ) 6.4 Dhaabbilee siyaasaa(Tasgabbii dhabuu, waldiiddaa, barnoota barattoota dubaraa ifaa hin taane) 6.5 Wantoota dhaabbilee barnootichaa waliin walqabatan(Barattoota dubaraa madaqsuu, duudhaa dagaagisuufi ibsa barteewwan dhaabbatichaa) # No Volume XVI Issue IX Version I Obviously it is known that education is a key to success and without it one can never develop properly. In this regard, this semi-structured interview guide is intended to gather information about the impacts of socio-cultural practices on female students' college education. I would, therefore, be grateful if you could give me some of the reasons why some of the female students in Jimma CTE do not actively participate in the classroom. You are kindly requested to respond to these questions carefully and be adequately prepared to answer them on the scheduled date. Are the methods of the teacher attracts female students? 5 Is there any means of differential treatment that the instructor provides for female students? 6 Is there any form of gender disparities in the class? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2![Figure 2: Layers of Culture](image-2.png "Figure 2 :") Socio-cultural factors-Premium placed onapprenticeships-Initiation ceremonies-Early marriage and bride price /wealth systems-Religion_Gender socializationCollege related factors -Prohibitive costs of education -Irrelevant curricula -Female students' residence -Sexual harassment and/or liaison -PregnancyOutcome for Female Students _Absenteeism -Poor motivation -Low self esteem -Poor academic performance -High levels of drop out -High illiteracy levelsPolitical and Institutional Factors -Political instability and civil strife -Unclear female students' education -Low status of females -Fiscal crisis -Limited employmentYear 2016Socio-economic factors-Poverty-Direct college costs-Limited employment prospects-The economic value of femalestudents-Level of parental education 1Therefore:1215= 1 +1215(0.05)2N 1Nn= 1+N (e)No, n = 1+N (e)2 The required sample size is nearly 300female students (respondents).The sample size for eachstream is calculated using proportion of number offemale students in each stream to total number offemale students of JCTE. Therefore, the sample size isexplained as revealedin the following table:Year 201644( G ) Volume XVI Issue IX Version I1 2 d) Methods of Data Collection Education Language1 st 2 nd 3 rd 1 stIn each respective year 147 --115In each Stream 147 253In each respective year 36 -28 -In each Stream 36 63Global Journal of Human Social Science -3 4 52 nd 3 rd 1 st 2 nd 3 rd Physical Education 1 st Natural Science 2 nd 3 rd Social Science 1 st83 55 -182 297 -32 29 136479 61 27521 14 -45 73 -8 7 34118 15 682 nd53133 rd8621Total12151215300300 2No.ParticipantsMale Female Total SelectedSelectedTotal No.TotalNo.TotalMaleFemale1Head of the Gender -11-112Dean1-11-13Vice Dean1-11-14Instructors69271342365Stream Heads5-55-5Total7637941344 42015 Academic year 5 7Year 201649Volume XVI Issue IX Version IG )(Global Journal of Human Social Science -across the streams. The 8 members of the focus group discussion of the streams also supported these ideas. It culture is used as a verb. In this respect, this cultural differences in learning is reflected in each stream. Hence, the focus group discussion also revealed that in the natural science, i.e. especially Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics as well as in language, i.e., English course taking of females and males in JCTEVolume XVI Issue IX Version I 8Streams of Female StudentsStudy Time at Residential Place Residential Place Size Study Time Single More than 2 <2:00 hours hours Total % Total % Total % Total>2:00 %Selected figure Total Sample %Education623010 289833612Language415920 6020 316321Natural Science22 79632 104 35 14511839Physical--15512431155EducationSocial Science526321 5618 1246823Total37 12 263 88 260 86 4014300100 10As indicated in table 10 above, the majority offemale respondents 263 (88%) revealed that beingChristian or Muslim or others have impact on females'educational practices in college. But still a considerablenumber of female students 37 (12 %) indicated thatbeing Christian or Muslim or others have no impacts onChristians, 157 (52%) Muslim and with the absence of other religion responded that all religions have nearly equal influence on education. The conceptions of the female students' response in the table was proven by the instructors (75%) and administrators of the college (63%) as indicated