CHAPTER ONE

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION

The number of street children in Zambia has escalated at a very

rapid pace .This situation brings a lot of concern because these

street children are not only found along the streets in large

numbers but are also found on our door steps .It has been estimated

that over 1,900,000 households in Zambia are headed by children

aged 14 and that there are about 13,200,street kids in

Zambia(Chin,2007).The number of street kids is likely to increase

even more because the factors pushing them to the streets are also

increasing such factors include, poverty, early child bearing,

abandonment ,torture, abuse ,rape cases, or orphaned by HIV/AIDS

and many more.

UNICEF (1985) has come up with a broad definition of street kids

thus; children on the street are those engaged in some kind of

economic activity, ranging from begging to vend. Most of them go

home at the end of the day and contribute their earnings to their

families. They may be attending school and return a sense of

belonging to a family because of economic fragility of the family,

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these children may eventually opt for a permanent life on the

streets. While Opoku (1996) has categorized street children into

three economic groups: children on the street, children of the

streets and abandoned children. Children of the street are those

who actually live on the street, with these, family ties may exist

but are tenuous and maintained only casually or occasionally and

most of these have no permanent residence they move from one town

to another. While abandoned children are entirely without a home

and have no contact what so ever with their families. Some of these

are children abandoned at a very early age who have little or no

knowledge of their families. There is therefore very rarely a

successful way of reintegrating them into their original home

environment.

According to Chellah (2002) many children on the streets were once

in school but they were now on the streets due to situations that

were beyond their control, as MOE (1996:15) puts it, “in urban

areas and in certain more developed parts of the country, there are

not enough school places to meet all the demands. This unsatisfied

demand is particularly serious in Lusaka and the Copperbelt. Lower

and middle basic schools in Lusaka have room for less than two-

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thirds of the eligible children. This inability of the schools to

absorb all the eligible children aggravates urban youth problems,

especially those relating to street children.”

Street kidding has greatly resulted in havoc such as not attending

school, theft, and spread of sexually transmitted infections, rape

cases, early child bearing and many other related cases. This has

greatly raised a lot of concern and many groups are working hard to

help street children by getting children off the street and either

re-integrating them back into their families or home communities or

finding other secure environments where there are basic needs.

In Lusaka, particularly in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds, the

situation has reached its climax. Despite having government and

community schools which offer free primary education for all,

street kids seem to be lagging behind in accessing basic education.

This research proposal therefore intended to find out the

challenges street kids face in accessing basic education in Kamwala

and Chibolya compounds of Lusaka. The researches suggest some

interventions to help overcome some of the challenges these

children may be facing in accessing basic education. It is the

right of every child to be in school.

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1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The number of street kids in Zambia has continued to increase at an

alarming rate and it has been further observed that, most if not

all children who are on the streets do not have formal education

due to the fact that, they spend much of their time begging trading

and playing on the streets despite the fact that government has

tried to put in place some deliberate policies such as free

primary education for all school age going children, introduction

of more basic schools throughout the country, these street children

seem not to access basic education. In view of the foregoing, this

study sought to investigate challenges affecting the accessibility

of basic education by street kids in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds

of Lusaka.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The study wished to find out challenges facing street children to

access basic education in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds of Lusaka.

1.4 GENERAL OBJECTIVE

To investigate challenges affecting the accessibility of basic

education by street kids in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds of

Lusaka.

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1.5 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

1. To identify challenges faced by street children in accessing

basic education.

2. To collect views from street children, MOE officials, YWCA,

Head teachers, teachers and Churches on challenges affecting

street children in accessing basic education in Chibolya and

Kamwala compounds of Lusaka.

3. To recommend measures or interventions on how to improve basic

education access by all street children in Zambia.

1.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What challenges do street children face in accessing basic

education in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds of Lusaka?

2. What reasons do street children give on their being on the

streets.

3. What reasons do MOE officials give on access to education by

street children?

4. What challenges do street children face in accessing basic

education in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds of Lusaka?

5. What interventions or recommendations can be made on promoting

access to basic education for all street kids in Zambia?

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1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study has provided research findings on challenges affecting

street kids in accessing basic education in Chibolya and Kamwala

compounds of Lusaka. Policy makers and other stakeholders

interested in the provision of basic education for street kids may

use the findings of this study to help street children access and

acquire basic education in Zambia. Further, the findings wish to

enable street kids to realize their potential as they develop into

complete integral persons and would be prepared for adult life. Not

only that, the findings of this study wish to help promote desired

attitudes, values, knowledge and skills including ways of behaviour

acceptable in the society.

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Access – the opportunity or right to experience.

Basic Education – the formal education deemed necessary for

somebody to function properly in society.

Evaluation – the process of appraising the value of a programme.

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Interventions – the act of intervening, especially a deliberate

entry into a situation in order to influence events or prevent

undesirable consequences.

Mainstreaming - the practice of educating students with special

needs in regular classes during specific time periods based on

their skill.

Policy – a programme of actions adopted by a person, group, or

government or the set of principles on which they are based.

Rehabilitation centre – A place where street children are brought

for reformation so that they are reintegrated into society.

Reintegration – The process by which the former street kids become

part of the ordinary society.

Stakeholders – A person or group with a direct interest or

involvement in something.

1.9 Delimitation of the study

The study was carried out in two different compounds, being

Chibolya and Kamwala; this implies that, the findings could be

generalized to other compounds within or outside Lusaka province.

The information obtained should be an eye opener as the study

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considered the street children, MOE officials, YMCA, YWCA, churches

and Community leaders.

1.10 Limitations of the study

The study encountered some serious limitations; some places the

researchers hoped to collect data in Kamwala demanded that the

researchers each pay 100 kwacha for them to conduct their research.

