Educational Strategies of Children Living in a Developing Country: A Longitudinal School Record Study of Malawi Secondary Schools

This chapter has examined the individual schooling conditions with a main focus on the idea of dropout that can be read from the longitudinal schooling records of secondary schools in Malawi. The results of this survey provide glimpses of the educational strategies of their family circumstances and reveal life plans which would otherwise be hidden if only macro data were analyzed. Many students experienced school dropout while planning their future and educational strategies. Existing researches analyzing the schooling situation might be misled by the stereotype that suggests girls do not attend school. While in reality, the study confirmed that they are instead flexibly planning their schooling. It is important however to distinguish between active and passive leaves of absence. The line between choosing not to go to school and not being able to go to school is blurred, and it is necessary to look at the effects of leave of absence rather than simply interpreting it all through a negative lens. In addition to examining viewpoints about preventing students from dropping out of school, this study showed the necessity of also recognizing the need to support males more than females in returning to school.