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Globally, there were 5 million COVID-19 deaths between March 2020 and October 2021, and approximately 5·2 million children lost a parent or caregiver because of COVID-19-related deaths. This has left so many orphaned children that had to navigate life without parental supervision. This paper aims to demonstrate the adverse social effects of covid-19 in the lives of children in child-headed families in a small village called Mavalani in Limpopo province, South Africa. We employed a qualitative study utilizing an explorative research design to get deeper knowledge of the adverse effects of Covid-19 on child-headed families in Mavalani village. Purposive sampling, which is a non-probability sampling technique was used to purposefully select the participants that are suitable for the research study. A sample size of 10 teenagers aged 13-17 years old were randomly selected within the population of child-headed families in Mavalani village. Thematic data analysis was utilized to analyse the adverse social effects experienced by child-headed families because of covid-19 parental death. Main findings of the study demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on family dynamics, resulting in the loss of parents and leaving children to care for their siblings in child-headed households. These children often face discrimination and social isolation due to the stigma associated with being a part of a child-headed family, leading to feelings of anxiety when interacting with their peers. Taking on the responsibilities of a parent at a young age has also had a significant impact on their childhood experiences and overall well-being.

The purpose of the study was to explore challenges experienced by school mangers in their role to implement the national school nutrition programme in schools of the Harry Gwala District, in KwaZulu-Natal. This article is extracted from a Ph.D. thesis in which a qualitative research design was used with sample of school managers who participate in the school nutrition programme. Data was gathered through individual interviews and document analysis. The findings indicated that school managers experienced challenges in the implementation of the programme such as compliance of Service Providers with delivery regulation, delayed payments of Service Providers, insufficient and poor food stuff supplied by Service Providers. However, on the other hand, nutrition programme benefited learners from poor background, reduced learner absenteeism and increased school enrolment. This posed a challenge to school managers as indicated in Maslow’s theory in the hierarchy of needs that provision should be made for meals at schools if they do not receive an adequate nutrition at home. On the basis of the findings, the following challenges were faced by school management: poor infrastructural development, insufficient time allocated to feeding, communication breakdown between NSNP educators and Service Providers, none payment of Service Providers on time.