Abstract:

The study sought to establish and compare the views of rural and urban primary school pupils on homework in Zimbabwe, using six purposively sampled Masvingo rural and urban primary schools. The inquiry employed a qualitative methodology in which data were gathered through semi-structured personal interviews and document analysis. A sample of thirty rural and thirty urban Grade Five pupils were interviewed. Forty-five homework exercise books were analyzed. The investigation established that while in both rural and urban schools, there are some pupils who like homework while others dislike it for various reasons; there are more pupils in urban areas who view homework in a positive light than those in rural schools. The paper unearthed home and school factors as the causes of rural and urban pupils’ different views on homework. The paper makes several recommendations. Firstly, the government should endeavour to narrow the gap between the socio-economic statuses of the rural and urban populace in Zimbabwe as it is a major contributor to pupils’ different views on homework. The paper further recommends that rural schools be improved in terms of the quality of teachers and teaching-learning resources. Also, parents in both settings need to be encouraged to take an interest in their children’s homework. Moreover, teachers from both rural and urban schools need to take homework more seriously as their attitudes to homework influence pupils’ views on it.  

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