ORPHANS’ SATISFACTION WITH EDUCATION AND DEVELOPING SKILLS TRAINING IN THE SELECTED ORPHANAGES OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Man-made and natural disasters have made more than 4.2 million orphans in Pakistan. In which a fraction has been placed into different state-run orphanages in order to protect them from further exploitation. The objective of the study is to know about the satisfactory level of the inmates with education and developing skills training in the selected orphanages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Five government-run orphanages i.e. Welfare Home Charsadda, Welfare Home Kohat, Welfare Home Abbottabad, Sweet Home Swat, and Sweet Home Peshawar were selected from four zones in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The data has been collected from190 of the inmates through census method. Survey questionnaire (Child Status Index) and non-participant observation method was used to collect data. The Alderfer’ ERG theory has been used in order to understand the relevancy of findings with the frustration-regression relationship as suggested by Aldefer. The results suggest that virtually all the inmates were enrolled in schools and training programs, nevertheless, a significant majority were having learning disability and issues in developing life skills. The residential staff of all the orphanages was also found to be untrained and professionally incompetent. The study recommends the induction of well-trained and competent residential staff in all the orphanages and above all, the placement of the orphans into orphanages as a last resort.