Browsing by Author "Mbukusa, Nchindo R."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The educational consequences of teenage pregnancy in the Kavango Region
    (University of Namibia, 2013) Nekongo-Nielsen, Haaveshe; Mbukusa, Nchindo R.
    In this paper the authors discuss the pregnancy prevalence among learners in the Kavango region. The paper is an extract from a national study on dropout which collected data from three (3) regions, namely; Kavango, Kunene and Omaheke. While the dropout study was conducted in three regions with the highest dropout rate in the country, the findings on teenage pregnancy reported in this article are from the Kavango region only. The Kavango region, in addition to having higher dropout rates is also one of the regions with higher incidences of teenage pregnancy in the country. Through interviewing dropout learners and school principals as well as focus group discussions with teachers at 58 schools in the Kavango region the study found that a high number of female learners drop out of school due to pregnancy. Out of the one hundred and thirty one (131) learners interviewed, of which seventy two (72) were female, sixty (60) dropped out because of pregnancy, which means 83% of all female dropout cases was due to pregnancy. The dynamics and reasons why these learners became pregnant were as diverse as the schools visited. Based on the findings it is recommended that a good strategy for reducing pregnancy in the region requires the collaboration of community leaders, parents and school authorities.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Investigating factors that lead to school dropout in Namibia
    (University of Namibia, 2015) Mbukusa, Nchindo R.; Tjiramba, Emmy; Beukes, Florida; Nekongo-Nielsen, Haaveshe
    Although schools report a variety of reasons why learners leave school prematurely, these reasons do not reveal the underlying causes, especially multiple factors that influence learners’ attitudes, behaviours, and performance prior to dropping out. In order to understand the underlying causes behind learners’ decisions for dropping out, using a quantitative approach through document analysis this study first analysed the Education Management Information System (EMIS) reports for 2005 to 2009. The findings revealed that Kavango, Kunene and Omaheke regions were the regions with the highest dropout rates in the country. Using a qualitative approach, with a phenomenological design, the researchers interviewed school principals, school counsellors and teachers at randomly selected 20% of schools with the highest dropout rate for each region. This resulted into 58 schools in the Kavango region, 10 schools in the Kunene region and 5 schools in the Omaheke region. At the same schools, and using the snowball sampling procedure, the researchers selected and interviewed learners who have dropped out at some point during their schooling days but came back to school. The study found that, for all the learners interviewed, 50% of learners dropped out due to pregnancy, 20% dropped out due to economic factors, 15% due to system factors, 11% due to lack of parental involvement, and 4% due to cultural factors. On the basis of the findings a number of recommendations are made to mitigate the dropout phenomenon. Keywords: dropout, teenage/learner pregnancy, child labour, parental involvement, childheaded households
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Investigating factors that lead to school dropout in Namibia
    (University of Namibia, 2015) Nekongo-Nielsen, Haaveshe; Mbukusa, Nchindo R.; Tjiramba, Emmy; Beukes, Florida
    Although schools report a variety of reasons why learners leave school prematurely, these reasons do not reveal the underlying causes, especially multiple factors that influence learners’ attitudes, behaviours, and performance prior to dropping out. In order to understand the underlying causes behind learners’ decisions for dropping out, using a quantitative approach through document analysis this study first analysed the Education Management Information System (EMIS) reports for 2005 to 2009. The findings revealed that Kavango, Kunene and Omaheke regions were the regions with the highest dropout rates in the country. Using a qualitative approach, with a phenomenological design, the researchers interviewed school principals, school counsellors and teachers at randomly selected 20% of schools with the highest dropout rate for each region. This resulted into 58 schools in the Kavango region, 10 schools in the Kunene region and 5 schools in the Omaheke region. At the same schools, and using the snowball sampling procedure, the researchers selected and interviewed learners who have dropped out at some point during their schooling days but came back to school. The study found that, for all the learners interviewed, 50% of learners dropped out due to pregnancy, 20% dropped out due to economic factors, 15% due to system factors, 11% due to lack of parental involvement, and 4% due to cultural factors. On the basis of the findings a number of recommendations are made to mitigate the dropout phenomenon.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Understanding indigenous coping strategies of the Basubiya on the flooded plains of the Zambezi River
    (University of Namibia Press, 2015) Mbukusa, Nchindo R.
    The Basubiya – or Bekuhane as they are also known – are often described as a riverine group of people (BNA, n.d.; Gibbons, 1904; Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911; Shamukuni, 1972; Mainga, 1973; Mubitana, 1975; Tlou & Campbell, 1984; Likando, 1989; Masule, 1995; Larson, 2001; Gumbo, 2002; Ramsay, 2002; Manning, 2011; Ndana, 2011; Mabuta, Masule, & Tembwe, 2013). It is no wonder that Chief Kisco Liswani III warned that they would rather perish in the water than find themselves wandering in the drier areas away from the rivers and all that they would offer them. The Basubiya of the flooded plains of the Zambezi Region liken themselves to hippos and other amphibious animals. They feel that staying away from river waters ‘deculturalizes’ them. It is difficult to imagine the Basubiya outside this environment (Shamukuni, 1972; Masule, 1995; Gumbo, 2002; Samunzala, 2003; Ndana, 2011). In the face of possible relocation at times when water volumes increase, they might remark rhetorically, ‘ho zwisa inswi mu meenzi mpohonachi ihala?’ – ‘If you take a fish out of water, can it survive?’ From history immemorial, the Bekuhane (used interchangeably with Basubiya in this chapter) have lived along the Upper Zambezi River and its Chobe–Linyanti tributaries in southern Africa.