The researchers walked most of the time from one school to another,

hence would get tired by the time they reach the next research

station. It was also limited in nature because of the two compounds

under study, limited time as researchers were also attending other

lectures as well as limited financial resources within the

researcher’s means.

CHAPTER TWO

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

There have always been orphaned, abandoned and working children in

the world. Historically, however, adequate systems to deal with

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these children existed. In the more industrialized societies, they

were placed as apprentices, into foster care or in institutions. In

the more traditional societies, they were absorbed into the

extended family network. Many of these same tactics are still used

in industrialized countries.

The problem of street children is well documented in Latin America

and South-East Asia.

However, in Africa it is a comparative by new phenomenon. Sub-

Saharan Africa is currently the least urbanized region of the

developing world, with about 30 percent of the population living in

cities. Catching up fast, Africa is currently experiencing the

highest urban growth rates. Local authorities in Africa are

increasingly confronted with a rising number of street children and

all too often do not quite know how to deal with this growing

problem. (Dzikus & Ochola 1996).

These children, known as street children, are the unfortunate

products of modern-day social and economic systems. Unless these

systems are amended, the street child phenomenon will not subside.

Nevertheless, unique and individual children are on the streets

today. They have a right to safety, shelter, adequate nutrition,

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education and the other basic necessities of life. Therefore,

development practitioners concerned about street children, have an

obligation to design and implement relevant and functional forms of

intervention.

The AIDS epidemic has not only reduced the population of prime age

adults in many African nations but also increased the number of

orphans or otherwise vulnerable children. The increase in the ranks

of vulnerable children compounds the negative economic consequences

of this health crisis. Vulnerable children have much lower human

capital (in terms of both schooling and health) than non-orphans

and even orphans cared for by members of their extended family.

Thus, these children contribute to the intergenerational

transmission of poverty far and above their parents' direct

contribution.

Street children represent a particular subcategory of orphans and

vulnerable children (OVC) that typically lacks regular family

support. Studies conducted in 1991 and 2004 estimate that the

number of street children in Zambia more than doubled, from

approximately 35,000 to 75,000 (Tacon and Lungwangwa 1991; Zambian

Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development 2004). This

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represents an increase from roughly 0.9 percent to 1.6 percent of

Zambian children living on the street.

The rapid increase in the population of street children in Zambia

in recent years has been attributed largely to increasing levels of

poverty. It has been estimated that about 73% of Zambia’s

population are living in poverty. Poverty pushes children from poor

families on to the streets in order to survive.

The number of street children is likely to increase even more

because of the growing numbers of children being orphaned due to

parents dying from AIDS. As the number of orphaned children swells,

a severe strain is being put on the extended family which has

traditionally taken care of orphans. Living under conditions of

virtual starvation and unable to attend school because of the high

cost of education, more children will have little option but to

fend for themselves on the streets.

While the problem of street children is largely an urban phenomenon

—most street children appear concentrated in Lusaka, Kitwe, Ndola,

and Livingstone—the actual number of street children in Zambia is

not very well known. As pointed out by Muir (1991), “Street youths

can be difficult to quantify, for they range on a continuum from

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those who live at home but spend a great deal of time ‘hanging out’

to those who live on the street (often in abandoned buildings and

underground parking lots) and whose financial and personal support

comes from street life.”

Zambia is striving towards the attainment of Education for All

(EFA).This means that all eligible children should access basic

education by the year 2015. In order to do this, there is need to

take into consideration the plight of the street kids in as far as

basic education provision is concerned. It has been observed that

most if not all street kids in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds of

Lusaka seem not to access basic education. Some of the consequences

of this are the high crime rate, transmission of STI’s, including

HIV/AIDS, early pregnancies and marriages, high maternal death,

among others.

The implementation of education policies does not really cater for

all children especially the street kids in Chibolya and Kamwala

compounds which are found in Lusaka, a city known to have a large

number of street children. The implementation of education policies

have to be effectively monitored especially on the policies to do

with access to basic education for all children.

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The MOE is greatly concerned that parents throughout the country do

not make adequate use of the opportunities available for the

education of their children. Both the urban phenomenon of street-

children and the rural phenomenon of erratic participation and non-

utilization of facilities indicate low levels of explicit demand

(MOE, 1996).

There are a number of challenges which have contributed to an

increase of street kids in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds of

Lusaka; these include poverty, HIV/AIDS pandemic, child abuse among

others. These challenges seem to have led to inaccessibility to

basic education by street kids. According to Lungwangwa and Tacon

(1999), there are four ways of looking at problems related to

street children, firstly, children who run away from home because

of abuse but have a parent or both, secondly, children who are

orphans and homeless, thirdly those who are just rebellious and

fourthly, children who run to the street basically for economic

reasons. These scholars further suggest that, they move into the

streets because of breakdown of family structures, urban rural

migration, poverty, HIV/AIDS pandemic and some cultural values.

Fall (1996) states that, the reasons for leaving home can be

categorized as “push” and “pull” factors. The pull factors for the

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rural children include: excitement and glamour of living in great

cities, the hope of rising own living standard, financial security

and independence from parental interference. The push factors

include among other things the constant rising of the cost of

living, search for additional income, child abandonment and neglect

and growing family size especially in the developing countries. In

addition Ventimiglia (2002) highlights that poverty, financial

reasons, lack of family or home and a desire to be with friends has

led to rapid assessment of street kids in Lusaka were Kamwala and

Chibolya compounds are also found.

Children may be forced to the streets due to a number of reasons,

some of which are mentioned here

below:

• Generally the poverty level in urban areas is on the increase and

children have no choice but to go out and look for their daily

bread to assist their younger siblings. In the case of single

female headed households a child may feel the need to go out and

assist his/her mother in bringing some income.

