Towards interventions on school dropouts for disabled learners amidst and post-COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Despite objective arguments for inclusive education, there is a dearth of mechanisms to reduce dropouts amongst disabled learners in the extant literature. Thus, this article is one of the outputs of a study, which was conducted after a consistent observation of dwindling numbers of disabled learners who succeed in basic education in South Africa. Of late, the dropout rate increased because of adherence to lock down regulations amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This triggered the need for research on co-creating interventions to mitigate the rate of dropouts amongst disabled learners. Objective: The article explores underlying obstacles that induce school dropouts for disabled learners amidst and post-COVID-19 and postulates interventions accordingly. Methods: Descriptive-narrative research upheld reality as emerging from empirical experiences of parents and guardians of disabled children, heads of primary and secondary schools, social workers, the Department of Social Development and Basic Education, and provincial associations for disabled persons that focus on children. Lived experience-based opinions were obtained from provinces with different economic growth, namely, Limpopo and Gauteng. Forty-one in-depth one-on-one interviews and two focus group discussions used Google Meet. The collected data were analysed using Creswell's qualitative data analysis framework (steps) and Atlas.ti.8. Results: The findings show a consistent pattern that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the parents and guardians' fear of exposing and risking their learners to the health crisis. Based on the parents and guardians' narrative, mainstream school administrations discriminate and are unwilling to enrol disabled learners. Furthermore, the narrative from the school leadership shows that teachers use exclusive teaching and learning methods for the enrolled disabled learners because of ignorance, misconception, misunderstanding, misinterpretation of disability, disability inclusion, and reasonable accommodation. Conclusion: Based on the finding, it is clear that dropouts amongst disabled learners can be alleviated by using a systematic multi-stakeholder local community-based intervention approach. This, therefore, implies that government authorities and agencies should incorporate disability into mainstream policies that guide planning, budgeting, staffing, and mobilisation of other resources. This would ideally enhance the provision of learning opportunities to disabled learners whilst supporting their diverse educational needs without dichotomies set by 'ability and disability', or normal and abnormal. In this manner, inclusive education can contribute to the educational success of disabled learners through developing sustainability and resilience amongst disabled learners.

Pathways to school completion for young mothers: are we winning the fight?

Background. Policy initiatives in South Africa are directed at promoting the educational and developmental outcomes of girls and young women (age 15 - 24 years). These include decreasing the incidence of HIV infection, teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence, and increasing school attendance and economic empowerment. This article explores the contexts of pregnancy, motherhood and schooling in a sample of young mothers in an urban area in Johannesburg, South Africa. Methods. This ethnographic study, based in a poor urban area in Johannesburg, South Africa, recruited 30 young mothers aged 18 - 20 years with whom open-ended interviews were conducted. Each mother was contacted 3 months after the first interview, and again 3 months later. In addition to the first round of 30 interviews, 9 young mothers were interviewed in the second round, and 6 young mothers in a third round. A total of 45 interviews were conducted. Results. The findings illustrate how young mothers mediate constraints and challenges to continue and complete their schooling when confronted with a mistimed and unintended pregnancy. A combination of factors converges to facilitate or impede school continuation and completion. Key barriers include school policy and discrimination against pregnant learners, limited options for childcare, and high levels of poverty and unemployment that strain existing scarce family resources. Conclusions. The pathway to school completion is complex and non-linear. Three particular interventions that support school attendance and completion for young mothers have value: the child support grant, the availability of crèches in the community, and a school policy that upholds the principle of inclusivity for pregnant learners and young mothers

Mixed results: the protective role of schooling in the HIV epidemic in Swaziland

Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence in the world. It is recognised that young women, especially adolescents, are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection and bear a disproportionate burden of HIV incidence. The HIV data from Swaziland show the location of the epidemic, which is particularly high among adolescent girls and young women. This paper is based on research in Swaziland, commissioned because of the perception that large numbers of children were dropping out of the school. It was assumed that these "dropouts" had increased risk of HIV exposure. This study carried out a detailed analysis using the Annual Education Census Reports from 2012 to 2014 produced by the Ministry of Education. In addition, this topic was explored, during fieldwork with key informants in the country. While HIV prevalence rises rapidly among young women in Swaziland, as is the case across most of Southern Africa, the data showed there were few dropouts. This was the case at all levels of education ­ primary, junior secondary and senior secondary. The major reason for dropping out of primary school was family reasons; and in junior and senior secondary, pregnancy was the leading cause. Swaziland is doing well in terms of getting its children into school, and, for the most part, keeping them there. This paper identifies the students who face increased vulnerability: the limited number of dropouts; repeaters who consequently were "out-of-age for grade"; and orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). The learners who were classified as repeaters and OVC greatly outnumbered the dropouts. We argue, on the basis of these data, for re-focussed attention and the need to develop a method for tracking children as they move across the vulnerable groups. We acknowledge schooling is protective in reducing children's vulnerability to HIV, and Swaziland is on the right track in education, although there are challenges