Orphan status, school attendance, and relationship to household head in Nigeria

Kazeem, Aramidé; Jensen, Leif

doi:10.4054/demres.2017.36.22

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Apart from socio-economic factors that weaken extended family caring networks, a study conducted in Nigeria by Kazeem and Jensen (2017) suggests that the relationship between orphans and their caregivers in terms of biological or kingship ties determines the extent to which they are likely to attend school. In the study, orphans with closer family and kinship ties to caregivers were found to be more likely to attend school than those not related to the caregivers.…”

Section: Community Response To Orphaned Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accountability of school stakeholders in ensuring orphaned children’s school attendance

Ogina

Ramare

2019

South African Journal of Childhood Education

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Research has established that orphans are more often absent from school than non-orphans (Operario et al. 2008). Campbell et al. (2016) believe that when orphaned children do not attend school, they miss out on food parcels and clothing material donated by the Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to the learners at school. The learners also miss opportunities to socialise with other children and the support from welfare organisations. According to the South African Schools Act, learners from Grade 1 to Grade 9 are obliged to attend school up to the age of 16 (Republic of South Africa 1996). Normally, parents or caregivers are held accountable for learners' Background: In recent years, there appears to have been more interest than ever in the education of orphaned children, especially in terms of their school attendance. Although some studies have reported on the efforts of caregivers, teachers, government, Non-Governmental Organisations and others in providing the educational needs of orphaned learners, little is known about accountability in terms of their school attendance. Aim:The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives of school stakeholders on managing the school attendance of orphaned learners.Setting: This research study was conducted in three primary schools with large numbers of orphaned children and high rates of absenteeism in a district in the Limpopo province, South Africa.Methods: A qualitative approach was adopted, using semi-structured interviews to collect data from nine participants who were identified through purposive sampling. The participants were class teachers, life orientation teachers and teachers responsible for orphaned learners. Results:The findings reflect that there is a lack of material resources and emotional support, physical and sexual abuse, little moral responsibility, few family values and inadequate use of resources provided by government and Non-governmental organizations to support the education of orphaned children. Conclusion:In this article, the researchers argue that the provision of material resources and emotional needs alone do not fully address the problem of the school absenteeism of orphaned learners and suggest a combined accountability of, and consequential measures for, school stakeholders in ensuring the school attendance of orphaned children.

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Section: Community Response To Orphaned Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accountability of school stakeholders in ensuring orphaned children’s school attendance

Ogina

Ramare

2019

South African Journal of Childhood Education

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“…Kinship and kinship structures appear in diverse applications throughout demography (and, although it is not the focus here, population biology; see Tanskanen and Danielsbacka 2019). To cite just a few examples, consider (1) intergenerational transfers by bequests (Zagheni and Wagner 2015;Brennan, James, and Morrill 1982); (2) economic support for kin, including support of grandparents by children and grandchildren (e.g., Stecklov 2002;Wachter 1997;Tu, Freedman, and Wolf 1993;Himes 1992) and grandparents acting as a safety net for grandchildren (Bengtson 2001); (3) intergenerational reproductive conflict as a factor in the evolution of menopause (Lahdenperä et al 2012;Croft et al 2017); (4) the estimation of demographic parameters from limited data (Harpending and Draper 1990;McDaniel and Hammel 1984;Goldman 1978); (5) the medical and psychological implications of the experience of death of close kin (Umberson et al 2017); (6) changes in generational overlap as populations age (Dykstra 2010); (7) social unrest fueled by the age distribution of children within families in societies where children of different orders have different social roles (Roche 2010(Roche , 2014; (8) "sandwich" families, where individuals care for both dependent children and aging parents (DeRigne and Ferrante 2012); (9) "boomerang" families in which adult children return to live with parents (Farris 2016); (10) orphanhood (e.g., due to HIV/AIDS) and its attendant social consequences (Jones and Morris 2003;Zagheni 2010;Kazeem and Jensen 2017); (11) the interaction of population aging and the likelihood of living ancestors (Gisser and Ediev 2019); and (12) intergenerational social mobility (Song 2016;Song and Mare 2017;Song and Campbell 2017;Mare and Song 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The formal demography of kinship: A matrix formulation

