The impact of extra lessons on the political environment - A case study of the three urban day high schools in Chegutu, Zimbabwe

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

This study aimed at establishing the impact of extra lessons on the political field in Zimbabwean urban day high-density secondary schools. It was guided by an interpretivist perspective focused on interactions and social meaning assigned by teachers, learners, parents, and school inspectors. Using a qualitative multiple case study of three high-density schools in Chegutu, data were generated through interviews and focus groups with 23 participants. Results link extra lessons to political expedience, short-term political gains, informal employment, and reduced tensions, while noting risks if exam passers face unemployment.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

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Abstract

Introduction

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 9(2), pp. 620-629, June 2021 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper The impact of extra lessons on the political environment: A case study of the three urban day high schools in Chegutu, Zimbabwe Richard Bukaliya Department of Teacher Development, Faculty of Education, Zimbabwe Open University, P.O. Box 758 Marondera, Zimbabwe. Accepted 2 March, 2021 | ABSTRACT
This study aimed at establishing the impact of extra lessons on the political field in Zimbabwean urban day high-density secondary schools. It was guided by the interpretivist perspective based on the interpretation of interactions and social meaning that teachers, learners, parents, and school inspectors assigned to the role of extra lessons on the political environment. The study was qualitative and thus aimed at reporting detailed views of informants. The multiple case study method was used as the focus was on three highdensity high schools in Chegutu town. The researcher adopted the multi-technique approach to generate data, thus interviews and focus group discussions were used. Data saturation was arrived at after the involvement of 23 participants. These consisted of 8 teachers, 6 learners, 6 parents and 3 school inspectors. Findings from the study show that political expedience was one reason why extra lessons had been carried out with the blessing of some political players. From the academic outlook, politicians in favour of the extra lessons capitalised on them to gain continued existence in the political arena. While the political elite benefitted in the short term, through political expedience, in the long run, they stood to lose political support as this could also lead to civil disorder when many youths passed examinations but found no formal employment. Extra lessons made teachers generate extra income and created informal employment in many private colleges. This translated into low political tensions which were usually sparked by poor teacher incentives and high unemployment. Extra lessons paved the way for some meeting point among and between the different stakeholders and politicians still were guaranteed their votes regardless of whether they were for or against the extra lessons. Since there is evidence that most stakeholders were in favour of the extra lessons, it is prudent these lessons should continue to be carried out. Extra lessons also created informal employment in private colleges, and this has translated into low political tensions as teachers get some extra incentives, at the same time lowering the high unemployment of qualified teachers.
Keywords: Extra lessons, political environment, urban day high schools. | | --- | | E-mail: [bukaliar@gmail.com](bukaliar@gmail.com). | INTRODUCTION Extra lessons have become very popular to the extent that they have been incorporated in education subsystems in most countries, globally, as learners take to the activity on a very large scale (Baker et al. , 2011; Bray, 2013) . Most modern societies with well pronounced formal education systems have accepted and adopted the use of extra lessons that have come in different forms, in different countries (Bray, 2013) . In East Asia, for Bukaliya 621 example, South Korean learners have enrolled in Hankwon, a term referring to cram schools, at a wider scale (Lee and Shouse, 2011) . Extra lessons, also taking the form of supervised, outside mainstream classes, proprietary cram schools and revision schools have seen a rise in enrollment of learners taking up these lessons in Japan and Korea (Baker et al. , 2011; Bray, 2013; Dang and Rogers, 2008) . In North America, the situation has been the same as most countries have not been left out of the phenomenon. Davies (2014) states that in Canada, there has been a rising desire for extra lessons where the private tutoring business has surged even though parents who hire private teachers were generally satisfied with public education. Still in Can

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the study on extra lessons?

The study establishes how extra lessons affect the political environment in Zimbabwean urban day high-density secondary schools, focusing on the meanings stakeholders attach to these lessons.

How was data collected and analyzed in the research?

A qualitative multiple case study was used for three high-density high schools in Chegutu. Data came from interviews and focus group discussions, with saturation reached after involving 23 participants.

What reasons does the study give for why extra lessons were carried out?

The findings show political expedience as one reason, with some political players endorsing extra lessons and benefiting from them in the short term.

What outcomes of extra lessons does the study report for teachers and unemployment?

Extra lessons enabled teachers to generate extra income and created informal employment in private colleges, while also contributing to lower political tensions through incentives and reduced high unemployment among qualified teachers.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen