Abstract:
This study investigated schooling and community participation qualities of teenage learners affected by orphanhood in rural
secondary South African setting. Participants were a purposive sample of 30 teenage learners, (female = 60% black = 98%,
12 to 19 years old). Data on their school and community participation were collected using semi-structured individual
interviews. The data were thematically analyzed with open-coding. The findings indicated that learners need support
for livelihoods, relationship development with extended family or guardians, school attendance, school task engagement
and follow through. They experienced material shortages despite state support. From livelihood deprivations and forced
opportunities, the learners who had been orphaned enter the working environment earlier than is typical and often do
menial jobs.
Children who have been orphaned are those under the age of 18 years who have lost one or both parents from any
cause (Jeff & Chris, 2002, UNICEF, 2003). This represents about 18.8% of South African children (3 374 971) and 7.3%
of children (24 6373) from the Free State or central province of South Africa alone (Central Statistics South Africa,
2011). According to the World Bank (1998), children affected by orphanhood are less likely to have proper schooling
from lack of parenting and the resource deprivation associated with being orphaned. Under guardianship, the host family
may reduce a child’s attendance at school by labour demands or the inability to pay for schooling (UNICEF, 2003).
From these deprivations, learners affected by orphanhood may enter the labour force prematurely, and mostly in the
unregulated informal sector (UNICEF, 2012). As a matter of fact, a learner who is orphaned is deprived of childhood from
the socio-economic demands on him or her which are developmentally atypical (Ganga & Maphala, 2013).
