Factors That Militate Against The Academic Performance Of Boy Learners From Poor Families In Zimbabwe: An Ecological Perspective

This article examined the factors that militate against the education of form three (3) boys from poor families in two secondary schools in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. The main purpose of the research was to establish the magnitude of the effects of the factors that are known to militate against the education of boys. Recently, education in Zimbabwe has mainly concentrated on the girl child at the expense of boys,yet there are unique factors that the boy child faces that must be addressed in order to achieveEducation for All by 2015.The study is grounded in Urie Bronfenbrenners’ ecological theory.In this study, a qualitativephenomenological design was used with focus group discussions, interviews and observations as data collection instruments to ten (10) boy children and six (6) teachers in Masvingo province. Findings revealed thatbroken families, poverty in households and poor supervision by parents negatively affected retention of boys in school. Also, child labour, low self-motivation and lack of interest in education were identified by teachers as being the major factors influencing academic performance. The boys implicated involvement in bad company/peer pressure, drug abuse, malnutrition and health related problems and misuse of technology as the major factors that influence academic performance.The government should conduct awareness campaigns to ensure parents and pupils fully appreciate the importance of basic education.