DETERMINANTS OF CHILD LABOUR AMONG FAMILIES IN KISENYI, KAMPALA DISTRICT
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
The International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 138 specifies fifteen years old as the age below which a person who participates in actively in economic activity will be considered as a child labourer. ILO global estimates indicate that in the year 2000 there were 211 million of children at work in economic activities, out of which 186 million of them were child labourers. Economic activity itself encompasses most productive activities by children such as unpaid, casual, and illegal work as well as work in the informal sector. All the aforementioned ILO estimates however, do not cover children working in non-economic activities mainly due to the fragmented global data on the extent of non-economic child work. ILO estimates however, are still in line with international labour standards which provide for exceptions for household chores in the child’s own household.
The determinants of child activity options extend well beyond education to include the child’s characteristics, parent’s characteristics, household’s characteristics and community characteristics. Knowledge of these determinants would inform a better child welfare management policy in Nigeria, but such analysis is lacking at the national level. Many countries focus their official estimates of child labour on child work for wages (cash or in-kind). This narrow focus generates misleading conclusions. In 1999 and 2000,UNICEF interviewed children across 30 developing countries and discovered that factory work is rare only 3% of children work outside of their household for pay. Unpaid domestic work is more common than is work for pay. UNICEF found that 2% of boys and 5% of girls perform unpaid domestic work for households other than their own. However, most working children are employed in their own household, helping with household duties or the family’s farm and business.
The countries considered in the present study exhibit child labour patterns that conform to UNICEF’s findings. Consider the typical 14-year-old girl living in rural Nepal. She works about 35 hours per week (author’s calculations from the Nepal Labour Force Survey, 1999). She spends 19 hours of that time working in agriculture for her family, and 9 hours helping her family with household work. She does not work for pay, and she does not attend school. An array of activities occupies the rest of her time. Gathering firewood and collecting water are two of her more time consuming tasks.
A focus on wage work alone omits almost all of the activities performed by children. It may be the case that wage work is more often associated with worse employment environments for children, but a focus on wage work alone confounds questions of why children work and what types of jobs or working environments working children sort into. As a result, relatively few academic studies of child labour supply focus on wage work alone. Instead, economists tend to focus on what will be called “market work” throughout this study. Market work includes the types of activities for which a person in a high-income country would normally be paid. This includes wage work but also includes work without direct payment both inside and outside of the household. Thus, market work encompasses work on a neighbour or community’s business or farm or work in one’s own household business or farm.
1.2 Problem statement
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 28% of children aged 5-14 in Africa and the Pacific are economically active (ILO, 2002). These 127.3 million children constitute 60% of all child labourers worldwide. Despite government efforts in Uganda to reduce child labour, the number of children involved in economic activities in Kisenyi has increased (Olupot, 2013). The study therefore seeks to assess the determinants of child labour among families.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The study will aim at assessing the determinants of child labour among families in Kisenyi.
1.4 Specific objectives of the study
- To assess the personal factors that cause child labour among families
- To determine the social-economic factors that lead to child labour among families
- To suggest strategies to reduce on the prevalence of child labour
1.5 Research questions
- What personal factors cause child labour among families?
- What social-economic factors lead to child labour among families?
- What strategies can be employed to reduce on the prevalence of child labour among families?
1.6 Scope of the study
Content scope
The study will aim at assessing the determinants of child labour among families in Kisenyi. Specific emphasis will be put on assessing the personal, social-economic factors that influence child labour and remedies to reduce on its prevalence.
Geographical scope
The study will be carried out in Kisenyi, Kampala district.
Time scope
The study will be carried out for a period of four months from March – June, 2017.
1.7 Significance of the study
The general significance of this research is that the study will bring to light the determinants of child activity options as well as the link between child labour and poverty in Uganda.
This will help make policy on this issue for households and government to safeguard our children and promote their contribution to economic growth and development in Uganda.
The study will also be a reference point for further research on child activity options in Uganda and other developing countries.
This chapter presents related literature and it is presented in themes according to the research objectives.
2.1 Child labour
The term child labour has many definitions by different scholars. According to Suda(2011) the term child labour refers to when children is working in any type of work that is dangerous and harmful to children’s health or the work hinders their education. For Moyi (2011) child labour refers to low wages, long hours, physical and sexual abuse. According to Edmonds and Pavcnik (2005) child labour is viewed as a form of child labour abuse, when children work in bad conditions and hazardous occupations.