before. Therefore, many respondents 12No StatementsResponses to the Level of Influencing FactorsFemale StudentsInstructorsAdministratorsAlternatives Total %Total %Total%1Curricula that reinforcesA284953186563traditional stereotypeB12438225C4126112-0.14-0.38 -0.792Lack of female teachersA293973494788as role modelsB5213112C2113---0.09-0.17 -0.323Sexual harassment byA27190822338male teacherB2281131450C721747112-0.27-0.95 -0.894Sexual harassment byA232773494675classmatesB411413225C27913---0.57-0.17 -0.565Lack of sanitaryA2899736100450provisionB62--225C51--225--0.09-0-0.94Aggregates300100361008100Notes: A= Agree, B=Not Sure, C= Disagree Volume XVI Issue IX Version I 13Notes: A= Agree, B=Not Sure, C= Disagree ?Year 201670Volume XVI Issue IX Version IG )(Global Journal of Human Social Science -3. Cultural awareness and sensitivity and a thoroughknowledge of the cultures reflected in theclassroom.4. The proper professional and academic preparationobtained from a well-designed teacher trainingprogram in bicultural education. No .Factors that influence female students' college educationAgreeLevel of Influences Not SureDisagree7.1Curricula that reinforces traditional stereotype7.2Lack of female teachers as role models7.3 Sexual harassment by male teachers7.4 Sexual harassment by classmates7.5 Lack of sanitary provisionNo.StatementsAlternative Agree Not sure Disagree8.1Socio-cultural practices (Early marriage, religion, gender socialization varies sayings against female)8.2College related factors (Irrelevant curricula, female students' residence place, sexual harassmentpregnancy)8.3Socio-economic factors (Limited employment prospects, economic value of female students, level ofparental education )8.4Organizational factors (Techniques of handling female students, promoted values & statement of beliefs of anorganization)Questionnaire to be filled by Female Administrators of Jimma CTEDear Respondents! 80 Year 2016 Volume XVI Issue IX Version I1. Lak . 5.1 Sirna barnoota barmaatilee barame jajjabeessu Wantoota barnoota dubaraarratti dhiibbaa geessisan 5.2 Barsiisota dubaraa fakkeenya ta'an dhabuu 5.3 Barsiisota dhiiraan tutuqqaan saalaa siira ga'uu 5.4 Hiriyyaa dhiiraa waliin barattuun tutuqqaan saalaa siira ga'uu 5.5 Naannoo qulqulleessuuf wantoonni gargaaran dhiyaachuu dhabuuSadarkaa dhiibbawwanii Waliin gala Mamii Walii hin galuG )(-Global Journal of Human Social Science. 6.1 6.2 Lak. Yaadolee Socio-cultural practices (Early marriage, religion, Statements gender socialization varies sayings against female) College related factors (Irrelevant curricula, female students' residence place, sexual harassment pregnancy)Alternative Agree Not sure Disagree Filannoo Waliin gala6.3Socio-economic factors (Limited employment prospects, economic value of female students, level ofparental education )6.4Organizational factors (Techniques of handling female students, promoted values & statement of beliefs of anorganization) 2. Age:___________________________3. Gender:________________________4. Level of Education:_______________5. Years' service as an instructor :_______6. Position:_________________________II. QuestionsThank you!I. Female Students' BackgroundYear 20161. Name:________________________________________________ 2. Age:__________________________________________________ 3. Academic year of college education entry:____________________4. Religion :______________________________________________825. Residential areaVolume XVI Issue IX Version I ( G ) -Global Journal of Human Social Sciencea. Urban area b. Rural area 6. Location of attended secondary school a. Urban area b. Rural area 7. Type of secondary school attended a. Public government school b. Private school II. Female Students' Family Background 1. Educational Level:___________ 2. Family Size: _______________ 3. Family Residential Area:_____________________ 4. Occupation of the family :____________________ III. Questions 1. Semi-Structured Interview Guide with Instructors I. Observation Checklist II. Additional Observed insights should be written here under: Guiding Questions for Case Study Questions 1 Do female students pay attention while teaching is going on? 2 Are female students regular and punctual to the class? 3 Do female students participate in the class? 