Findings
4.7. Children's experiences when travelling to schooling
educated! [Teachers group: Mthende High School]. These statements are indicative of some of the factors teachers perceive as illustrative of how parents do or do not involve themselves in their children's education in that area with illiteracy cited as one of these preventive factors.
Table 6. Time taken to get to and from school, by community of origin Name of
Community
KwaVimbukhalo Mhlathuza Endiya Situlwana
Total
Time taken to get to and from school Less than
I hour
17 36 64 7 124
% 15 67.9 92.8 14.9 44
More than 1 hour
% 10
5 40 151
% 85 18.9
7.2 85.1 5 3 3
Don't know
0 7 0 0 7
% 0 13.2
0 0 2JS
Total
113 53 69 47 282
% 100 100 100 100 100
As Table 6 indicates, the majority 29.9% (96) of children who their parents thought travel more mat one-hour to school are those from KwaVimbukhalo and Situlwana 85% (40). The majority of children who travel less man one hour to and from school, as reported by respondents, are those from Endiya 92% (64) and Mhlathuza 67% (36) communities.
Table 7: Time taken to get to and from school by gender of a child Time taken to
get to school
Less man 1 hour More than lhour Don't Know Total
Sex Boys
70 71 5 146
% 56 46.4 71.4 51.2
Girls
55 82 2 139
% 44 53.6 28.6 4 S £
Total
125 153 7 285
% 100 100 100 100
The child's gender could have also influenced how caregivers perceived time it take their children to get to school. Even though the difference between the two genders might not be mat significant, but Table 7 shows mat boys 56% (70) were more likely to be reported as travelling less than an hour compared to girls 44% (55). Caregivers' perceptions of time it takes children to get school to school based on a child's age are presented in Table 8.
Table 8: Time taken to get to school, by age categories Age
category
5-10 yrs 11-15 yrs 16-20 yrs 21+yrs
Total
Time taken to get to school Less than
1 hour
43 41 39 2 125
%
37.7 40.6 62.9 100 44.8
More than 1 hour
69 56 23 0 148
60.5 55.4 37.1 0 53.0
Don't know
2 4 0 0 6
1.8 4.0 0 0 2.2
Total
114 101 62
2 279
%
100 100 100 100 100
As the table above illustrates, 60.5% (69) of children between the ages 5 to 10 years and 11 to 15 years 55.4% (56) were said to be travelling more man one hour to get to and from school. Very few children between the ages 16 and above were reported to be travelling more man one hour. The younger the child, the more likely the caregiver would mink he/she travels more than one hour to get to school.
Respondents were asked if their children ever miss school. 50.4% (61) of mem said 'yes' and 49.9% (60) said 'no'. Table 9 shows how the respondents reported their children as missing school by age categories.
Table 9: Children missing school by Age Age category
5-10 yrs 11-15 yrs 16-20 yrs
Do your children ever miss school?
Yes
32 20 7
% 66.7 45.5 26.9
No
16 24 19
% 33.3 54.5 73.1
Total
48 44 26
% 100 100 100
Children between the ages 5-10 years (66.7%) were the majority of children who were frequently reported to miss school. Children between the age categories 16 to 20 years, according to respondents, do not miss school as frequently as the younger ones. Admissions on the missing of school by children can also be looked at based on caregivers' community of origin as presented in Table 10.
Table 10: Children missing school, by Community of origin
Name of Community
KwaVimbukhalo Mhlamuza Endiya Situlwana
Total
Do your children ever miss school?
