The Effect Of Divorce Toward Academic Performance Of Primary School Pupils In Dodoma Municipal, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

A study on the effects of divorce on the academic performance of pupils in primary schools was carried out in Dodoma municipal. The general objective of this study was to investigate the perceptions of teachers and community members on the effects that broken marriage has on children‟s academic performance and their role in minimizing those effects. Questionnaire and interview were conducted to 41 research participants involving teachers, parents, pupils, and influential community members. The key findings indicate that, teachers, parents, community members and the pupils were aware of the negative effects of divorce on children‟s academic performance. Teachers voiced their responsibility in minimizing the effects of children from divorced families as being to provide guidance and counseling to the children; while the community members voiced their role as to ensure children in divorced families do not go hungry. This study recommends that, it is a high time now education policy in Tanzania to be reformed and stipulates clearly to include school counselors in primary schools. Also schools have to offer a safe and secure environment for children of parental divorced and or separated. Community members, parents, religious leader and government officials should remember that the need to understand the changes that occur in children‟s lives and the extent to which divorce/separation may trigger these changes or be the least significant of them all is highly emphasized.