| dc.description.abstract | While the issue of primary school dropouts has attracted growing attention in educational
research and social policy circles, very few researchers have directed their interests to
explore in detail why orphans drop out of primary education and the consequences of
such. The work of this thesis is grounded in the data that were generated using qualitative
in-depth interviews and field observations in Gweru City, Zimbabwe. A purposively
selected sample of 12 respondents was used, which included orphaned dropouts (aged 12-
16 years old) and 'other adult actors' (Le. adults who had prior experiences of working or
living with orphans). To extract some of the features based on the data; orphans drop out
of primary education due to farnily-related, community-related, school-related and
policy-related factors. The analysis therefore denotes an institutional perspective as it
mentions that, dropping out of primary education is as a result of the weakening of the
vital institutions (external factors) rather than orphans' independent decisions. Based on
the data; dropping out of primary education comes as a process and not as an event.
Moreover, the consequences of dropping out of primary education were seen to be grave;
street children, child labour, child abuse, teen substance abuse, teen pregnancies, single
motherhood, child prostitution, STIs, HIV/AiDS, juvenile delinquency, illiteracy, poverty
and a reduced life expectancy. That being the case, the way forward should be to enhance
partnerships and to provide universal primary education. | en |