Caswell¹

2019

DemRes

129

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BACKGROUND Any individual is surrounded by a network of kin that develops over her lifetime. In a justly famous paper, Goodman, Keyfitz, and Pullum (1974) presented formal calculations of the mean numbers of (female, matrilineal) kin implied by a mortality and fertility schedule. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is a new theory of kinship demography that provides age distributions as well as expected numbers, permits calculation of properties (e.g., dependency) of kin, is easily computable, and does not require simulation. METHODS The analysis relies on a novel application of the matrix formulation of cohort component population projection to describe the dynamics of a kinship network. The approach arises from the observation that the kin of a focal individual form a population, and can be modelled as one. RESULTS Kinship dynamics are described by a coupled system of non-autonomous matrix equations. I show how to calculate age distributions, total numbers, prevalence, dependency, and the experience of the death of relatives. As an example, I compare the kinship networks implied by the period vital rates of Japanese women in 1947 and 2014. Over this interval, fertility declined by 70% while life expectancy increased by 60%. The implications of these changes for kinship structure are profound; a lifetime dominated, under 1947 rates, by the experience of the death of kin has changed to one in which the death of kin is a rare event. On the other hand, the burden of dependent aged kin, including those suffering from dementia, is many-fold larger under 2014 rates.

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“…It seems likely that under these circumstances, living with a grandmother may be particularly beneficial to children’s well-being and schooling. Research by Parker and Short ( 2009 ) in Lesotho and Kazeem and Jensen ( 2017 ) in Nigeria confirms this for the African context.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Children of grandparent-headed households in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia have better educational outcomes than those living in households headed by other relatives or nonrelatives (e.g., Ainsworth et al 2005 ; Case et al 2004 ; Nyamukapa and Gregson 2005 ). Regarding orphan status, a recent study by Kazeem and Jensen ( 2017 ) shows that Nigerian orphans have a higher chance of attending school if they are genetically more closely related to the household head. Several other studies investigate the difference in school attendance between orphans and other children (e.g., Bicego et al 2003 ; Nyambedha et al 2003 ; Nyamukapa and Gregson 2005 ), but in these studies little attention is paid to the role of grandmothers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research focusing on schooling is limited. Some studies examine the difference in school attendance between orphans and other children or the role of grandfathers in Africa, but in most of the research there is little attention for the role of grandmothers (e.g., Bicego et al 2003 ; Hampshire et al 2015 ; Kazeem and Jensen 2017 ; Nyambedha et al 2003 ; Nyamukapa and Gregson 2005 ; Tamasane and Head 2010 ; see Parker and Short 2009 for an exception). This is regrettable because going to school is essential to increase the future earning opportunities of children.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Grandmothers and Children’s Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa

Schrijner

Smits

2017

Hum Nat

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Under poor circumstances, co-residence of a grandmother is generally considered to be beneficial for (grand)children. Empirical evidence does not unequivocally support this expectation and suggests that the grandmother’s importance depends on the family’s circumstances. We study the relationship between grandmother’s co-residence and children’s schooling in sub-Saharan Africa under a broad range of circumstances. Results make clear that the effect of a co-residing grandmother varies but is almost always positive. Grandmothers over age 60 are most effective in helping their (grand)children. They are particularly important for girls, and when the mother is deceased or not living in the household. Grandmothers are less effective in situations with few opportunities, as in very poor regions or in communities with few schooling opportunities. Our findings indicate that providing support to grandmothers should not be overlooked when designing policies aimed at strengthening the position of women and children in the sub-Saharan African context.

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Orphan status, school attendance, and relationship to household head in Nigeria

Cited by 7 publications

References 53 publications

Accountability of school stakeholders in ensuring orphaned children’s school attendance

Accountability of school stakeholders in ensuring orphaned children’s school attendance

The formal demography of kinship: A matrix formulation

Grandmothers and Children’s Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa

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