The impact of urban street community on young children's educational development in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This thesis is the documentation of an investigation to explore the impact of the urban street community on young children?s educational development in Zimbabwe. The study specifically sought to find familial circumstances of street vendors and their children, and the challenges faced by street vendors? children in their cognitive and emotional development. The study was guided by the interpretivist paradigm and conducted according to the qualitative approach. For the purpose of carrying out this research, a multiple case study design was employed to investigate six street vendors and their three-year-old children, as well as one social worker. Relevant information was gathered through interviews with the parents and the social worker, interaction with the children and observation. The findings revealed that the current Zimbabwean economy is less accommodative for human survival, particularly for the generality of citizens whose income is below the poverty datum line. The majority of street vendors rely on the least satisfactory provisions for human survival in the form of meagre family resources derived from their vending expeditions in urban streets. The findings further revealed that street vendors? children face a plethora of challenges, which include health and safety issues as they spent most of their childhood on the streets with their vending mothers. They are also excluded from preschooling opportunities because their parents cannot afford to provide for their education requirements. As a result, they do not enjoy equal educational development opportunities as their peers from privileged Zimbabwean communities are exposed to. Yet, at school, they are expected to compete in equal measure for academic achievement initiatives without considering the impact the street vending experience has on their cognitive and emotional development. Although the Zimbabwe Children?s Act of 1989 provides for the protection of children, it was noted with concern that street vendors? young children were not fully protected by this policy. The majority of these children are generally neglected. There is, therefore, a need for the government to effectively implement legislation on children?s rights that will guarantee protection of vulnerable and disadvantaged children, such as the children of street vendors.