Effect of Child Labour on School Attendance and Academic Performance in Yaba Lagos State
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of Study
The specific objectives of the study are;
- To establish the causes of child.
- To establish the relationship between child labour and performance in primary.
- To find out the measures in place to mitigate child labour among school children.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Child Labour in Practice
Children are usually regarded as ‘small adult’ who consequently leads to their incorporation into a range of different employment relations. Age, sex and birth order of the child are key characteristics that influence the nature and extent of child labour. Children usually begin to work at different ages. Boyden and Bequele (1988:24) support this view when they state a significant number of children are involved in employing at a very early age of about seven years .Rodriguez (1979: 128 states that children in the city begin work as soon as they can get away from home
A research by Gatchalian (1988: 80) found that 23% of the total sample of 403 children in wood based and clothing industries to be below the age of 10 years. Literature shows that the youngest age at which children have been found working is 4 and half years (Abdalla 1988:32).These children were found working in leather turning industry in Cairo Egypt. A child’s birth order influences their participation in child work Kidwel (1981) remarks that first borns is usually the recipient both of both mere parental attention and interaction and of stricter training; they are expected to be more responsible than their siblings. The youngest child does not usually experience the same expectations and pressure as the oldest.
The kind of work children are engaged in ranges from domestic, in mines, agriculture or even bonded.(Gatchalian 1988:81) notes that child labourers are mostly employed by small scale enterprises. Children are preferred by employers for their innate characteristics ,docility, speed and visual acuity in addition to their cheap labour (Boyden and Bequele 1988:24).Their employment doesn’t provide any form of binding agreements with their employers. The condition of work most children work in is usually exploitative. It jeopardizes their physical and mental well being.
Most of the jobs they do are designed for adult’s .The ILO report (1983:12) states that a child development and well being are not considered by most child employers, they ignore the fact that a child is not an adult and thus not physically capable as an adult work. In terms of remuneration as indicated by ILO report (1983:12) sometimes children receive no pay. This is usually in the informal sector and if any wage is given, it is usually low. In the study by Abdalla (1988:33), approximately 60% of the child workers received ages, 36% were paid apprentices and the rest were unpaid family labour who received only some pocket money.
On the Kind of work children do, Gatchalian (1988:81) notes that child workers are mostly employed by small scale enterprises. In hid s study 72% of the children employed in wood industry and about 82% are employed in cloth manufacturing were working in firms which has less than 29 workers. Other kinds of work children are exposed to include mining, bonded children, manual work in industrial workshops among unpaid house work at homes. Rodriguez (1979:125) adds to the list of child work to include informal sector jobs such as shoes black and car washers. Usually these informal businesses are owned by adults but run by children with an aim of exploiting them.
Another aspect of child exploitation has been noted by Dyorough (1986; 46) who highlights the incidence of child labour in Nigeria in economic activities for example bus conducting. Boyden and Bequele (1988:24) give reason for the use of children in labour market to be their cost effectiveness as well as their docile characteristics which creates an opportunity for exploitation. Ebigho and Izuora (1986:6) found out that 50 out of 70 child labourers are involved in hawking activities 11.4%were in transporting goods for customers using wheelbarrows and 2.8%attended to machines for grinding local foodstuffs.
Most children are involved in paid and unpaid work which is usually exploitative and jeopardizes their physical and mental well being .Most of the jobs they do are designed for adults not children. The ILO report (1983:12) states that a child’s development and well being are not considered by most child employers, they ignore the fact that a child is not an adult and thus not physically capable of adult work without it having repercussions. In his study Abdalla shows that child labour can facilitate adult migration to areas of high employment.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The research design is Survey. This design is considered appropriate since it helps to determine the current status of the population with respect to various variables (Gay; 1983) hence the status of child labour with respect to performance as a variable.
Unit of Analysis and observation
Unit of analysis refers to the major entity being analyzed in the study (Mugenda & Mugenda 2003) in this study the unit of analysis will be the child labourers. The unit of analysis in this study was child labour and performance in primary school.
Unit of observation
Refers to the objects on which data is collected, and analyzed for statistical analysis (Mugenda& Mugenda, 2003). The unit of observation was pupils in Standard 6 to 8. The reason for choosing this group is because they understand the phenomenon of child labour and they can easily be able to answer the questionnaires. Class teachers, a social worker and Educational officer also formed a part of unit of observation.
