The effects of divorce on pupil’s academic perfromance in primary schools in Iramba district, Tanzania

The academic performance of pupils and students at both primary and secondary schools in Tanzania has for the last three decades considered deteriorating. While government initiatives such as Big Results Now (BRN) are geared towards this improvement, few efforts have focused on the relationship between academic performance and divorce of parents. There is an information gap on the causes and effects of divorce in the academic performance at the policy level and academic inquiry. The research approach researcher used in this study is mixed method and the sample was 78 pupils from divorced families, one case study and a Nominal group Technique (NGT) to identify the causes, effects and compare academic performance of pupils before and after divorce. Findings amplify poor family planning, excessive consumption of alcohol among married partners; polygamy and infidelity as causes of divorce in Iramba. Almost 100% of pupils from divorced families face challenges e.g. being harassed by step parent, lack of financial and motivational support and engaged in prostitution which in turn affected their academic performance adversely. The most affected pupils (more than 60.3%) were in class four. Government initiatives should focus to support pupils from divorced family. Marriage policy should consider cohabitation, alcoholism as key issues that are likely to influence academic performance of pupils. Family planning should clearly stipulate the number of children couples should have in the policy.