• Family crisis: poverty and other associated life events may

result in dysfunctional parenting styles.

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These weaken family bonds and result in an environment where

parents become physically and emotionally abusive to their children

or towards each other.

• Overcrowding: (Lack of living space, poor house ventilation,

etc.) under which children are forced to live in slum areas,

without food, and other basic amenities has forced numerous

children to the streets of cities.

• Abusive work in homes where domestic workers are forced to run

away as a result of being overworked underpaid or even subjected to

other forms of abuse. They end up on the streets trying to earn a

living.

• The growing HIV/AIDS scrooge in Africa has left many children

orphaned or abandoned by their parents. Such children often end as

street children.

With one third of Africans now living in towns and cities, coupled

with rapid urban population growth rates, the streets have become

the workplace and playground for millions of street children

Chellah (2002:68) adds on to say that most of the children who

participated in his research told him that, they had been at school

and left school for different reasons, one child said:

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“I stopped school in grade three. There was no money for me

to continue school, Similarly some of the other said: my

parents died and I had no one to help me, my father used

to drink a lot and couldn’t support me to go to school, I

left school because I was chased at home, my aunt stopped

me from going to school, I never used to find food at home

and my uncle used to send me to go and sell kapenta,”

From the above findings the researcher has concluded that street

children were on the street because of a number of factors. These

factors were due to situations that were beyond the control of

these children because the environment in which they stayed was not

conducive. The researcher learnt that a number of street children

had been at school at one time but stopped due to inability of

parents to keep them in school. The parents could not afford to pay

fees or meet other school requirements. Chellah, (2002).

The rapid assessment of street children in Lusaka by Project

Concern International (2002) also states that poverty and the

education systems have contributed to children being on the streets

because parents couldn’t pay school fees or were unable to meet the

school requirements.

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The inherent dangers of street life, economic deprivation, and lack

of adult protection and socialization make street children

extremely vulnerable. Several NGOs in Zambia are working to address

the needs of this vulnerable group, by getting the children off of

the streets and either reintegrating them back into their families

or home communities or finding other secure environments where

their basic needs—for physical safety, medical care, nutrition,

counselling, education, recreation, and spiritual growth—can be

met.

The Government has been trying to reintegrate street children by

providing funds to NGO’s running street children programmes. The

collaboration between GRZ and NGOs strengthens the benefits for the

street children. The ministry of youth and child development(MSYCD)

rehabilited two ZNS camps, one in Kitwe and the other in Katete in

order to cater for 500 street children in each, while providing

appropriate education, skills training and rehabilitation. It was

hoped that more camps would be converted into centres if these

became successful.

The World Food Programme (WFP) also provided food for school

feeding programmes to a limited number of community schools,

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especially in rural areas. Bissel community school fed children at

school and provided food supplements for the families.

Although the Government means well by recruiting street children

into ZNS camps in order to address the growing problem of

streetism, it appears something more needs to be done. There were

reports of street children fleeing from these camps, or of clashes

with police and villagers which is a sign that something has gone

amiss. The orientation process of these street children has not

been correct because it is clear that some of the youths were

disillusioned once taken to these camps. Whatever they found, did

not measure up to their expectations. The report further said that

some of these street children who ran away from Chiwoko ZNS camp in

Katete expected to be trained in professional skills such as

accountancy instead of life skills like carpentry.

One of the most likely consequences of increasing poverty is the

inability of parents to keep their children in school, because they

cannot afford to pay school fees or meet other school requirements.

These children frequently end up in the streets. Of those children

not currently in school, the vast majority—almost nine out of every

ten— indicated that the primary reason they were not attending

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school was because they could not afford to pay school fees and

other necessary school requirements.

Education plays a crucial role in the social and economic

integration of children in any society. It is also a mechanism of

integrating street children into responsible and self reliant

persons in the society. The main assumption here is that if

children are given education and kept in school, few of them would

find their way into the streets.

Many street children express the desire to learn. However, the

reality is that many of them find it difficult to participate

regularly in the normal classroom. Being accustomed to a care-free

life on the streets, adjusting to mandatory school discipline

proves quite difficult. Most of them tend to perform poorly in

class and have a very short concentration

There should now be a greater urgency to initiate and refine

intervention measure that will help the street kids. Many of the

street children have had no access of basic education, therefore it

became difficult to reintegrate them into society because they had

humble or no education at all. Despite being on the streets these

children must have a way of accessing basic education to help them

be trained into different professional skills they desire? Very

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little has been done to find out the challenges which hinder these

children from accessing basic education. This research aimed at

finding out challenges street children face in accessing basic

education.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLODY

3.1 Research design

This research used qualitative approach in the collection

of data. The study used descriptive design to carry out the study

so as to get detailed information on the factors affecting street

kids in accessing basic education in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds20

of Lusaka. Descriptive research design was appropriate for

obtaining in depth information from the people and that it is a

system of qualitative procedure which is participatory, this helped

the researchers to bring out quality data from the respondents,

through interviews and focus groups. Researchers were able to

obtain more information through interviews.

Apart from that, this research enabled researchers to interact and

establish rapport with the target population. Through this process,

the researchers were able to understand clearly people’s knowledge,

attitudes, feelings, emotions and behaviour towards the importance

of street kids’ accessing basic education.

3.2 Target population

The researchers targeted street children and stake holders within

Kamwala and Chibolya compounds of Lusaka. They had planned to meet

at least ten stakeholders, four focus group discussions; one of

boys only, girls only, one of mixed children and another consisting

of former street children who have been mainstreamed into the

school system.

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3.3 Sample

The sample of the street children came from the streets of

Chibolya and Kamwala compounds. The researchers had planned to hold

focus group discussion of 5- 10 persons per group. They had planned

to conduct four focus group discussions of one mixed group, one of

girls, one of boys only and one of former street children. This was

not achieved because of time and other factors beyond the

researchers. The researchers didn’t succeed in having a group of

girls only because of the lesser number of girls found on the

streets.

