Makuvaza Taurai2025-09-302024http://192.168.0.58:4000/handle/123456789/206The study examined the holistic development of secondary school learners in the face of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Chegutu, Zimbabwe. The study was informed by Urie Bronfenbrenner‟s bio-ecological systems theory, Erik Erikson‟s psycho-social theory and the Five-Factor Model of Personality development by Robert McCrae and Paul Costa. This study was guided by interpretivism and adopted a qualitative research approach in collecting and analysing data. A multiple case study design was employed. The qualitative research method gave participants the chance to express their opinions and experiences through in-depth interviews and open ended. The qualitative descriptive design was also taken on board for use in this study. A purposively drawn sample of eight secondary school learners doing Forms 4 to 6, eight secondary school teachers and two health workers were used to collect data. The researcher employed the Tesch‟s open analysis method through which themes were isolated. The results of the study showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic period, learners experienced academic anxiety, examination fear, stress, monophobia and depression as they cloistered themselves in their homes to avoid social contact. The results also showed that the frequency, with which clothes were sanitised, and fruits and vegetables were washed with detergents and warm water resulted in the development of neurotic disorders and stigma among secondary school learners. During the COVID-19 pandemic era, learners lost peer relationships as well as collaborative learning and engagement as they strove to maintain social distance. The study recommended that the Government of Zimbabwe provide free education to the secondary school learners who had been affected and infected by COVID-19, given that some had lost their parents. It was recommended that the Government also identify bed-ridden parents of secondary school learners so that they can be provided with palliative care and be financed in order that secondary school learners who attend school instead of providing care for the ailing parent may be assisted. There was need to regularly organise workshops, seminars, educational tours and inservice courses to equip teachers with necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes on how to manage secondary school learners who had been affected by monophobia, anxiety stress, and depression due to the COVID -19 pandemic.enCOVID-19qualitative researchlearnerssecondary schoolpandemicThesis