Impact of Child Labor on School Attendance and Academic Performance in Yaba, Lagos State

Impact of Child Labor on School Attendance and Academic Performance in Yaba, Lagos State

Chapter One

Significance of the study

The study is of benefit to parents, children the society, Government and researchers.  Parents will benefit from the study as the study will elucidate the possible impacts of child labour on a child school attendance and academic performance. The findings of the study will enable parents see the need of not allowing their children pass through child labour in other for their children to attain a sound academic performance. The study is also significant since it highlights the possible causes of child labour. Children and the society will benefit from the study as the study will enable them see the various dangerous impact of child labour on academic performance of a child. The finding of the study will make the government fully understand that child labour destroys the future leaders of our country hence, making the government to adequately punish anyone who in one way or the other subject any child to child labour. The bring to the knowledge of the government the need of making provisions for their citizens in other to prevent the causes of child labour while to researchers, the finding of the study will serve as a source of references material.

Scope of the study

The scope of the study covers the impact of child labour on school attendance and academic performance. In terms of geographical location, the study will cover Yaba Local government area of Lagos state.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Functionalist theory

Durkheim (1858-1917) who is associated closely with functionalism employs analogies with biology. He views society is as an organic whole with each of its constituent parts which work to maintain the others, just as parts of the body work to maintain each other. According to Durkheim, a functional explanation accounts for the existence of a phenomenon or the carrying out of an action in terms of its consequences and contribution to maintaining a stable social whole(Marshall,1994). To the functionalist theorists, societies and individuals exist and work to sustain each other in an organic matter.

The functionalist views each part of the society as performing a function that keeps and sustain the entire society and failure in the performance of one result’s to a breakdown of the entire society. Example is when the labour market fails, it leads to adult unemployment which contributes to child labour ( Basu 200).When the minimum wage is set, Adult unemployment may emerge which results in parents putting their children to work in-order to bridge the gap. When there is corruption in the society, poverty is created aggravating the problem of child labour and any fund or any help given to alleviate the problem of child labour is used by persons that abuse them. Owolabi,2012;Ekpenyong& Sibirii, 2011) following a case of Nigeria the Africa’s third richest country with oils states that , poverty is very pervasive in Nigeria. Millions of children are forced to work in order to support the family and to survive and they are subjected to exploitation, violence, drug and poor children fail to access basic education and health care services.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Data analysis

Data from the field was edited to ascertain that all the entries have been properly done. The quantative data was be coded and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics like frequencies and cross tabulations were used to summarize the data. The qualitative content of data was summarized to identify emerging themes. Major statements were made to present the outstanding themes.

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION

Age of the respondents

The respondents were asked to provide information in regard to their age as shown on the table 4.1

Table 4.1: Distribution of respondents by Age

Age	Frequency	Percentage
12 years	9	15.0
13 years	25	33.3
14 years	21	35.0
15years	3	5.0
16 years	1	1.6
17 years	2	3.3
Total	60	100.0

 From the Table 4.1 above the pupils were distributed as follows those aged 12 years were 15%, the majority 25% were aged 13 years and followed by 21% aged 14years this findings indicate that few pupils were aged over 15 years. These findings agree with empirical studies that argue that age of the child is a key determinant of engagement in work. Children born earlier have a probability of attaining a higher market wage than the younger ones.

Gender of the child

The Pupils were asked to indicate their gender. Below are the findings as shown in the Table 4.2

Table 4.2: Distribution of respondents by gender

Gender	Frequency	Percentage
Male	33	55.0
female	27	45.0
Total	60	100.0

 According to table 4.2, the pupils were fairly distributed in terms of gender with 55% being male and 45% were female. This slight gender disparity is a likely indication of girls being more involved in child labour than boys.

Marital status of parents

The study sought to establish the marital status of the respondents’ parents. The purpose of this question was to correlate the marital experience with the parenting of children

Table 4.4: Distribution of respondents by parent’s marital status

Maritual status	Frequency	Percentage
Married	38	63.3
Divorced	06	10.0
Single parent	19	31.7
Widowed	03	5.0
Total	60	100.0

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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.

Schools also need to work to foster resilience in children, focusing on the traits, coping skills, and supports that help children survive in a challenging environment. In this regard they need to identify children need our help due to child labour so as to adapt successfully in the school process despite adversity at home

REFERENCES

• KIPPRA, 2003, Costs and benefits of eliminating child labour in Nigeria, KIPPRA working paper No.10.
• Nigeria republic of, 2005, session paper No.1 of 2005, A policy framework for education, Training &research, Nairobi: government printers.
• Nigeria, republic of (2001). The1998/1999 Child labour report. Central bureau of statistics, ministry of finance, Nairobi: government printers.
• Mugenda O. & Mugenda A. (2003). Research methods: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Acts press. Nigeria
• Psacharopoulos, G. (1997). “Child Labour versus Educational Attainment: Some Evidence from Latin America”. Journal of Population Economics 10: 377
• Republic of Nigeria (2001) The children Act 2001 government printers. Nigeria The end of child labour within reach, ILO conference 95th session 2006, Geneva United Nations, (1991). Conventions on the rights of the child
• UNICEF (2002) The state of the world’s children 2003, UNICEF UN (1989) Convention on the rights of the child.
• UNICEF (2001), State of the world’s children 2007, women and children. The double dividend of gender equality, UNICEF, New York
• Zani, A (1993). Child labour on the street Mombasa , University of Nairobi( unpublished) M.A Thesis

Questionnaire 

School:                                                                                                                                  Zone                                                                                                                                         : My name is

I am presently conducting a study on Effect of Child Labour on School Attendance and Academic Performance in Yaba Lagos State.

The information you give will be treated with confidence and will help to shed light on children’s work activities in relation to their performance in school.

Your cooperation will be highly appreciated. Can I proceed now? Thank you.

Section 1

1. Name……………………………………
2. Age………………………………….
3. Sex a)Male b) Female
4. Religion/Denominationa) Catholic b) Protestant c) Muslim d) others (specify (tick as appropriate)
5. Levelof Education
6. Maritalstatus of the parents
7. a) Married b)Divorced/separated c)Single parent d) Widowed
8. e)Others (specify)
9. Whatis your father’s highest level of education? (tick as appropriate)
10. a) Noneb) Primaryc) Secondary/High school d) University/Higher e) Don’t know f)N/A
11. Whatis your mother’s highest level of education? (tick as appropriate) Noneb) Primary c) Secondary/High school d) University/Higher e. post graduate  e) Don’t know f) N/A
12. Whatis your father’s present occupation/Employment?
13. a) Farmerb)Business c)Employed d) Casual laborer e)Unemployed f) Others (specify)
14. Whatis your mother’s present occupation?
15. Farmer b) Business c)Employed d) Casual laborer e) Unemployed
16. f)Others(specify)
17. Whatis your family’s main source of income?