Effects of Distance to School and Poverty on Learners’ Academic Performance in Four Selected Rural Primary Schools in Chibombo District of Central Province

Abstract

Long distance to school has a negative impact on the health and educational achievements of learners such as poor attendance by learners, school drop-out and poor academic performance while poverty also has negative effects on the academic success of a learner as school children growing up in impoverished homes with lack of basic necessities face more difficulties socially and academically than those from well to do families. Basically, such children have emotional and social problems which makes their academic journey slow and issues to do with their health in general also tend to slow their progress in the learning process. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of distance and poverty on learners’ academic performance in four selected primary schools in Chibombo district of Central province. The study sought to establish whether distance to school and poverty have an effect on learners’ academic performance. Four Head teachers, 16 teachers and 60 learners from the four rural primary schools in Chibombo district, plus 20 parents were purposively sampled for the study. Data was collected using questionnaires and in-depth interviews to allow the researcher a platform to ask open-response questions and to explore the educators’ perspectives about the effects of teenage pregnancy. The data was analyzed thematically by carefully identifying and expanding significant themes that emerged from the informants’ perceptions about the effects of distance and poverty on learners’ academic performance. The study revealed that distance to school and poverty have a negative or detrimental effect on learners’ academic performance. The study recommended that the Government through the Ministry of Education should construct more Primary schools in rural areas and promote school feeding programmes in rural areas among the vulnerable children.