Working Paper

CHILD LABOUR AND ITS EFFECTS ON EDUCATION: A FOCUS ON

SELECTED FISHING COMMUNITIES IN THE CAPE COAST

METROPOLIS

Boadu, Kankam

Department of Arts and Social Science Education

Kboadu21265@yahoo.com

(+233) 0244708348

Gyensare, Michael Asiedu

Department of Educational Foundations

Reverend_nayasjnr@yahoo.com

(+233)0244863135

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Abstract

The study set out to define child labour and its effects on the education of the

child. Specifically, it examined how child labour practices at the Anfo, Amissah

Ekyir, Gyegyano and Ntsin fishing communities in the Cape Coast Metropolis

impact children’s school attendance and academic performance. Seventy (70)

Basic school pupils were selected randomly from both Primary and Junior

Secondary Schools (JSS) level for the study. Purposive sampling technique was

used to select twenty (20) parents of the selected pupils for the study. In addition

to this, ten (10) class teachers were selected for the study. The main instruments

used for the collection of data were questionnaire and interview guide. The data

obtained were analyzed using simple frequency and percentage scores.

The study revealed that due to the involvement of pupils in child labour practices,

they are not punctual at school hence their poor academic performance. The study

further maintains that child labour has a serious implication on education of pupils

in the study area; therefore parents must be responsible for the upbringing of their

wards for better future. It recommends that apart from parents being responsible

for the upbringing of their wards for a better future, they should take advantage of

the capitation grant to release their children of excessive labour especially the

worst form of child labour for education.

Key words: Child labour, Education.

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Introduction

All children everywhere in the world do some form of work. The type of work

they do vary from society to society. According to the International Labour

Organization (ILO) standards, as quoted by Brew and Ekuban (1991), child

labour is the engagement of children under fifteen years in income-generating

activities other than the usual light domestic and agriculture work within the

household of their parents, where the work performed by the child is considered

excessive, exploitative, abusive, hazardous, harmful and detrimental to the

development of the child and hinders proper preparation for adult roles and

responsibilities.

Children are society’s most precious asset, and they come into the world solely

dependent on others for the provision of all their basic needs until adulthood.

Parents therefore welcome the birth of a child with pride and great expectations.

Children deserve the right to grow and develop, and the right to be able to trust

those to whom they look for care and nurturing without fear or harm. Children

have therefore been the priority of international and most legal policies thus, the

United Nations General Assembly declared 1979 as the International Year of the

Child. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU)

declared 1988 as the year of the Survival and Development of the Child; and

United Nations International Children Educational Fund (UNICED) also has a

programme for the child survival and development.

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According to Ghana Child Labour Survey (2003), child labour is the work that

denies children of education or does not allow children to benefit fully from

school. Example of such work may include selling of goods like dog chains, shoe

polish, dusters, insecticides, “iced water” and several other items of rather

marginal significance. It is alleged very often that many of these persons

frequently become victims of gambling, drug abuse, prostitution, armed robbery

and various acts of delinquency and truancy. The public as a result tend to see

these children as constituting a social problem.

The majority of child victims mentioned above, are usually children from the

poorest families without easy access to some basic needs. In reply to why children

work, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) report on Child Labour (2002),

briefly answers the ‘survival is the motivation’ while “poverty is the cause”. The

report notes that income from child workers small as it may be contributes to the

primary needs of the family. For many children too, the absence of educational

opportunity or lack of access to it makes work the only alternative.

There is a general believe that children learn everywhere and by working hard and

doing difficult and hazardous jobs as seen in some aspect of informal education,

they learn better. This statement, however, contravenes all recognized policies

and enactment on child labour. Our modern day education which is formalized

gives no room for this general believe and we should recognize that allowing the

child to work during school hours deprives the child of his/her right to education.

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Education can be defined as a tool for transmitting knowledge and skills for the

individual so as to be a useful person to the society (Psacharopoulos, 1997). The

psychomotor, affective and cognitive skills that are acquired by the individual

through education are required to help the individual improve upon his living

standards. This is one of the main reasons why every child must be educated

(Patrinos & Psacharopoulos, 1997).

Child labour has been seen all over the world as major obstacle impeding the

development of the child in many scope of development including education. For

this reason the international labour organization’s fundamental principle and right

completely outlines the elimination of all forms of force and compulsory labour

and the abolition of child labour as important for the achievement of good and

sound child development. The ILO identifies the most forms of child labour as

that type of labour that jeopardizes the physical, mental or moral well being of a

child, either because of its nature or the condition in which it is carried out (ILO

(2002). These forms of child labour can be equated to slavery or practices akin to

slavery and this includes child trafficking, debt bondage, force recruitment of

children in armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and all forms of illicit

activities. In Ghana for instance, child labour seems to be a major challenge

affecting the education of most children especially those living in deprived and

poverty stricken communities.

