Learners Without Adult Care at Home Who Succeed in School

Abstract

Observations in the townships of South Africa lead to the realization that child-headed families or households are becoming commonplace. These families can be large and sometimes begging becomes their way of life. In some instances, the community, especially the neighbours, are forced to look after these children. In cases of the school going children, the teachers are the ones who are left with the responsibility of ensuring their wellbeing. Due to this new family set-up, the rights of the children are being violated as they are in most cases forced, for example, to do cheap labour in order to survive. This happens despite the fact that parental roles in the upbringing of children are highly emphasised in the constitution and in the education literature (SA Constitution, 1996; Kok, 1988:7). Parents have a critical role to play in the well being of their children. Not only are they expected to provide materially, but they are also entrusted with provision of safety, emotional stability, and guidance according to norms and values for their children. Parents are also expected to give support to the children's learning and school education. This paper highlights the very decisive role of teachers (guidance teachers in particular), positive and supportive peers, caring neighbours and extended family, school feeding schemes and inherent learner potential. Without these such achieving respondents would not have had any hope for their future and could have become a loss to society and personal disasters.

Keywords:

• Parenting
• children's rights
• HIV/AIDS
• Poverty
• Extended family