The meaning of the term of child labour also varies among organizations, ILO argues that child labour is difficult to define. It depends on the type of the job and, if the age is under eighteen and if the job intervenes the children’s education and development (ILO: 2004). A child, according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989 refers to a person under the age of eighteen. The World Bank assumes that child labour can do serious threat to long-term national investment. Furthermore, according to UNICEF the problem of child labour can have more bad consequences besides all the concerns of investment or its relation to economic activity (ILO, 2013; Weston, 2005).
Bhat (2010) asserts that the definition of child labour is not simple because it includes three difficult concepts to define, which are “child”, “work” and “labour”. He claims that the term of childhood can be defined by age but in some societies, people cease to be a child at different ages. The onset of puberty occurs at different ages for different people. Therefore in the Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999 (No. 182) defines a child who is under the age of eighteen years (Bhat, 2011). The definition of child labour differs among societies, for example in Africa and Asia they do not consider the work of fifteen years old person as a child labour, they view child labour as a good task that children learn skills from work. They distinguish between child labour and child work, where child work is considered to be a part of the children’s training to be responsible adults while child labour is thought to be exploitative (Omokhodion & Odusote, 2006).
Not all work that children does is severe, according to ILO reports (2002) if a work does not hinder children’s schooling or do not affect their health physically and mentally, then it is generally not categorized as child labour. For instance helping parents at home, looking after siblings or working for pocket money after school hours and during holidays. Also Aqil (2012) assumes that not all work that children do can harm their health or considered as exploitative but it depends on what kind of work they are involved in and how many hours they work. It also depends on work conditions, or environment. However Weston (2005) argues that any work children do, can be damaging to their health because the work can be abusive, exploitative or hazardous and it can influence their health. Omokhodion and Odusote (2006) argued that any work that children does outside home is classified as child labour. According to them working outside home is usually exposed to environmental hazards which may affect their health and safety.
During the beginning of the industrial revolution children were forced to work around family farms, in factories, tending crops or preparing food. They work in industries and their conditions of work were very dangerous and often deadly. At that time, the industry preferred children to work because children provided cheap labour and more malleable workers (Basu et al. 1999). In 1833 and 1844 the first legislation came to ban child labour. It implied that children should not work, and the idea was to remove all children from labour which interfered with school. However many children continued to be involved as child labour which was prohibited by law (Bhat 2011).
Indeed child labour was almost completely reduced from the developed world, however currently, child labour still continues to rise in developing countries because of rapid population growth, high rates of unemployment, inflation, poverty, malnutrition, bad leadership, corruption and low wages (Bass, 2004). Child labour is taking place everywhere in the world particularly in low income countries and these children are working in all sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, manufacturing, fishing, construction, domestic service street vending etc. In addition to that children are normally unregistered as employers and working in very poor and dangerous conditions without social protection. (Serwadda-Luwaga ,2005)
The incidence of child labourers throughout the world is difficult to verify because of the lack of reliable statistics of child labour. The reason is that the governments usually do not collect current data regarding child labour, and many child labourers are invisible (Das, 2012). Although reliable data is not available, ILO has estimated the number of child labourers in 2008 were 215 million boys and girls aged between five to seventeen years worldwide, with 115 million of them working in hazardous jobs (Aqil, 2012).
2.1.1 Rural and urban child labour
Child labour has been a complex rural problem, as well with children helping out in the farm with their families. The vast majority of child labour is involved in agriculture. On the other hand agricultural sector is the mainstay of developing countries economy, particularly in Africa. (Baker,2008).Generally, throughout the world rural children were more likely to be engaged in economic labour activities compared to urban children, because poverty is more prevalent in rural areas especially among those who depend on agriculture(Akarro& Mtweve, 2011). Poor rural families considers making their children work in farms, may increase household’s income (Serwadda-Luwaga,2005). Rickey (2009) points out that many rural areas lack basic services such as electricity and access to drinking water. In such cases their children must fetch water especially girls, who are more involved in housework.