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Literature Review

Studies on child labour and its causes among children have been carried out and

reported by several investigators including those of Kayongo-Male (1986), De

Souza (1990), Ardayfio (1992), World Bank (1992), Bonsu (1993), Grootaert and

Kanbur (1995), Grootaert (1998), Psacharopoulos (1997), Grootaert and Patrinos

(1999), ILO (2002), Manda et al (2003) and UNICEF (2005), and pointed out the

various causes of child labour among children its prevalent rate among the poor

countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The various researchers found that parents of child labourers are often

unemployed or underemployed, desperate for secured employment and income.

The harsh economic system therefore compels them to engage their children in

trading and other forms of activities to supplement the household budget.

However, the effects of engaging these children in trading activities to the

detriment of their education have not yet been investigated. This is what the

present study hopes to investigate.

Economists and Sociologists have long recognized the role education plays in the

economy, writing more than 100 years ago Alfred Marshall stated that “the most

valuable of all capital is that invested in human beings.” Education contributes to

higher productivity in all sectors and evidence indicates that workers who are

better educated show a higher marginal product resulting in higher wages (Knight

and Sabot 1990). There are also social effects of education these include; a

possible positive link with better health status, fertility choices, lower infant

mortality, and women’s empowerment. At the 2000 World Education Forum in

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Dakar, governments from around the world including those in sub-Saharan

African governments recommitted themselves to achieving Education for All

(EFA). Although overall access to basic education has risen substantially over the

last decade in sub-Saharan Africa, the poor are still less likely to attend school.

Based on 1999 data, the 2002 EFA Global Monitoring Report found that about 37

% of children in sub-Saharan Africa were out of school. In many countries,

children from the poorest households are the ones with no access to schooling.

Poverty imposes hard choices on households about whether or not to send

children to school and for how long.

Education is critical for economic development and is the leading alternative to

child labor. The campaign to protect children against exploitation is based on the

principle that for healthy development, children must be allowed to be children

and one of the ways to be a child is to attend school. Education in sub-Saharan

Africa lags far behind most other developing regions. Despite problems of access

and quality, the demand for formal education in Africa has continued to rise

(Court & Kinyanjui, 1986; Fuller, 1991). Fuller argues that education has long

been seen as “the effective medicine for social ills and brittle growth” (p. xv).

Fuller further indicates that after independence, African governments linked

formal schooling to modernity: “Most Third World states have sparked enormous

popular demand for schooling as political elites earnestly try to signal modern

institutions and forms of opportunity” (p. 4). The disintegration of traditional

social support systems has left formal schooling as the only “legitimate” avenue

of social mobility.

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Some investigators claim that about 70 percent of child workers do not have

education and since children are said to be the future leaders of every nation,

however, without education they become illiterate leaders. In addition, a survey

conducted by the Ghana News Agency (2001) following public outcry in the

fishing communities of the Ketu District in the Volta Region showed that pupils

at Edina Blekusu and Agavedzi have become the main source of labour to

fishermen who sometimes pay for services rendered by school children to

teachers.

The outcome of the survey postulated that the practice had a negative implication

on the academic performance of children engaged by the fishermen in their

fishing activities. These children therefore cannot pursue any further education as

they fail their basic examination. As a result, they cannot climb higher the

academic ladder as compared to their counterparts in the cities who are always

punctual and assiduous to their academic work.

Objective

The study through a set of questionnaires that were distributed among pupils,

teachers and parents was investigated. The purpose was to find out the average

number of days pupils attend school, the type of job pupils do before and after

school, the main source of income of parents under study and parents reaction

towards child labour.

Methodology

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The population comprised pupils, teachers and parents in Anfo, Amissah Ekyir,

Gyegyano and Ntsin fishing communities in the Cape Coast Metropolis. These

surroundings were chosen because they are noted for engaging children in child

labour according to the information the researchers got from the labour office,

Cape Coast (Ghana Child Labour Survey, 2003). Hundred (100) people were the

subjects of the study. This comprised of seventy (70) pupils who were involved in

the worst form of child labour, among which 35 of them were from the primary

school; and the remaining 35 from JHS. In addition, twenty (20) parents of such

pupils and ten (10) teachers were selected for the study. The parents or guardians

were selected in order to cross check responses given by pupils and to find out

why they involve their children in child labour. An on the spot evaluation of the

average number of days pupils attend school, the type of jobs they do before and

after school, the main source of income of parents under study and parents

reaction towards child labour were assessed by the investigators.

Validity and Reliability

Experts who are senior colleagues in the field of educational measurement and

evaluation made content and construct as well as face validity of the

questionnaires. Earlier on, a sample of thirty (30) non-participating respondents

including twenty (20) pupils, (5) teachers and (5) parents’ responses were

analyzed to test for the reliability of the questionnaires. The yielded outcome of

each instrument was high enough to make the items on each questionnaire

reliable.

