Poverty and School Readiness: Implications to Early Childhood Development in Zimbabwe

The concept of school readiness is multi-faceted, encompassing the holistic development of the learner, physical health, social-emotional, cognitive and linguistic status of children. Children from poverty stricken households in Zimbabwe often start school at a disadvantage. This paper examines the reasons why poor children are less ready for school and evaluates intervention measures for improving their school readiness. This study is informed by Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory. A qualitative phenomenological design was used with face to face interviews as data-collection instruments, to purposively selected eight (8) teachers in two ECD centres in Masvingo, Urban. This study established that poverty decreases a child’s readiness for school through aspects of, poor health and nutrition, financial constraints, neglect, parental level of education, stressful living conditions, low-quality preschools and low attachment to primary caregivers. School readiness gaps are further widened by unavailability of play materials at home and at school. On the way forward, parents, educational policymakers, Non-Governmental Organisation and the general public should recognise the importance of the first few years in the life of a child for promoting healthy physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development. High-quality early interventions should also be designed to combat the negative factors that threaten child development. Collaborative work is also needed among Zimbabweans and all stakeholders to revisit the root causes of poverty and poor academic performance among ECD B learners