Abstract
Many studies for schooling of orphans in Africa have focused on the impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic and poverty on the dropout rates of orphans in both primary and secondary education. These studies have frequently been based on statistical analyses, which development partners place great value on. However, it is also important to explore how the orphan’s dropout of school is affected by the capacities and skills of the orphans to cope with the challenges arising from the HIV/AIDS epidemic and poverty. This type of exploration usually uses qualitative analyses based on long-term fieldwork, which are not common among development partners.
The present study was conducted in Malawi, one of the poorest countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. There are around 1.3 million orphans across the country. Although secondary education is not free unlike primary education, many orphans manage to attend secondary school after completion of primary education.
The purpose of this study was to investigate how orphans in secondary schools, especially those in the low-income class in society, manage to continue their education. The study focuses on two aspects: (1) coping skills to prevent dropout of orphans at the individual level (i.e. the level of the orphans themselves) and the household level; and (2) practical efforts to support orphans at the school level.
The fieldwork conducted for this study has uncovered a number of findings. The findings have clearly demonstrated that firstly, the coping skills to prevent dropping out, such as income-generating activities, are based on the orphans’ strong will to continue their education. The orphans’ will is affected by the life priorities of their family. Therefore, it is required to explore the coping skills to continue education through the understanding orphans’ family situation. Secondly, scholarship programs are valuable not only to cover school fees but also to stimulate a desire for selfimprovement. Needy orphans, the most vulnerable of all, have a strong desire to emerge from poverty through academic qualification. Therefore, providing scholarship programs at secondary school would be the first step to cultivate a desire for selfimprovement among orphans. Thirdly, there are various good practices implemented by teachers and school administrations to support orphans. This suggests that flexible school administration is beneficial for orphans’ schooling, however such “flexibility” is based on the generosity and consideration for needy orphans so that we should not expect too much from it.