1. No. 4Yes NoI. Instructors' Background1. Name :_________________________ The Impacts of Socio-Cultural Practices on Female Students' College Education in Oromia:the Case of Jimma College of Teachers Education © 2016 Global Journals Inc. (US) Volume XVI Issue IX Version I © 2016 Global Journals Inc. (US) The Impacts of Socio-Cultural Practices on Female Students' College Education in Oromia: the Case of Jimma College of Teachers Education © 2016 Global Journals Inc. (US) The Impacts of Socio-Cultural Practices on Female Students' College Education in Oromia: the Case of Jimma College of Teachers Education © 2016 Global Journals Inc. (US)Volume XVI Issue IX Version I ## Appendices -i Questionnaire to be filled by Female Students of Jimma CTE Dear Respondents! This questionnaire is intended to gather information about the present effects of socio-cultural practices on Female Students' College Education as well as the underlying college related and out of college factors influencing Female Students' College Education. The information you provided in answering each question as thoroughly and frankly as possible will be useful to promote and improve female education. Therefore, 1.most questions can be completed by making tick (/) mark in the space provided, 2. Please answer all questions in order, 3. No need of writing your name. ## Thank you for your cooperation! * Teaching social studies JAggarwal 1995 Vikas publishing House Delhi * A critical Analysis of the problems of women's education in Ethiopia AlemtsehayZeleke 1985 Institute of Social Studies The Hague * Islams point of view on women's education in Saudi Arabia RAl-Hariri Gender and Development, Gender dynamism and Institutional 23 1987. 1995 1. 8. Almaz Haileselassie Comparative education * Marriage considerations in sending Girls to Schools I Bangladeshi some Qualitative evidence. Published by one Dag Hammars Kjold plaza Newyork, R0017 Us www Amin LHug Popcoucil. Org 2008 * Problems in primary school participation and performance in Bahir Dar Awraja AnbesuBiazen & Junge B Ministry of Education and UNICEF Addis Ababa 1988 * MAntwi Society and Development in Ghana. 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The Transitional Government of Ethiopia, office of the prime Minister YusufOmer 1993 Addis Ababa University * Year for the student 1 * Age: A below 18 years ____, B. 18-20 years____, C. 20-22 years___, D. above 22 years____ * Marital Status: A. married_________, B .unmarried _________,C. divorced_____ 5. Your Religion: A. Muslim_______ B. Christian______ Specify if any * Lack of Education _________C Influenced under Poverty___________ Part II: Questionnaire * How much do you study at your residential place during your college education? A Less than 2:00 hours__ B. More than 2:00 hours___ * How often are you influenced by labor at your residential place while you are attending College education? A. Always____ C. Never______ B. Sometimes 3 Is there any Sayings or Proverbs that hinder you not to attend your college education? A. Yes_____ B. No_______ * How often do you get guidance and counselling services at your college? A. Always ____ C. Not at all_____ B. Sometimes____ 5. Does your family provide you all necessary educational materials? A .Yes____ B. No * Is there any sexual harassment in your college and on the way to the residential home committed on you? A. Yes _____B. No * If your answer to the question number '6' is' yes' who do you think mostly engaged in sexual harassment? A. Male College Mate_____ C. Any Male on the Street ________ B. Teachers ___________ D. Specify if any * Do you think that being Christian or Muslim or other has an impact on your college education? A. Yes_____ B. No * If your answer for question number '8' is 'yes' in which religion parents are not volunteer to make female students pay particular attention to their education? A. Christian______ C. Specify if any _______________ B. Muslim _____ 10 As various literature suggests, the following are some of the factors that influence female students' education * Age: A. below 25 years ____, B. 25-27 years____, C. 27-30 years___, D. above 30 years * Your Religion: A. Muslim_______ B. Christian______ Specify if any____________ Part II: Questionnaire on Female Students' College Education 1. Is there any Sayings or Proverbs that hinder them not to attend their college education? A. Yes_____ B. No_______ 2. How often do they get guidance and counselling services at their college? Marital Status: A. married_________, B .unmarried _________, C. divorced_____ 4 A. Always ____ C. Not at all_____ * Age: A. below 25 years ____, B. 25-27 years____, C. 27-30 years___, D. above 30 years * Your Religion: A. Muslim_______ B. Christian______ Specify if any____________ 1 Marital Status: A. married_________, B .unmarried _________, C. divorced_____ 4 Stream: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Age: A. below 25 years ____, B. 25-27 years____, C. 27-30 years___, D. above 30 years * Christian______ Specify if any____________ Part II: Questionnaire on Female Students' College Education 1. Is there any Sayings or Proverbs that hinder them not to attend their college education? A. Yes_____ B. No_______ 2. How often do they get guidance and counselling services at their college? A. Always ____ C. Not at all_____ B. Sometimes____ 3. Do think that being Christian or Muslim or other has an impact on female students' college education? A. Yes_____ B. No _______ 4. If your answer for question number '8' is 'yes' in which religion parents are not volunteer to make female students Marital Status: A. married_________, B .unmarried _________, C. divorced_____ 4. Your Religion: A. Muslim_______ B pay particular attention to their education? A. Christian______ C. Specify if any _______________ B. Muslim _____ * As various literature suggests, the following are some of the factors that influence femalestudents' education * Age: A. below 25 years ____, B. 25-27 years____, C. 27-30 years___, D. above 30 years * Christian______ Specify if any____________ Part II: Questionnaire on Female Students' College Education 1. Is there any Sayings or Proverbs that hinder them not to attend their college education? A. Yes_____ B. No_______ 2. How often do they get guidance and counselling services at their college? A. Always ____ C. Not at all_____ B. Sometimes____ 3. Do you think that being Christian or Muslim or other has an impact on female students' college education? A. Yes_____ B. No _______ 4. If your answer for question number '8' is 'yes' in which religion parents are not volunteer to make female students Marital Status: A. married_________, B .unmarried _________, C. divorced_____ 4. Your Religion: A. Muslim_______ B pay particular attention to their education? A. Christian______ C. Specify if any _______________ B. Muslim _____ * As various literature suggests, the following are some of the factors that influence female students' education * The followings are various statements expressing the impact of socio-cultural practices on female students' college education. Indicate your level of agreement to the statements by making a tick (/) mark with one of the three alternatives given correspondingly * Jaallatamoo Barattootaaf! Bargaaffiin kun waa'ee barteewwan dhiibbaa hawaas-aadaan barnoota barattoota dubaraarra geessisurratti odeeffannoo funaannachuuf kan qophaa'eedha. Dabalataanis,wantoota barnoota dubaraarratti dhiibbaa geessisan keessaa wanti Kolleejjiif Kollejjii alaa wajjin walqabatu jiraachuu mala Bargaaffii Barattoota Dubara Kolleejjii Barsiisotaa Jimmaan Guutamu * Gaaffilee hedduun mallattoo (X) bakka duwwaarratti barreessuun guutam, 2. Maaloo, gaaffilee hunda isaanii haaluma tartiiba isaaniin deebisi, 3.Maqaa kee barreessuun barbaachisaa miti Atooma nuuf gootaniif galatoomaa ! Kutaa I: Odeeffannoo Dhuunfaa Tokkoo tokkoo gaaffiif deebii kennuu keessatti odeeffannoo isin of-eeggannoofi iftoominaan kennitan barnoota dubaraa dagaagsuufi foyyeessuuf daran barbaachisa. Kanaafuu 1 * Waggaa Waggaa 1ffaa------Waggaa 2ffaa -------Waggaa 3ffaa -------- * Seenduubee maatii: A. Kan barate _____B.Barnoota kan hin qabne ______C Harka qal'uummaan kan dararamu * How much are you affected by sexual harassment? * Briefly describe the level of your agreement on the impacts of socio-cultural practices on female students? 4. What are the socio-cultural practices that affect female students' class room learning? ______________________________________________________________________________ 5. Can you explain some college related factors that affect female students? * Are there organizational factors that become hindrances to female students' college education? * How do you understand about the socio-cultural practices that influence female students in the classroom? 2 What are some of the problems that you face pertaining to the female students' college education? 3. To what extend have you improved female students' college education * Do female teachers relate well with female students? * Are female students regular and punctual to college? * How do the female students in your class behave while you are teaching? * What are some of the methods that you normally use in your teaching?