COVID-19, mother-teachers and teen suicide personality disorder: Exploring the synergies and readying for contingencies in Indigenous-Christian contexts

Abstract

The emergence of COVID-19 affected all facets of life. Lockdown restrictions, introduced in various countries, meant the majority of people had to stay home in adherence to social distancing regulations as stipulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Schools and other learning institutions in Zimbabwe and elsewhere were closed and the phenomenon of home-schooling was introduced to ensure that learners do not lag behind. Home-schooling meant that in addition to the parenting role, parents- in particular mothers, had to become teachers. The impact of this sudden change of roles on the mental health of mothers and, in particular, teen suicide, a form of borderline personality disorder, is yet to be studied. Is the growing scourge of teen suicide in Zimbabwe a result of COVID-19 inspired home-schooling experiences? Data solicited through face-to-face interviews and documents analyses and analysed through the lens of family systems theory seem to suggest that family disruptions and most mothers’ terrible experience with home-schooling was in part responsible for children’s (learners’) suicide ideation. To this end, we suggest that when teen education and child development catastrophe in the mould of COVID-19 occurs, manuals and toolkits on home-schooling should be developed to guide parents and children.