Child labour also exists in cities. According to World Bank, child worker is typically a sign of urban poverty in many countries, and special in Sub-Saharan Africa. Urban children usually are involved in domestic work or sales. Their working conditions are very poor, unhealthy and crowded. They work for long hours with very low wage or no wage. Girls are usually the most vulnerable; they are typically trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation in urban centres such as Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi (Baker, 2008). They face many problems due to poverty. Poor urban children are at particular risk of many problems such as lack of education, healthcare and social protection (Baker, 2008). Urban children attend more to school than rural children. Urban areas provide better educational access, quality and infrastructure than rural areas. For poor rural children living far off from school, transportation cost often becomes a challenging affair for their families (Hueble, 2008). According to Edmonds (2007) rural children work more and for longer hours than urban regions. Regarding attendance, due to limited access to school rural children are more likely to be involved in child labour. Moreover, urban and rural areas differ in the terms of how schooling and child labour are related. Education levels are generally very low among children in rural areas.
2.1.2 Types of child labour
Child labourers are involved in many different forms of works, which include risks and hazards. These children are vulnerable to physical pain and injury particularly being exposed to health hazards (Levison& Murray, 2005). According to ILO (2012) the vast majority of child labour is involved in hazardous occupations such as agriculture, mining, manufacture, construction bonded child labour, domestic work and fishing. Environmental and occupational conditions can impact on the health and development of the children. Children working in different sectors such as agriculture, factories, domestic labour, sex workers and carrying out their illicit activities, migrant labourers, and on the streets as vendors etc. The effect of job and activities can vary from a country to a country. Also working conditions, ages and gender of children involved in the differences too (O. O’Donnell et al., 2002). According to Amon et al., (2012) mainly child labourers in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Southeast Asia are involved in the worst forms of child labour , which persists such as child trafficking, bonded child labour, child domestic work, hazardous child labour, etc. More than 90 percent of working children in hazardous jobs which are exposed to chemicals, and dangerous tools.
2.2 Socio-economic factors related to child labour
This chapter presents the theoretical framework, which is based on the socio -economic factors that causes child labour.
2.2.1 Poverty as root cause
There are several circumstances that affect child labour. Studies have demonstrated that the most notable reason being poverty (Bhat& Rather,2009). Decisions about child labour and schooling are generally made by parents. If the family live below the poverty line, parents see children as part of contributor in their family income. Basu (1998) used a theoretical model of child labour, where he showed the only reason parents send children to labour is because of their low income. Consequently poor parents cannot afford schooling for their children. Thus, mainly poor households are to send forced their children to labour instead of sending to school. Rena (2009) shows that that poverty and underdevelopment drives child labour. She found that the high prevalence of poverty amongst countries, including India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Mozambique, Malawi, Sudan, and Chad increases the child labour. Therefore, child labour is widespread throughout Africa, and Asia. According to the studies of Edmonds and Pavcnik (2005); O’Donnell et al. (2005) and Akarro and Mtweve (2011) they assume that tackling poverty can be a perfect solution to reduce child labour. Beside poverty, many factors influence the incidence of child labour which can be listed in the following points.
2.2.2 Family size
Indeed, large poor households usually have more children involved in child labour than children from smaller households, which demonstrates family size have an effect on child labour. Parents oblige their children to work because they are not able to manage the demands of a large size family. There is also gender differences among household size. Not everyone and of all age in the family are working as child labour, which depends on the child’s age and gender, for example boys are more likely to attended to school than girls. Older siblings often contribute more to the family income (Ahamd, 2012; Boyden J and Myers, 1998). Okpukpara et al., (2006) found that in Nigeria, younger children, where are more likely to go to school than older children, where mostly boys attend schools than girls.
2.2.3 Family condition
A growing number of children who have either lost one or both the parents and those impacted by HIV/ADIS in the family, are forced to work in order to support themselves and their siblings. The numbers of orphaned children are increasing particularly in sub Saharan Africa, many whom become street children, and live in very different circumstances (Vandenberg, 2007).
2.2.4 Traditional or cultural factor
Culture is another factor which is driving children into labour market. Different cultures of many societies make children start work at very young age which are related to traditions and cultural factors. They assumed that children need to learn skills that can be good for their future. According to Tauson (2009) in rural Guatemala; parents prefer their children to work because they consider it beneficial for them as they learn work skills. Obinna E and Osita-Oleribe (2007) assume that many families in Africa want their children to help in contributing towards family income.
