The Gendered Impact Of Flooding In School Attendence. A Case Of Chadereka Secondary School Ward 1 Muzarabani.
- Author
- Gutusa, Ruvarashe
- Title
- The Gendered Impact Of Flooding In School Attendence. A Case Of Chadereka Secondary School Ward 1 Muzarabani.
- Abstract
- Floods are among the most common and destructive natural hazards. The destruction of schools is one way in which floods can inhibit educational attainment. Education as a human right is universal and inalienable. This right does not disappear or get suspended because of disasters and emergencies. The purpose of the study was to investigate the gendered impact of flooding on school attendance. Research objectives formulated to guide this study are to: examine the psychosocial impact of flooding on girls’ and boys’ schooling in Muzarabani, To establish the effects of floods on boys and girl’s attendance and classroom participation in secondary school education in Muzarabani, To evaluate barriers to education access and attendance for boys and girls affected by floods in Muzarabani and To explore potential solutions to address these barriers and improve educational outcomes for boys and girls in Muzarabani. The study used a research design of 100 students drawn from the randomly selected levels and 10school teachers. Questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focused group discussions were used to collect data . Findings revealed that floods not only close schools, they destroy infrastructure, make roads inaccessible for students and teachers. Families may lose their source of livelihood and be unable to send their children to school and end up having to choose between sending a boy child or a girl child to school. Floods hamper enrolment as parents do not want to endanger the lives of the children so schools prone to floods have a high chance of closing down due to low enrolment. Annually recurring floods regularly prevent millions of children from attending a full year of school. At times the learning resources and materials are washed away or destroyed. Schools may be used as shelters for people who have been displaced from their homes due to the natural disaster. The additional students from flood affected areas leads to hundreds of students to squeeze in to poorly lit rooms usually designed for not more than forty. Every year floods provoke delay to study Programmes and damages to schools. Governments are primarily responsible for keeping their people safe by adopting coping mechanisms which include flood forecasting, policies which include girl’s education, building more schools to increase accessibility and building sustainable infrastructure. So there is need for a paradigm shift from reactive to proactive flood management. Principals, teachers and students should undergo annual training on disaster risk reduction. The county governments should sensitize the communities on insuring educational institutions. The recommendations for further study are that the study can be replicated in other areas that are affected by floods in the country as well as a study on the effect of floods on early childhood and tertiary education.
- Date
- JUNE 2024
- Publisher
- BUSE
- Keywords
- Flooding In SchooL, Chadereka Secondary School
- Supervisor
- Dr Siziba
- Item sets
- Department of Geosciences
