do street children have vocational aspirations?
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Do street children have vocationalaspirations? A study of street children
in AMA- Ghana
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AbstractThe purpose of this study was to find out if street children have vocational aspirations. A descriptivesurvey design was used. The study populationconsisted of 200 street children made up of 80(44%) males and 112(56%) females within the
central business district of the Accra Metropolitan Area. Their ages ranged from 8 to 17 years. Theconvenience sampling technique was used toselect the participants, who were individually interviewed. The results showed that street
children in spite of their challenges havevocational aspirations. They aspired to enter vocations such as the Police, the Army, Medicine,Law, Hairdressing, Dressmaking and the like. Thisfinding showed that street children given the
support either from the Government or NGOs willbe able to achieve their vocational goals and
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Description of street children
Street children can be described as children of school going-age roaming the streets of ourcities engaging in all sorts of activities.any child for whom the street has become his
or her habitual abode and /or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected,supervised, or directed by adults Henry andMorgan (2005)
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Characteristics
According to Campbell and Ntsabane(1995)these children stay on the street for themost part of the day. They are not in schooleven though they are of school going age.
The street child mistrust people, he enjoys hisindependence, he tends to be rebellious, hedislikes authoritarianism or ridged control, hecan be rehabilitated, he can cope under
difficult circumstances and he is nomadic.
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Reasons for being on the street
PovertyConflictsCultural practices(eg forced marriages, FGM,
Trokosi etc)
Child neglect, child traffickingSingle parentingDeath of parents
Peer influence (Asiedu, 2003).
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Categories of street children
A. Children who have run away from home orhave no home; of which he or she sleeps onthe street
B. Children sleeping on the street with their
family or guardianC. Children living at home, but working in an at
risk situation (working at night, casual sex work and begging)
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Activities
BeggingHawkingWashing cars/ windscreens of cars in trafficServing as guards for cars at market placesShoe mending and shinningProstitutionCarrying luggage
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They can live on the street till well overadolescence, which make it difficult to pursuevocations or learn a trade to fulfill theirambitions.
Adolescence is a time when teenagersdevelop certain aspirations regarding theirvocations/careers
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What are vocational aspirations?
Vocation can be described as a job that youdo because you feel that it is your purpose inlife and that you have special skills for doingit.
Aspirations on the other hand represent apersons orientation or attitude towardparticular goals and can be influenced byvariables such as gender, socio-economic
status, family support, parental expectations,and cultural values.Vocational aspirations can therefore be seenas the occupation a person desires to pursue
if there were no reality constraints (Domenico
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Street children and vocational aspirations
Domenico and Jones (2007) assert thatdisadvantaged children or people, have a verystrong desire for certain vocations despitetheir challenges.
A career survey conducted showed thatchildren on the streets in Hanoi, Vietnam and Jamaica desired to be teachers, lawyers,accountants, doctors, pilots, soldiers, nurses
and many more (Henry & Morgan 2005, Hong& Ohno, 2005).
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Cont.
vocational aspirations result as reflects of pastexperiences and perceived barriers whichprevented them from achieving their initialambitions hence a change in vocation to suit
their current situations. It therefore becomesequally important for them to considerlearning of trades and vocations in order toseek employment or earn a better living. Theidea of spirit of enterprise then ignites theirdesires to acquire vocational skills that canlead to providing trained human resources forsocio-economic development.
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Statement of the problem
Accra is functions as both the commercial andadministrative capital of Ghana. It isstrategically situated to attract people of allwalks of life including street children.
These children spend their lives on the streetsand earn income from their activities. The question is do the have any vocationalaspirations looking at their disadvantaged
circumstances?
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Purpose of the study
Estimates of 6000 street children in the tenregions of Ghana(Atakpa,2009).About 800 in Greater Accra
150 in and around Madina and Adenta
200 in Tema200 in Ashaiman300 in Accra metropolis
The purpose therefore is to examine the future
vocational aspirations of street children in theGreater Accra region with focus on the centralbusiness district of Accra
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Research questions
What are the vocational aspirations of streetchildrenWhat are the sex differences in theirvocational aspirations
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MEHODOLOGY
Research designDescriptive survey. Descriptive surveys describeexisting phenomenon by using numbers tocharacterize individuals or a group.
Participants200 street children (88(44%) males and 112(56%)females, age range 8-17 years from the centralbusiness district of AMA;Graphic Road-CMB/Railway LineCentral Police Station-Kinbu GardensCMB-Rawlings ParkSNNIT-Fire Service-Makola
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Methodology cont.