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Procedure

The questionnaire items were distributed to the selected pupils, teachers and

parents who gave prompt attention to the task of completing the questionnaire.

While the subjects of study were busy completing the questionnaire, an on the

spot-checking of response to each item under the various subheadings were

assessed by the researchers.

Results

The first objective of the study was to ascertain the average number of times

pupils attend school. The result of the analysis is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Pupils’ average number of school attendance

No of times Frequency Percentage

Twice

Thrice

Four times

Every day

20

25

15

10

29

36

21

14

Total 70 100

Table 1 depicts the responses given by pupils concerning the average number of

times they attend school. Out of the total respondents, 29% of them came to

school twice in a week, 36% came to school thrice in a week and 21% came to

school four times in a week. Only 14% of the total population attended school

every day of the week.

The second objective was to find out the various kinds of work pupils engage in

before and after school. The outcome of the analysis is depicted by Table 2.

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Table 2: Kind of work pupils engage in before and after school

Type of work Frequency Percentage

Selling

Fishing

Quarrying

45

15

10

62

21

17

Total 70 100

Table 2 illustrates the various types of economic activities that children undertake

in their communities. The results revealed that 62% of the respondents are

engaged in selling, 21% are into fishing and its related activities while 17% are

into quarrying.

The third objective was to find out responses from pupils on parental insistence

on child labour. The item to solicit respondents view had a “yes” or “no” response

with the majority response scoring 64% as against 36% for the minority.

Discussions

Result from Table 1 shows the pattern of responses of pupils to the average

number of times they attend school. There is a low frequency of school attendance

every day. A percentage of 14 is recorded for attending school every day. On the

other hand a high frequency of 20 with its corresponding percentage of 36 is

recorded for attending school three times a week. This dramatic revelation of

school attendance has serious implication on academic work and the pupil as a

whole. The poor attendance of pupils in the study area can be attributed to high

incidence of child labour in the communities. This confirms a study by Moyi

(2005) that children whose fathers and/or mothers are unpaid family workers have

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the lowest rates of school attendance and the highest rates of full-time work and

neither work nor school. He further expressed that the poorest children have the

lowest school participation rates and the highest rate of children reporting neither

work nor school. Thus, participation in school full-time increases with

expenditure categories, whereas those reporting neither work nor school declines,

and working full-time has no consistent pattern.

Again, result obtained from Table 2, depicts the various kinds of work pupils engage in

before and after school. Selling recorded the highest frequency with a

corresponding 62% as the major form of work pupils engage in before and after

school. This was followed by fishing with a percentage 21. It is crystal clear from

the discussion that a sizeable number of pupils are into selling which is mainly

hawking of petty items like fish, corn and cassava dough, tomatoes and gari. Most

of these sellers are girls. Thus, the result portrays that parents in the study area are

self- employed.

In addition to the already discussed results, the study also sought to find out the degree of

parental insistence on children’s engagement in various forms of child labour activities.

Majority of the pupils representing 64% recorded that their parents’ insistence forces

them to engage in child labour activities. It is clear therefore that most parents insist

on their children engaging in child labour practices. The result therefore shows

the high rate of child labour in the study area. The outcome of this research is in

concord with a study done by CAS and UNICEF (1991) which sought to find out

the various reasons why parents insist on their children’s participation in child

labour activities. Among the reasons given by those parents were to supplement

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household income, to pay outstanding household debt, education or training

programme is not useful, cannot afford school or training fees and child not

interested in school.

Conclusion

Conclusions drawn from this survey are as follows:

1. There is low attendance of pupils’ to school as a result of child labour

activities in the study area.

2. There is a very high incidence of pupils’ participation in child labour in

the study area.

3. This revelation confirms the poor academic performance of pupils in the

study area.

4. There is also active parental support of pupils’ engagement in labour as a

major source of income for many households.

5. Government’s inability to enforce child labour laws perpetrated by

irresponsible parents must be blamed for this absurd situation.

Recommendations

The survey has revealed evidence that child labour has a considerable effect on

the education of pupils thereby resulting in the falling standard of education in the

study area. There is therefore the need to initiate action to solve the problem of

child labour in our communities. Against this backdrop, the following

recommendations are made:

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1. There must be intensive education for both parents and guardians by the

Centre for Civic Education, Ministry of Education and other stake holders

of education on the effect of child labour on education.

2. The government should increase the capitation grants to the schools so as

to provide for the basic needs of pupils at school such as exercise books,

pencils and school bags.

3. There is the need for extension of the school feeding problem to all

schools in the country since most pupils labour in order to feed themselves

at school.

4. Child labour laws should be enforced so as to protect children and to

punish the perpetrators.

5. Parents should be educated on the negative effects of high fertility rate

since most of them resort to child labour practices due to large family size.

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