2.2.5 Corruption
Corruption is the one of main reason for abusing resources, wherever there is poverty; there is also corruption (Murphy, 2005). According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2012) “Corruption exacerbates poverty and inequality, undermines human development and stability, encourages and sustains conflict, violates human rights, and erodes the democratic functioning of countries.”
Onyemachi (2010) points out that corruption among government officials is another reason that hinders social and economic growth and increases poverty. Corruption can have hugely negative effect on children’s right that deprives basic services such as health care, education and infrastructure. Corruption can diminish children’s ability to escape poverty. For example in many countries employers corrupt labour inspectors to hire underage children such as India, where the incidence of large number of child labourers indicates towards corruption (United Nations Development Programm, 2012).
2.2.6 Civil war
The civil war is another factor contributing to child labour. The war destroys the economy of the country, people become much poor and all resources go to the war. As Doucet noted in a BBC articles on September 25, 2013 that Syrian refugee families who have fled Syria’s civil war send their children to work to earn money for basic necessities of life. These children are are exposed to exploitation. Wars burn all good things that any country could have. It brings diseases, poverty, damages, and many other horrible things. Again, no help will be of use as long as the war is continues.
2.2.7 Urban migration
Many rural families migrate to urban areas because of rural push and urban pull factors. As a consequence of that, they are often forced to live and work in the street as they lack access to basic requirements such as food, shelter etc. and these children become street workers as vendors. Mostly street workers are vulnerable to violence and become more susceptible to illegal works, such as stealing, trafficking drugs and prostitution (Yadav & Sengupta ,2009). These children live in urban poverty, many child labourers live in unhealthy poor conditions slum areas and work in poor environment such as domestic work, or work in hotels and restaurants etc. (Serwadda-Luwaga, 2005)
Many cities in developing countries have experienced rapid urbanization. This means that the population is increasing in cities due to immigration and natural growth. Urban poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon. Urban poverty in developing countries faces many challenges in their daily lives. Many poor people living under great hardship, due to unemployment, housing shortages, violence and unhealthy environments. The problem of poverty can have weaknesses in the economy and lack of equity to the provision of services (Shitole 2005:129). Poverty refers to a function of social, economic and political structures and processes that creates unequal distribution of resources, both within and in the global context between communities(Lister 2004:51). Increased urbanization has resulted in poverty in the cities. Urban poverty raises slums. These areas are characterized by high unemployment, poor sanitation, inadequate access to clean drinking water and inadequate housing. According to Dash (2013) many poor rural areas migrates to Delhi, where migrant families and their children are forced to work for survival and economic opportunities.
2.2.8 Globalization
Globalization is another cause of child labour. Globalization has positive and negative impacts, nevertheless; globalization might give developing countries the opportunity to increase their gross domestic production (GDP) per capita via new trade possibilities and ascend their foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. Globalization also has brought adverse impacts on child labour in developing countries. In recent years, many international companies moved their production abroad. These companies often indulge in hiring children as cheap labours as they are endurable, and carry out commands given by their employers even if they’re abused and exploited (Mapaure, 2009). Mishra(2012) claims that in India, globalization has obliged more children to work in hazardous occupations like brick kiln, motor garage, hotels, shops, transportations, manual loading work etc.
Some studies suggest that higher income and higher standard of living can reduce the potential problem which resulted from the increasing child labour of globalization (Congdon Fors, 2012). Other argues that globalization will increase the opportunity of exploiting cheap labour especially from low income countries. For example countries like Vietnam, Mexico and Thailand have provided evidence that child labour declines due to globalization, but countries like Bolivia and Zambia have showed a decline in schooling and an increase in child labour (Mishra, 2012).
This chapter presents the major methodological aspects of the study on which interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are based.
Using both qualitative and quantitative paradigm the researcher used a descriptive research design in order to obtain information concerning the current status of socio economic status of parents and pupils educational attainment. the distinctive nature of St. Jude being the only UPE School in Malaba town council, prompted the researcher to employ a case study type of descriptive research involving correlation studies concerned with determining the extend to which variations in parents level of education, income and occupation will be associated with variations in pupils educational attainment.