Yes
29 13 11 7 60
% 67.4 56.5 31.4 36.8 50.0
N 14 10 24 12 60
O
% 32.6 43.5 68.6 63.2 50.0
Total
43 23 35 19 120
% 100 100 100 100 100
The majority 67.4% (29) of caregivers from KwaVimbukhalo and Mhlathuza 56.5% (13) admitted that their children do miss school. 68.6% (24) caregivers from Endiya said their children do not miss school. The reasons given by respondents as to why children miss are as follows: illness 75.5% (108), households chores 7% (10), the school it is too far 9.1% (13X children sometimes miss school because it's a grant collection day 7% (10) and that children are bunking 1.4% (2). Table 11 illustrates how the respondents from different communities gave reasons as to why their children miss school:
Table 11: Reasons for missing school, by children" s community of origin. (% Responses) Reasons for missing
school
Illness
Household chores School too far Grants collection day Bunking
Total
Community of Origin Vimbukhalo
57 6 9 9 1 82
% 54.3
60 69.2
90 50 58.6
Mhlathuza
21 2
1 1 0 25
% 20 20 7.7 10 0 17.9
Endiya
15 0 2 0 1 18
% 14.3
0 15.4
0 50 12.9
Siruhvana
12 2
1 0 0 15
% 11.4
20 7.7 0 0 10.7
Total 105
10 13 10 2 140
% 100 100 100 100 100 100
Looking at Table 11, illness appeared to be the main reason given by respondents firom the above-mentioned communities why their children miss school. But the majority of children who were reported to be missing school because of illness were those firom KwaVimbukhalo. It was not established whether children would sometimes fake illness because of the distance they had to travel to school. Moreover, of the thirteen children whose caregivers reported them as missing school because it is too far, nine of these children were from KwaVimbukhalo community. Nine of the children firom KwaVimbukhalo were said to miss school if it's a grant collection day. When probing why children have to miss school on a grant collection day, caregivers gave various reasons. For instance, some respondents said older children had to remain at home and look after the young children while the adults are away, in cases of children who stay with their grandparents. Or children would not go to school if they had to accompany a person who is collecting the grant
Respondents were asked if their children ever fail at school. Of those who responded to mis question, 54.5% (67) admitted to their children failing at school and 45.5% (56) said their children do not fail. The reasons given by respondents for failure are as follows:
d o n*t k n o w illness
slow learner 34%
D illness •tiredness a slow learner O ignorance •bunking Odontknow
Figure 3: Reasons why children Ml at school
As the above graph shows, being a slow learner (34%), tiredness (22%), bunking (18%) and ignorance (16%) were major reasons given by respondents on why their children rail at school. These reasons were given as an open-ended response. Therefore the graph shows the frequency percentage of the reasons as cited by respondents. Table 12 below display the reasons given by respondents on why children rail at school by children's age categories.
Table 12: Reasons for children foiling at school, by age category. (% Responses) Reasons for
failing at school
Illness Tiredness Slow learner Ignorance Bunking Don't know
Total
Age categories 5-10 yrs
3 9 7 4 7 2 32
% 9.4 28.1 21.9 12.5 21.9 6.3 100
11-15 yrs
1 5 7 4 I 0 18
% 5.6 27.8 38.9 22.2 5.6
0 100
16-20 yrs
0 3 4 1 2 0 10
% 0 30.0 40.0 10.0 20.0 0 100
21+yrs
0 0 0 0 1 0 1
% 0 0 0 0 100
0 100
Total 4 17 18 9 11
2 61
% 6.6 273 29.5 14.8 18.0 3 3 100
Nine children (28.1%) between the ages 5 to 10 years were said to be failing because of tiredness; 7 (21.9%) fail because they are slow learners; and the omer 7 (21.9%) fail because they bunk the classes as one parent put it "Ayi cha. ukuthi bayadoja laba, bavele baqube nje khona la endleni" ("the children do leave home for school but they end up not getting there because they hide somewhere behind the rocks on their way to school").
5
gender
• Female slow learner bunking
ignorance don't know
Figure 4: Reasons for children failing at school by gender
In figure 4, according to caregivers, bom girls and boys were believed to be failing as a result of being a slow learner as well as tiredness. The graph also shows how parents believed their children fail because they bunk Caregivers believed mat boys bunk school frequently compared to girls as one primary school teacher reiterated: ' 7 know some of Ihem won t admit it, but they do hide behind the rocks and not come to school, and they would just go back home not having attended the school on mat day". [Teachers group: Ezinyonyana Primary School]. Although the teachers did not explicitly state whether this behaviour was
prevalent among all the children, it appeared that parents and the teachers are aware that children do sometimes bunk the classes.
Some teachers, however, believed that children under-perform at school because of poor family relations: "Okay...ehh, firstly what I can say is that maybe there's no good relationship between parents and their children, or maybe parents themselves don't have a good relationship at home, and so I think that also affects the child at home which might
lead to the child not concentrating on their school work". [Teachers group: Ezinyonyana Primary School]. Children who are believed to be coming from good families would do better at school: "those who manage are those who are naturally bright, you see, even though they are bright, but I also think their background is good, maybe they have good parents who value education or who have been to school themselves and they are able to assist their kids with school work" [Ibid]. According to teachers, children with parents who value education and assist with homework, perform better at school. It seemed teachers would sometimes find it easier to attribute children's failure at school due to their poor family backgrounds. Poor family backgrounds in this regard could include, among other things, bad relationships between parents; or parents being uneducated, therefore not helping with schoolwork. As a result these factors - some teachers believed - would influence and affect the child's performance on schoolwork both at home and at school.
4.8. Mode of travelling and schooling
As indicated earlier, the majority 97.5% (278) of the children walk to school. Respondents were asked to list some of the problems associated with walking to school. The problems given are as presented in Table 13.
Table 13: Problems associated with walking to and from school by gender and community of origin
Problems
Criminals Loneliness Lateness Tiredness Lightning
Over flooding rivers Bullying
Mud and dirtiness Nothing
Road accidents Injuries