Orphanhood and the phenomenon of dropping out of Primary Education

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 book is§grounded in the data that were generated using§qualitative in-depth interviews and field§observations in Gweru City, Zimbabwe. Orphans drop§out of primary education due to family-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 dire; 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.