Influence of Divorce on Academic Performance of Female Scholars in Masvingo High Schools and Colleges, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The aim of this study was to establish the influence of divorce on academic performance of female scholars in Masvingo High Schools and Colleges, Zimbabwe. This interpretive inquiry involved a descriptive survey in order to find out the influence of divorce on the academic performance of female students. In-depth interviews and open-ended questionnaires were used to collect data from forty participants from ten high schools and two colleges. A sample of forty participants was purposively selected from all the institutions. Early teen marriages were established as one of the major causes of divorce as young brides and grooms fail to understand the level of commitment they are expected of. Drug abuse, infidelity, lack of communication, poverty and migration were the factors that caused divorce. The study revealed that divorce like death causes grief and pain to the people involved especially females. It was noted that it is one of the major causes of stress and negatively impacts on academic performance of female scholars. The findings also revealed that most of the study time is spend trying to solve or adjust to the new life style. The study recommends that both the international and national communities to seriously look into the effects of divorce on scholars with the aim of trying to reduce the rate of divorce and its effects on people involved. Legislations that are pro women should be in place as they also severely punish culprits who recklessly break their marriages.