Exploring Psychosocial Support Systems for Vulnerable Children in Rural Schools: A Case of Nkayi District Primary Schools

Vulnerable children experience barriers to learning and development. Broader socio-economic circumstances including community health issues and dire poverty is experienced by families in rural communities thereby intensifying the children’s vulnerability. This qualitative study explored the educational prospects of lives of vulnerable children in rural schools, with a special focus on the psychosocial support systems available to them. Two layers of data generation techniques, document analysis and interviews were employed. Purposive sampling was used to select two headsman, six teachers and two social workers. The selected participants were regarded as integral voices and potential role players in the envisaged psychosocial support systems collaboration. The findings pointed to a critical shortage of psychosocial support systems for vulnerable children in rural schools, especially highly specialized services like educational psychological services, proper healthcare, food security and focused poverty alleviation initiatives. This study concluded that the psychosocial support for the vulnerable children is taken as a care within the community as vulnerable children get psychological support through counselling and peer-group support, while educational intervention is done through BEAM, scholarships, provision of school uniforms and educational materials. The study established that in rural areas, vulnerable children often face unique socio-economic challenges that can have long-lasting impacts on their well-being and development such as higher poverty rates, limited access to quality education, healthcare disparities, food insecurity, limited infrastructure and social isolation. It was clinched that psychosocial mitigation strategies are essential to support the well-being and development of vulnerable children in rural areas so as to address the emotional, social, and psychological challenges that children may face. Community engagement and support, accessible mental health services, providing life skills training, establishing child-friendly spaces, providing parenting support and implementing interventions that address psychosocial needs can help vulnerable children process their experiences, build resilience and develop positive coping strategies.