The researchers conducted three focus group discussions with street

children from two different locations of Kamwala and one in

Chibolya. One of the groups was conducted at St, Lawrence Community

School, these are children who had been street children but have

been re-integrated into the school system through Brother Isaac.

This group comprised of boys only. Another group was conducted at

the YMCA centre; these children were found together because they

were having their lunch after they had gone for sports activities.

This was a very large group comprised of both boys and girls. The

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group in Chibolya was conducted at Chibolya primary school under

the help of the guidance teacher.

3.4 Sampling procedure

According to Varkevisser (1991) sampling is defined as the

selection of a number of study units from a defined study

population. In this study, the researchers planned to collect data

from children of age 8-18 years. This age group was chosen because

these could express themselves and provide information that was

sensible. These children had to be or had been street children.

The researchers had planned to use simple random study where a

group of street children would be given some numbers from which the

required number would be picked. However, due to the few numbers of

street children found this was not possible. The researchers used

the children they found on the street or at the centre at that

particular time to participate. This is convenience sampling

method. Convenience sampling method is a method in which for

convenience sake the study units that happen to be available at the

time of data collection are selected in the sample (Varkevisser,

1991). A drawback of convenience sampling is that the sample may be

quite unrepresentative of the population one wants to study.

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Despite this, the researchers had no option but went ahead with

what was available and collected the data.

3.5 Data collection techniques

Data collection took place in June/July 2013. All research

interviews were conducted during the day on sites where street

children were found. The researchers recorded first hand

information by building up a trust worthy relationship between the

children and themselves. This was achieved by responding to the

needs of street children. For example sometimes they were given

simple food before and after the interviews such as jigies and

sweets. This was a strategy researchers used to keep these children

through to the end of the interview. On environmental

consideration; the researchers looked for places where street

children felt safe, for example those in town met at Chibolya

primary school. On the use of language, the researchers used local

language, which is commonly known as Lusaka Nyanja and Bemba were

used because it was observed that most of the children use these

two languages.

3.5.1 Research Instruments

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Interview schedules were used to provide one to one contact. A

focus group discussion guide was another instrument which the

researchers used in order to obtain primary data in this study.

During group discussion, the researchers used an audio recorder,

note taking by the researchers themselves to record information

from the street children and stake holders. A camera was also used

to take photos of the street children.

3.5.2 Access

The researchers being familiar with Lusaka and in particular

Chibolya and Kamwala compounds which were the chosen areas of

study went to streets where they knew, they would find street

children in large numbers. Initially, the researchers had planned

to collect data from the Fountain of Hope, Kamwala market, Kamwala

primary school, St. Lawrence community school, Home of Hope,

Kamwala Young Men Christian Centre, Chibolya primary school and

Chibolya market. However the researchers managed to collect data

from the Home of Hope, St, Lawrence community school, Kamwala Young

Men Christian Association and Chibolya Primary School. Data

collection was done during the day.

25

3.5.3 Recruitment of participants

The researchers used the criteria such as appearance of children,

language they spoke, and assessment of their activities helped the

researchers to identify street children. Also begging, scavenging,

leading the blind, sleeping in corridors and gambling were among

other helpful ways of identifying the street children.

It was not difficult with children at the centre. These were easily

accessible because they saw the researchers with the caretakers and

because the caretaker knew them all and helped to gather them. The

other group at YMCA was also very receptive.

3.5.4 Size of groups

Both groups had the required number of participants under focus

group discussion. Group one at St. Lawrence had 17 participants,

these are children who had been on the streets but were now living

at Home of Hope run by the Roman Catholic Church. Group two at YMCA

had 44 children; these were children who had come for lunch at the

centre. This group comprised of both boys and girls. Group three at

Chibolya primary school had 7 participants; these were boys only

attending a counselling class with the guidance teacher.

Table 1. Study population

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Group One Two Three TotalSize 17 44 7 68

Gender Female 0 10 0 10Male 17 34 7 58

Table 2. Age Distribution of street children

Age in Years Frequency8 79 1010 1411 912 613 814 415 216 517 4

As can be seen from the table, groups one and three had single sex

children only, while group two had mixed sex children. All the age

groups were from the age group the researchers wanted and all the

children interviewed were Zambians.

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3.5.5 Data Analysis Techniques

Data analysis consists of examining, categorising, tabulating or

otherwise recording evidence to address the initial propositions of

a study (Yin, 1984, in Krueger, 1994:40). This research examined

the practices and attitudes of street children which hinder them to

continue in their education, further information was provided by

Br. Isaacs, YMCA, guidance teacher at Chibolya and other groups.

The information was further categorised therefore, those of the

streets, kids on the streets and abandoned children. A record of

what respondents said was made through writing, audio recording and

photographs were also taken as evidence of this research, as well

as making inferences on the challenges that street children face in

accessing basic education.

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CHAPTER FOUR

4.1 Presentation of Findings and Results

Researchers discovered that there are a number of challenges that

account for rise in number of street children in Chibolya and

Kamwala compounds of Lusaka, they learnt that a number of

challenges have contributed to the influx of street children in

Lusaka urban, who are seemingly not going to school.

4.2 Challenges street kids face in accessing Basic Education

A number of challenges were raised by children that led them choose

to be on the streets. These are presented under the sub-headings

below.

4.2.1 Views on family status

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Many children who were on the streets were either orphans, had one

parent alive, or both were alive. The researchers found out that

those children whose parent had died faced problems to do with who

would take care of them. Those who were adopted faced problems of

later being mistreated or chased from home.