Target Population
The target population comprised of the children in child labour in three sampled schools, in Yaba. It also comprised of key informants who are the class teachers, Head teachers, Education officer.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION
Social and Demographic Characteristics of the participants
The demographic data sought in the study include age, gender, class level, Maritual status of the parent, parents level of education, occupation of parents, family main source of income
These demographic data were sought in order to determine the characteristics of the participants as well as helping the researcher to design the instrument in a way that suited their level of understanding in relation to the study problem.60% of the questionnaires issued were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
This chapter presents the conclusions and recommendations of the study based on the analysis and interpretation in Chapter Four.
The main objective of this study was to establish whether there is a relationship between child labour and performance in primary schools and to find out the measures in place to mitigate child labour among school children in Yaba Sub-State Lagos State
Frequency, percentages and mean of the different variables that related to the research topic were used in different tables to analyses personal data and answering the research questions. The bio-data of the study revealed that majority of the respondents were children between the ages of 13 to 14 years.
The findings in the table 4.2 shows that there were more male were used in the study which could mean that there are more male pupils who are regular in school attendance than female.
The finding is in line with (Bilah 2003) who affirms the preference of male child in access to schooling and other life changing opportunities. The girl child is therefore more likely to be involved in child labour than the boy child.
These study findings indicate that the majority of the parents are married and therefore better placed to offer parental care for the children however the Children in Yaba are disadvantaged because the parents are relatively uneducated and poor and therefore cannot provide good care for the children. Although studies such as (Lichter, 1997, Ashworth, Hill, & Walker (2004) show that the children that are in poverty tend to come from single-parent households (most often matriarchal), this study establishes that poverty in married families has a connection with child labour and poor school performance.
The study findings indicate that the causes of child labour are the need for parents to subject the children to some form of work in the morning before going to school as well as those who expect the children to work in the evening after school. These study findings indicate that the pupil’s studies were affected by the morning and evening chores. From the study findings nearly 50% of the children worked for some form of payment, a conclusion which is similar to that by the ILO report (1983:12) with observed that observed that most children are involved in paid and unpaid work. According to these study findings some of the children are paid in cash while others are paid in kind. The study confirms that making children work for payment is wrong as these leads to them to drop out of school to pursue money.
Conclusions
The following conclusions are pertinent to the study. This study concludes that there are signs of growing independence. Children are becoming so “knowledgeable” that they typically test their growing knowledge with open talk about exploitation and labour. The findings indicate that most parents subject their children to some form of child labour.
To teach responsible and caring behaviors, adults must first model caring behaviors with young children as they do with other adults. While modeling, focus should be on the avoidance of any form of child labour. This does not mean raising lazy children but drawing a limit on the amount of domestic chores children should be subjected to so as to give room for children to pursue schooling without domestic interference.
The study further concludes that although children may want to feel useful and have a sense that they are contributing to the family parents must indicate the importance of emphasizing on their school career. However, To help children learn household responsibilities, parents might allow children to choose from a list of chores. From the study findings it is also evident that chores should be in addition to what is generally expected. For example Brushing teeth, taking a bath, and keeping a room clean may be expected. Drying dishes, putting away folded clothes, or emptying trash cans may be chores that earn allowance and contribute to the family. Money becomes more important since children now understand how it is valued in our society. Earning an allowance is a two way agreement; children do agreed upon work with little reminders in exchange for agreed upon money or goods.
Recommendations
Parents with children in middle childhood may begin to re-evaluate what kind of parent they have been up to this point. With children growing up school, parents have to re-evaluate the amount of domestic responsibilities they assign the children. Up to this point, children have always looked up to parents as the source of information, love, care and support but now children judge parents more and label their actions differently because parents are the ones relying on children for support.
The following policy initiatives are intended to apply in all circumstances which may potentially result in significant development and education of children. A number of policy initiatives need to be reviewed and clarified and guidelines for implementation and enforcement need to be drawn up and disseminated to the relevant authorities. These include ILO labour, the rights of the child and the constitution of Nigeria 2010 which spells out the right of Nigerian children. Key policy areas that need to be explored include: Many families are unfamiliar with the rights of children and tasks of child development, particularly social and emotional development. When practitioners are able to increase the parent’s understanding of child development, new opportunities are created for parents and other primary caregivers to appreciate the child’s individual experience and growth hence avoid subjecting children to any forms of labour.
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