Sampling techniques/procedureConvenience sampling techniqueInstruments for data collection
Interview schedule(for those who could not read or
write, opportunity for clarification, response to allitems, observation of nonverbal cues andreactions to specific questions)
Two parts; section A and BA for demographic information and B for vocationalaspirations, reasons for being on the street andactivities engaged in.
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Procedure
Administration by three trained bi-lingualassistantsItems were read and interpreted in thelanguage of the respondents
Participants consent was obtained and eachinterviewer proceeded with the interviewInterviews were conducted within 7 days anda minimum of 10-15minutes per participant
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Data analysis
The percentage and frequency counts wereused in analyzing the data under the variousthemes.
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ResultsAge N %
8-10 45 22.511-13 85 42.514-16 66 3317 `4 2
SexMale 88 44Female 112 56
Educational statusNever enrolled 76 38Dropped out 80 40Primary school 22 11
J.H.S 18 9S.H.S 4 2
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Results cont.
Parental status N %Parents together 30 15Parents separated 50 25Parent divorced 88 44
Parents deceased 32 16Activities on the street
Begging 15 7.5Carrying goods 60 30
Hawking 107 53.5Car washing/cleaning in traffic 6 3Shoe polishing and mending 12 6
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Vocational Aspirations of the sampleVocations Males
N %
Females
N %
Police 10 5.0 -
Soldier 10 5.0 5 2.5
Nurse 5 2.5 1 5.0
Doctor 10 5.0 5 2.5
Teacher 10 5.0 10 5.0
Lawyer 5 2.5
Trading(business
)
8 4.0 12 6.0
Hairdressing 1 25Dressmaking 1 10 20 10
Engineering 5 2.5
Accountant 5 2.5
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Results cont.
Sixty(30%) of the females desired to pursuefemale oriented vocations, hairdressing andnursing.Forty-five(22.5%) males aspired to be in male
oriented vocations eg police, law, accounting,engineering, army
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Discussion
Street children in spite of their challengeshave vocational aspirations.It is interesting to note that they hadaspirations such as being in the police, the
army, law, engineering and medicine,although this was in the minority, comparedto vocations such as trading, dressmaking,hairdressing.
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Discussion cont.
Results are similar to that of Henry & Morgan(2005) and Hong and Ohno (2005) who foundin their survey among street children on thestreets in Hanoi, Vietnam and Jamaica thatthey desired to be teachers, lawyers,accountants, doctors, pilots, soldiers, nursesand craftsmen, truck drivers, fishermen,firemen and bank clerks.
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Discussion cont.
The choice of such occupations asdressmaking, hairdressing and trading wasnot surprising as this sort of training did notrequire long term training with or withoutformal education to complete.
The findings are also in fulfillment of Rojewskiand Yang (1997) study which state that socio-economic status was the most significant
indicator of low occupational aspiration. Thusthere is a correlation between socio-economiclevel and career choice and careeraspirations.
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Discussion cont.
The few who chose occupations such as; thePolice, Army, engineering, law and medicinemaybe as a result of the influence of
Television and the movie industry whichportrays such occupations as prestigious andattracting respect from societythey could still be holding on to the hope of achieving these vocations, it is also possible
that they might be too young to realize thattheir status poses a challenge to thesevocational goals.
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The study sought to examine the vocationalaspirations of street children;it is interesting to note that even though thechildren were disadvantaged, they still haveindividual dreams to fulfill.
They had strong desires for vocations irrespectiveof their circumstances and reasons for which theywere on the streets.
This is one positive indication that giving thechildren the opportunity to have some economicrelief they would leave the streets to channel theirenergies into more productive ventures that canbe of decency.
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implications
The concept of street children phenomenon isa multifaceted oneIt would be a challenge to use a singleintervention that will fit the needs of all these
children to solve their problems.Children who have become successful throughtheir activities on the street though havevocational aspirations, may not be motivated
to leave the streets, however others who arewilling to be helped can be given skills foremployments and free education.
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Recommendations
Community leaders, Assemblymen/women,Opinion Leaders and Politicians must assist inthe full implementation of the FCUBEprogramme to enhance school enrolment.Effective retention and maintenance of pupilsin school will minimize the child streetism inGhana.Withdrawn children who are now in decent
professions must serve as role models to theexisting generation to emulate.Government must develop a Training andRehabilitation Centre for street children.
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Recommendation for future research
A comparative study of children both on thestreet and off the street and their vocationalaspirations could be looked atExploration of how they came to prefer the
occupations they have chosen The relationship between age, educationalattainment and the vocational aspirations of street children.
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Limitations of the study
Period of data collectionUnwillingness of participants to open upPayment for taking part in the study
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