From this study, the researchers have learnt that even children

with one biological parent still alive still faced problems that

led them to go to the streets. One would expect that the presence

of either ones both parents would not lead children to leave homes

for the streets. Relatives also need to help those who are not able

to take care for their families.

Ventimiglia (2002) states that; In the Zambian context, the

extended family functions as a social safety net for its members.

In the absence of biological parents, close relatives like uncles,

aunties or cousins often assist members of the extended family who

are destitute.

This study has shown that children were not cared for within the

extended family, for example when one parent died, the remaining

parent faced problems in supporting his or her family when he/she

decide to remain single. One of the street children narrated how

30

the mother struggled to support the family after the death of her

husband.

The boy had this to say:

“……when my uncle died, because my real father died when I was

very young, we started experiencing food shortages at home. So

the wife to my uncle [deceased] chased to go to my real mother,

there we were living in poverty hence I opted to go to the street

to beg money to buy food”.

The assertion above is in line with what Carmody (2004:66) opines,

“In 1991 poverty was making it difficult for children to enter, and

remain in, school. As Lungwangwa noted, poverty exacerbated the low

educational opportunities of the poor”.

The study revealed that poor treatment by step- parent has

contributed to the rising number of street children. With this, the

researchers have learnt that step- parents seem to have a problem

with looking after step children. There is need to do research on

the relationship between step children and step-parent. So, not

only orphans and children with single parents are facing problems

of living at home, but they also have problems when the parents

have decided to remarry.

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From the study, the researchers have also discovered that parents

also mistreat children to an extent that children decide to leave

home. This maltreatment includes beating and denying children food.

With this kind of treatment children have no option but to go on

the street hoping they will find money for food.

The researchers felt that there was need for more research

involving parents/guardians and children. This will prevent getting

half way information only from children. This will allow care

givers, parents/guardians to contribute in providing viable

information on why children leave home for the streets. Adults, if

involved in finding out why children are on the streets, will

provide vital information and will also help to provide information

on the prevention of street children.

4.2.2 Views collected from stakeholders on Social economic

The most common reason given by the street children for coming into

the street was economic difficulties. The researchers learnt that

poverty is a major contributing factor to children going to the

streets. Children talked of not having enough or lacked food at

home so they decided to go to the streets to beg for money in order

32

to contribute to the financial needs of the family. One of the

street children said: “They used to send me to sell groundnuts along

the street and the money raised was used to buy food, I got used to

this situation and in the process I stopped school in grade five”

Their families did not abandon these children, nor were they living

exclusively on the streets. Some of them came to the streets in the

morning and went back home in the evening with their earnings.

Their parents or guardians sent some of them to the street to beg,

or both children and parents were on the street to begging or

selling goods.

Another street kid said that:

“I was sent to sell boiled eggs on the street. Then I lost the

money that I sold the eggs. On that day I did not go home in

fear of being beaten by my guardian and I decided to stay

permanently on the street.”

From this, the researchers learnt that some children on the street

are there because of fear of cruelty or the way they are mistreated

by their guardians. The children after losing money fail to go back

home a scenario which has perpetuated to the increase of street

33

kids. Most of those children were on the streets on issues which

could be solved by the family, such as stealing food.

The researchers further learnt that poverty had not only led to

children going on the street but caused a number of children to

discontinue school because the parents were not able to pay for

school fees. Loss of employment by parents, including guardians

have contributed greatly to the influx of street children. Most of

the families do not have enough money for food nor can they manage

to support their children to go to school.

4.2.3 Views on Health

From this study, the researchers observed that children in the

streets were exposed to challenges that endangered their status.

Some children stated that they obtain food from left over’s on

dustbins. This was poor quality food and unhygienic. In addition,

inadequate food lowers the immunity of an individual exposing

him/her to contracting diseases with little or no resistance.

Street children also, when stating the main problems they faced in

the streets, talked about fighting among themselves, stealing,

sexual risk, accidents and being battered by elder youths including

law enforcement agents.

34

The researchers also found out that most of the street children

received little or no help when they fell sick. Some of the

children stated that when they fell sick they just stay or if they

had money, would buy drugs like panados or ant malaria drugs.

4.2.4 Views collected from caregivers on Peer Pressure

The research has also revealed that children were on the streets

because of pressure from friends. Desire for money and pleasure

caused the children to go to the streets. One of the former street

kids at St. Lawrence said that, “my friends were telling me that we

make a lot of money in the street, and then one day I followed them

that’s how I joined streetism”. This is in agreement with

Ventiminglia(2002) that a significant proportion of street children

indicated that the main reason they were on the streets was to be

with friends.

4.3 Findings from Chibolya Primary School on street kids

The first place researchers visited was Chibolya primary school

which is found in Chibolya compound of Lusaka, at Chibolya, the

researchers visited the head teacher’s office as per protocol and35

explained the purpose of their visit. The research team was

referred to the guidance and counselling teacher who is responsible

for mainstreaming former street kids into the school system, with

the guidance teacher, an appointment was made on when to have

interviews with her.

The second time researchers visited this school; they went straight

to the guidance and counselling teacher to do their business, the

interview schedule was used and the responses were as follows, the

guidance teacher explained that, Chibolya primary school has been

in existence since 1962. She explained that about 30 children from

the streets of Chibolya including town centre have been

mainstreamed from 2011 up to June 2013.These children comprise of

15 girls and 15 boys and have been put in various grades ranging

from grade 3 to 6 respectively.

