Orphaned by the diaspora? school experiences of learners with parents in the diaspora in the Zimbabwean District of Mwenezi

Abstract

The study sought to explore the school experiences of primary school learners from the Mwenezi district of Zimbabwe whose parents were in the diaspora at the time the research was conducted. An interpretive paradigm that incorporated a qualitative research approach and case study design was adopted to gather data through face-to-face semi-structured interviews and through focus group discussions. The study had a total of 27 participants, comprising 2 heads, 13 teachers, 6 learners, and 6 guardians who were drawn from the two schools studied. Data were analysed using the thematic content technique and the generated narrative data were presented using verbatim transcriptions. It emerged that learners left behind got orphaned both materially and socially although their parents were alive because they got inadequate financial and moral guidance respectively due to the disruption of family systematic structures emigration caused. They were thus labelled by teachers as undisciplined and violent. Biological parents' emigration was reported to negatively influence motivation for school hence the learners left behind had negative attitudes towards education and their performance was largely poor. The left behind learners had difficulties coping with both home chores and school requirements and hence felt like dropping out of school to follow their parents. To minimize the negative educational effects on children orphaned by the diaspora, it is recommended that there should be a reorientation of communities and schools on a new type of orphaned child due to parental emigration into the diaspora