Background: Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is a cultural practice affecting 100-140rnmillion girls and women across the world and putting 3 million females at risk every yearrnin Africa. Although the trend is slowly decreasing in Ethiopia the magnitude is still veryrnhigh as the procedure has no any known benefit but has many consequences.rnObjective: To assess the prevalence and beliefs in the continuation of FGC among highrnschool girls in Hadiya zone of southern Ethiopia.rnMethods: A cross-sectional quantitative survey with complementary qualitative methodrnwas carried out among high school girls in Hadiya zone from January 2011 to Februaryrn2011. There were a total of 10587 female students within 12 governmental high schools inrnthe zone, 797 were systematically selected from four high schools to participate inrncompleting a self-administered questionnaire for this study. There was a response rate ofrn97.8%. Three focus group discussions with community and in-depth interviews withrncircumcisers were conducted using a semi-structured guide.rnResults: Six hundred forty one (82.2%) of the girls were circumcised at a mean age of 9rnyears. Half of the total participants responded that FGC was being practiced in theirrnvillage. A majority 675(86.7%) had stated that FGC is harmful, while 606(77.7%) thoughtrnthat a girl has the right not to be circumcised. More than half, 384(59.9%) of the cuttingrnwas performed by traditional circumcisers while 186(30%) of the cutting was performedrnby health professionals. Group circumcision is common in the area, 429(67%) wererncircumcised in groups and majority 528(82.5) of the cutting was in their own homes. Fewrnof the circumcised girls, 60(9.4%) supported their status as a circumcised girl and only 5 %rnbelieve in the continuation of FGC.rnConclusion: While there is an urgent need to stop the practice of FGC in Hadiya zone,rncultural, beliefs related to maintain the hygiene of the genitalia and social factors arernsustaining the practice. Therefore, there should be collaborative efforts from Governmentalrnand non-Governmental organizations to support and bring change within the entirerncommunity