The impact of urban street community on young children's educational development in Zimbabwe
Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis is the documentation of an investigation to explore the impact of \nthe urban street community on young children?s educational development in \nZimbabwe. The study specifically sought to find familial circumstances of \nstreet vendors and their children, and the challenges faced by street vendors? \nchildren in their cognitive and emotional development. The study was guided \nby the interpretivist paradigm and conducted according to the qualitative \napproach. For the purpose of carrying out this research, a multiple case study \ndesign was employed to investigate six street vendors and their three-year-old \nchildren, as well as one social worker. Relevant information was gathered \nthrough interviews with the parents and the social worker, interaction with the \nchildren and observation. \nThe findings revealed that the current Zimbabwean economy is less \naccommodative for human survival, particularly for the generality of citizens \nwhose income is below the poverty datum line. The majority of street vendors \nrely on the least satisfactory provisions for human survival in the form of \nmeagre family resources derived from their vending expeditions in urban \nstreets. The findings further revealed that street vendors? children face a \nplethora of challenges, which include health and safety issues as they spent \nmost of their childhood on the streets with their vending mothers. They are \nalso excluded from preschooling opportunities because their parents cannot \nafford to provide for their education requirements. As a result, they do not \nenjoy equal educational development opportunities as their peers from \nprivileged Zimbabwean communities are exposed to. Yet, at school, they are \nexpected to compete in equal measure for academic achievement initiatives \nwithout considering the impact the street vending experience has on their \ncognitive and emotional development. \nAlthough the Zimbabwe Children?s Act of 1989 provides for the protection of \nchildren, it was noted with concern that street vendors? young children were \nnot fully protected by this policy. The majority of these children are generally neglected. There is, therefore, a need for the government to effectively \nimplement legislation on children?s rights that will guarantee protection of \nvulnerable and disadvantaged children, such as the children of street vendors.
Author: Martha Dozva
Language: English
Subfield: Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: University of Pretoria
OpenAlex ID: W2905608342