The guidance teacher further explained that the criterion used to

get these children from the streets was quite challenging in that,

she physically goes to the streets to interact with them and have

them convinced to come back to school. She also narrated that,

sometimes she uses fellow or rather former street kids to get their

friends from the streets into the school. As the interviews

progressed, the guidance teacher mentioned that these children have

36

not been consistent in attending school due to persistent poverty

situations in their homes, lack of family support, and abuse within

their homes and as a result some resort to go back to the streets

and continual with street life. She narrated that, “I sometimes try

to follow them when they go back but I fail to convince them to

return to school due to the fact that there is no financial support

given to these children especially from the government”

The guidance teacher further explained that those children who

remain in school perform well even better than those who started

through the main line system to some extent. She gave an example of

a boy in grade six by the name of James who enjoys reading and

computation. And that this boy had even received an award in

primary school maths inter class competition. Concerning the

behaviour of these former street children in class and school at

large, the guidance teacher said their behaviour was extremely good

because before they joined their friends in the main school

system , they undergo counselling i.e. spiritually, morally and

emotionally, this counselling has greatly helped these to portray

an exemplary street behaviour. Although these children encounter

some challenges such as stigmatization by being labelled as street

kids or as poverty stricken, they have tried by all means to follow

37

school rules though this normally happens when they first go into

the classes.

Additionally, the guidance teacher for Chibolya primary school

stated some of the reasons push children from their homes to the

streets as child abuse, sexual harassments, poverty, and peer

pressure. The social economic status of Zambia has led to most

families facing challenges in accessing basic needs such as food,

clothes and shelter, from these basic needs, food is the most

outstanding problem which is pushing children to the streets where

they think they can find food, these among others are the most

causes of streetism in Chibolya compound of Lusaka.

These children find a lot of challenges on the streets such as

sexual abuse, some are beaten especially the young ones, some are

killed and when taken to the health centre they are denied health

care services like medical care, they also lack food whilst on the

streets.

Mainstreaming former street children has yielded some positive

results at Chibolya primary school for example one of the former

street child by the name of Harrison is now doing grade seven at

Kamwala secondary school.

38

Nevertheless, the guidance teacher at Chibolya primary school

expressed disappointment over the government’s attitude towards the

education of street children by explaining that, she had been

writing to the ministry of education on the challenges she

encounters in ensuring that street children access basic education

especially those that are found in this area due to its location in

the town centre of Lusaka where streetism is very high, she had

also informed the ministry about the problems that these face such

as lack of school uniforms, books and other school requisites.

4.4 Findings at Kamwala Primary school.

Further, the research team proceeded to Kamwala compound and the

first place they approached was Kamwala primary school. At this

school there was no trace of any child who has been mainstreamed

into the school system from among the street children, the guidance

teacher for Kamwala primary school explained that, street children

are mostly taken to community schools within the area such as ST

Lawrence and fountain of hope. The guidance teacher for this school

further told the research team that, Kamwala primary school was

purely a government school which has no finding for street children

and no strategic plan for these to access basic education at this

school.

39

Due to this lack of support from the government in terms of

planning, financial support and sensitization of teachers’ parents

and the community at large, street kids have no one to inspire,

encourage and care for them in terms of basic education access for

all.

4.5 Findings from St. Lawrence Home of Hope

Within Kamwala area, the researchers decided to visit ST Lawrence

which was formerly a community school run by the Catholic Church to

find out more about the program me for the street children if at

all there was any. At this place researchers first went to the

Catholic Brother by the name of Brother Isaac who has played a

major role in bringing and incorporating street children into the

main school system. The researchers got interested in finding out

how Brother Isaac has succeeded in getting and integrating the

former street kids into the school system and in the process an

appointment was made with Brother Isaac who promised to furnish the

researchers with the information on an agreed date.

During the appointed day, the researchers conducted an interview

with Brother Isaac and they collected the following information;

Brother Isaac has physically been going to the streets to interact

40

and get street children, the appearance of the children on the

streets is one of the factors which help him to identify them.

Brother Isaac told the research team that, he prefers to get those

children who appear to be new on the streets because these are

still looking for security they have not been spoiled much and so

they are easy to be rehabilitated, from 2012 to 2013, he has

collected 68 children from the streets and he had provided them

with counselling and medical check-ups. Medical examinations are

conducted on these children in order to find out their physical and

mental fitness, this is very important because of the staff which

these children take whilst on streets such staffs includes glue,

genkem and other related drugs. After these children were ready for

school he took them to St Lawrence primary school. When these

children are ready for school, he finds no difficulties to find

places for them at St. Lawrence Community School because it was

built by the church carter for such children. He mentioned that

finding places in other government schools was very difficult

because street children are regarded to be violent. This is in

agreement to Caluyo (1990) who sates that, Society usually

perceives street children as difficult children who are out there

to cause trouble. In general, the public thinks that street

41

children are uncontrollable and violent, have substance use

problems, have no morals, have lost all the ability to feel

emotions such as love and that they turn into terrorists and

revolutionaries. They tend to be unsympathetic to the street

children’s’ plight. This negative attitude may be a result of the

society’s inability to care for its people.

Those who had not been to school and were already over aged were

given tuition by private tutors to help them catch up with their

friends. They are coached in skills such as reading, writing and

speaking. Once these children have acquired these basic skills,

they are re-integrated in the school system at St. Lawrence and

other government schools were they accept them.

Some of the children do run away from home of hope because they

have been used to making money of their own and at home of hope

they are not allowed to even have money of their own. He mentioned

that, he captured children who were homeless because they need

shelter and security. These are children of the street while

children on the street go back home on a daily basis after they

have made some money.

42

When these children are in the home of hope, they are exposed to

zero tolerance towards the possession of money because it’s this

money which keeps them on the streets and actually which pushes

them into the streets especially children from Chibolya and Kamwala

compounds of Lusaka. After these children have stayed for some time

at home of hope, they review their family where about, though it

takes long for some children to mention where they came from.

