Most discussions on gender often focus on disadvantage of women but discussion on secondary school enrolment in the South Eastern geo-political zone in Nigeria is one of the few exceptions. While the zone, which is considered to be one of the academically privileged zone, generally records low male enrolment vis-à-vis female, Anambra State is the worst case scenario, as the 2003/2004 academic year records indicate. Observing this trend at the beginning of the 21st century, stakeholders, government, the apex Igbo cultural group – the Ohaneze Ndi Igbo – and community gatekeepers, raised an alarm and combined efforts to fight the phenomenon. In 2006 male enrolment rose from 43.3% in 2003/2004 to 78.3% in 2005/2006 academic session, however, in 2007/2008, when the financial crisis just began, male enrolment dropped to 62.6. The 15.7% drop from the previous progress made in the state is a cause for serious concern. This paper discusses the factors that could be responsible for this scenario that began and was increasing with the deepening global financial crisis. The underlying questions of the research are: What are the factors that are responsible for reversal of the previous progress made in keeping boys in school?; What are the implications of the financial crisis on the efforts to keep boys in school?; What are the effects of low male enrolment on human capital development of the state?. Findings show that the financial crisis may have deepened the factors that account for the tendency of boys to drop out of school. The paper recommends improvement on the previous programmatic actions, social reorientation, new policy direction and funding of education in the state

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