Considering the fact that more and more students in Zimbabwe are becoming orphaned most
family structures are being decimated by the AIDS pandemic, the impact of these findings
become all too apparent. In this study, we have demonstrated the importance of having students
stay with parents during school days. This is very important because parents provide the
necessary monitoring that deters children from engaging in mischief and that probably channels
their energy into academic pursuits. However, we are aware that this is not the whole story
because in Zimbabwe, boarding schools (where students stay away from parents during school
days) are some of the best schools in terms of pass rates. So on the surface, these results appear to
be a contradiction with reality. However, we also know that there are many other children in
Zimbabwean schools who live by themselves either because they are orphans or because they live
in make-shift houses close to schools mainly because the schools are far away from their homes
and their parents cannot afford boarding fees. These children have no supervision and it is only
logical to assume that most of them spend very little time engaging in school work.