After being re-integrated to their families, the home of hope

ensures that the child is in school; in addition to that

parents/guardians are not allowed to take these children into

boarding schools. This is because children may feel not wanted by

their families. So for at least 6 months to 1 year the child has to

stay with the family at home for the whole contact period of time.

As the church through brother Isaacs re-locates the families of

these children, they work hand in hand with the district social

welfare and police for security purposes.

4.6 Findings from St. Lawrence community school

Researchers proceeded to St Lawrence community school. This school

started as a community school under the Roman Catholic Church but

now it is run by the government. The school has been in existence

43

since 1997. At this school, street kids have been integrated into

the mainstream at through brother Isaacs.

The researchers had interviews with the deputy head teacher and

this is what she had to say; when these former street children are

brought to St. Lawrence, they undergo a process of assessment so

that they are placed in correct grade. The academic performance of

former street children varies, from the first instance they do not

do well but as they continue learning, they catch up and start

performing better, even better than those who start in a normal

way.

The challenges these former street kids face is that of

stigmatization from those they find in class. They quarrel with

them; they are being labelled as street kids and those who are not

strong enough resort to go back to the street. These former street

children who have been taken to this school do not fight back with

children they find in class because they undergo guidance and

counselling through the church. This also makes it easier for the

teachers to handle them.

The deputy head teacher further explained that not all the schools

are doing the same programme due to lack of sensitization or much

44

concern by the government. These children do not receive any

assistance from the government but it is through the Catholic

women’s league and other well wishers.

The researchers also had an opportunity to interact with former

street children from home of hope who are learning at St. Lawrence

primary school. This is what they had to say; they mentioned that

they have been to the streets for various reasons such as to look

for money, peer pressure, selling merchandise, poverty, child

labour and others. Some of the former street children said that

they went to the street in 2006, others 2005 while others 2012

respectively. Other children mentioned that they have attended

school before and others have never entered school before.

Some children revealed that they have both parents but poverty

forced them to the street, One boy by the name of Steven narrated

that; “I learnt up to grade 5, but when both my parents died I had

no one to take care of me, I resorted to go to the streets until

when brother Isaacs rescued me from the street”

4.7 Findings at YMCA (Kamwala street kids centre)

45

Within the same area of Kamwala compound there is a centre for YMCA

(Young Men Christian Association) which seems to be taking care of

street children in terms of feeding only. This centre is commonly

known as YMCA Street Kids Centre. It was founded in 2009 with a

view of meeting some of the needs of street kids in terms of food

and other recreational activities.

One of the care takers at this centre narrated that, they had been

having a lot of challenges in terms of food to feed the escalating

number of street children, who come from different areas within the

compound and outside the compound. He said they feed on average

about 60 children per day according to the register they conduct,

their ages range from 6 years to 16 years. These children are fed

lunch only at the centre.

He further said, their intention is to provide food for them during

the day and go back to the streets. A part from that, they also

provide recreational activities such as sports, drama and cultural

dances. They sometimes compete with former street children who have

been mainstreamed from Fountain of Hope (FOH) and Home of Hope

within the same area. This interaction is designed to attract and

encourage those who are still on the streets to be re-integrated

into the school system. Much as they have tried to help these

46

street children, in terms of feeding, nothing concerning education

has been done for them.

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Discussions of findings

On the issue of street kids accessing basic education, the

researchers found that, many street children were not accessing

basic education as evident from interviews which were conducted

with stake holders in areas or places where these children in

Chibolya and Kamwala can easily access basic education.

In Chibolya, it was discovered that out of the large number of the

street kids found in this area, only a drop has been mainstreamed

at Chibolya primary school, 15 boys and 15 girls and the other 7

children who were undergoing counselling in preparation for main

streaming. This limited number of former street children who have

been re-integrated into the mainstream is due to the many problems

that the children themselves face and challenges which stake

47

holders face in trying to help these children access basic

education, such problems include, lack of support by the government

in terms of finances, human resource training on such programs to

handle street kids, limited room to accommodate all children in

schools, as (MoE,1996) points out, although there is room in school

for approximately nine out of every ten children, the number of

children aged 7 to 13 who are not in schools is extremely high this

number includes street children.

On the part of the street children, the home environment pushes

them back to the streets because some are still living in poverty,

child labour, some are orphans and most of them are in the street

due to peer pressure and other related problems, this is in

agreement with Ventiminglia (2002) that a significant proportion of

street children indicated that the main reason they were on the

streets was to be with friends.

At Kamwala primary school, the researchers found that there were no

street kids who had been mainstreamed in the school system and that

there was no such program me for street kids to be given chance and

support to enable them access basic education this clearly shows

how government has done nothing or little on sensitizing teachers

48

in this area of Kamwala on the plight of street kids in as far as

access to basic education for all children is concerned.

In the same area of Kamwala there is a community school known as

St. Lawrence primary school which works hand in hand with the

Catholic church in as far as mainstreaming former street children

in the school system is concerned, the catholic church through

brother Isaac has done a lot for street kids in Kamwala compound in

that, brother Isaac has physically gone in the streets to get these

children, he does this frequently to identify the new comers and

takes them to the rehabilitation Centre at St. Lawrence home of

hope where they are provided with the counselling services until

they are morally, physically and emotionally ready to enter into

the main school system. When these children are ready they are

taken to St. Lawrence primary school which was once controlled by

St. Lawrence catholic parish but it is now fully controlled by the

government.

Researchers found that most of these children who had been

mainstreamed at this school rarely go back to the streets because

all of them are resident at St. Lawrence home of hope, where they

feel secured than being on the streets and a few of them go further

in education, even up to tertiary level, even when they get back to

49

their families. For those who cannot get back to their families,

home of hope ensures continuation of education through secondary

level and skill training. Even if such efforts are being made by

the catholic church, to try and help street kids access basic

education in Kamwala compound of Lusaka, they only deal with a

limited number of children, they deal with the boys alone and these

are few lack ones ranging from the age of 7 to 13 years where as

the girl street child in this area is still languishing on the

streets with no one to help her access some basic education. This

is against MoE (2005) derived from the universal declaration of

human rights (1948) which states that, everyone has the right to

education based on this premises, the world conference on education

for all in Jomtien, Thailand (1990) adopted two texts therefore the

World declaration on education for all to meet basic learning

needs.

It was also the findings of the research team that, not all street

children find it easy and safe to be re-integrated into the school

system due to stigma from the teachers and other pupils worse more,

St. Lawrence primary school cannot accommodate all the children,

brother Isaac finds it very challenging to find places in other

government schools because some teachers refuse to accept former

50

street kids into their schools and classrooms. This clearly

explains why there are still a huge number of street children in

Kamwala and Chibolya compounds of Lusaka who have failed to access

basic education.

Additionally, the researchers’ findings at YMCA street kids Centre

was that, this Centre provides only food for the street children on

a daily basis and after eating, these children go back to the

streets, it was the feeling of the research team that this Centre

is encouraging and promoting streetism in this compound. One of the

researchers identified some children at this Centre who were former

pupils at Lotus primary school in Lusaka. This is what they had to

say:

“we used to come for lunch and went back home but because of

what our friends told us about the goodness of being on

the streets like making money, getting free food, we found

ourselves joining the streets permanently”

The interactions of these children with the street kids at this

Centre prompted them to join them permanently on the streets.

51

CHAPTER SIX

6.1 Conclusion

The general objective of the study was to examine whether or not

the street children have equal access to basic education, just like

any other child in Chibolya and Kamwala compounds of Lusaka since

the declaration of universal basic education for all children in

1991. Specific objectives that helped to accomplish the purpose of

the whole study were; To identify challenges faced by street kids

in accessing basic education, collect views from various

stakeholders including the street children themselves on challenges

that street kids face in accessing basic education in Chibolya and

Kamwala compounds of Lusaka as well as make suggestions on measures

and interventions on how to improve basic education by all street

children in Zambia

The study established that there were a lot of push factors that

led to the increase in number of street children in Chibolya and

Kamwala compounds, such factors included poverty, child labour,

52

sexual abuse, peer pressure these among others have greatly

contributed to streetism in Zambia and Chibolya and Kamwala

compounds are not exceptional.

Once these children have gone on the streets, they cannot continue

or even go to school, unless they go to ideal environments like a

home, a rehabilitation Centre where basic needs can be provided

including basic education itself

Lack of dissemination of information to getting, rehabilitating and

re-integrating street children into the school system especially

those who are in their early years of primary education. This study

further discovered that there was no proper programme for re-

integrating street children in the main school system in order to

enable them access basic education.

Even if some schools like Chibolya primary school and ST Lawrence

primary school were trying to mainstream these children, the

numbers of children which was captured was too small compared to

the huge number of street kids who were found in the areas of

study, besides, these schools dealt much with a boy child while the

girl child was neglected because of their sensitivity.

53

Apart from that, some centres like Young Men’s’ Christian

Association street kids Centre in Kamwala compound encourages

streetism by feeding street kids on a daily basis without

encouraging and helping them to go to school, this Centre has

further pushed children away from school to join streetism.

6.2 Recommendations

Recommendations are focused in the areas of community and family

support, government policy, service provision standards, and

networking. The need to target not only street children but also

their families and communities as part of a longer-term strategy to

facilitate the reintegration of street children and to prevent

further migration to the streets, underpinned many of the

recommendations.

Adopt and implement a holistic National Action Plan to prevent and

respond to the situation of children living and/or working on the

streets, which is grounded in a rights based approach and the

empowerment of children in the elaboration of prevention

strategies.

54

Collect and regularly update data – disaggregated by sex, age,

ethnicity and relevant characteristics - concerning children in

street situations at the local level so as to provide a valuable

input for the efficient running of present and future Child

Protection Programmes.

Adopt measures aiming at empowering families and improving their

access to social services and health care, so as to increase the

support they can give to children.

Ensure the coordination and cooperation among all Ministries

involved in the Child Protection Programme, the Police, specialized

civil society organizations and community and religious leaders, in

order to deliver targeted services to children in street

situations.

Communities and families need to be sensitized to understand their

roles and responsibilities with regard to taking care of children

in society, especially vulnerable children.

55

Given the importance of the church in most communities of Zambia

and the significant proportion of street children who continue to

attend church, their participation in addressing child welfare

issues needs to be strengthened.

A government policy on street children, addressing such issues as

the definition of a street child, causes of streetism, standards of

service delivery, health care, free and compulsory education, child

abuse, etc. must be developed and implemented.

Specific regulations pertaining to street children institutions and

programs need to be developed, adapted, and enforced.

Government must allocate budget and provide other necessary support

for programs oriented towards street children, including capacity

building for organizations involved in providing services to street

children, secondments of trained personnel, and support for

operational costs.

56

The participants in the study suggested the following

recommendations concerning the education of street children in

Zambia;

Government should strengthen a law would prohibit people to give

money and piece work to street children

Strengthen the law on child abuse and child labour especially that

which is caused by relatives.

Government to seriously sensitize teachers, and other care givers

on the importance of mainstreaming and rehabilitating street

children into the school system.

Create more room in government school so as to enable more and more

children access basic education in Zambia.

Government should take keen interest in finding out which programs

are offered in centres which deal with street kids.eg YMCA street

kids’ centre in Kamwala area.

6.3 suggestions for further research

There is need to do research on the relationship between step

parents and step children.

57

More research should be conducted on the cultural aspects of street

kids to determine which cultural practices encourage streetism.

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