The target population included 1314 pupils, and 13 teachers making a total of 1327. Pupils will be targeted because socioeconomic status is an aggregate concept linked to both childhood and parents’ social positions and the primary years for children are essential for their development and transition to secondary education.
Primary school teachers will be targeted because teachers are change agents for quality teaching and learning. They are the custodians of knowledge for pupils on behalf of parents.
The pupil’s questionnaire will be prepared for all the 92 candidates. The head teacher and one class teachers will be interviewed. The researcher used purposive sampling to select the class because the primary seven levels is the final stage of primary education examined nationally. This sample suited the purpose of the study.
| Population | Sample size | |
| Pupils | 1314 | 92 |
| Teachers | 13 | 2 |
| Total | 1327 | 94 |
Data will be collected using questionnaires, interview schedule, observation and examination of records the researcher designed Questionnaires and delivered them personally to the head teachers who assigned a teacher to administer them to the pupils present.
The questionnaire will be administered to pupils by a teacher. A semi-structured questionnaire will be constructed by the researcher showing categories in terms of education level of parents, their occupation, and income. The questionnaire also sought information about drop out of pupils, performance, and attendance patterns. (See Appendix B)
Unstructured interviews will be conducted with a view to investigating whether there will be any consistent differences in background and behavior between high and low scorers (attainment).
The researcher personally talked to head teachers and teachers and discussed with them while recording their responses. While re-organizing the report later, clarification will be sought on phone. According to Borg and Gall (1979), as quoted in J.C.S Musaazi, (2006), in the unstructured interviews: “… the interviewer does not employ a detailed interview guide but has a general plan and usually asks questions or makes comments indented to lead the respondent toward giving data to meet the interviewer’s objectives. The items for head teachers included questions about parents’ ability to meet costs associated school and sources of financial assistance. Other items will be language of instruction in the school, drop out numbers, and general information about the school.
Another instrument used will be use of records. The schools kept a variety of records, for example, student records. The students’ score in mock examinations will be especially sought. The records also provided information about pupil’s enrolment, absenteeism and dropout. The major consideration when gathering these information will be knowing what one is looking for and that it is available, and being careful not to breach invasion of privacy.
The researcher chose this tool because it gave him first hand information that he used to complement other methods.
This technique will be used to collect information on whether pupils and teachers will be in possession of necessary school requirement, for example does the school have enough teaching materials for all teachers? If no, which important teaching materials does the school lack? Chalk, rulers, computers, Do all pupils put on school uniform? What teaching methods is he/she used, Are pupils attentive to the teacher, Do teachers cane or scold at pupils in the class?
3.5 Validity and reliability of the instruments.
To establish the validity of the questionnaire, the researcher pre-tested the instruments with a small group of respondents during school holidays. Later using SPSS, the reliability of the questionnaire will be determined by Cronbach’s alpha (http://www.ats.ucla.edu) to be 0.907.
After coding and cleaning data, both qualitative and quantitative techniques will be used for data management and analysis.
Qualitatively data will be analyzed on the basis of themes so as to obtain emerging patterns and trends from observations, questionnaires and interview data together with data from documentary analysis. Clustered Column, bar, pie and scatter charts will be used to describe data.
Clustered column charts compare values across categories. A clustered column chart displays values in 2-D vertical rectangles. One can use a clustered column chart type when one has categories that represent: Ranges of values (for example, item counts) and Names that are not in any specific order (for example, item names, geographic names, or the names of people).
The Pearson’s correlation coefficient will be applied an expert in SPSS to analyze frequencies measured in the study. The equation for the correlation coefficient is:
Where x and y are the sample means AVERAGE (array1) and AVERAGE (array2).
Before data collection, the research proposal will be submitted to the head of research, institute of distance learning and continuing students of Kampala International University, for an approval and independent evaluation of issues researchers consider to be rights and safety of the participants.
The researcher then approached the head teachers within Malaba town council in Tororo district, introduced himself as a student of Kampala International University using the University Identity card that works within Malaba town and requested for information from the school. To make the goal and objectives of the research clear to those who chose to participate, the researcher openly assured the head teachers that the research is purely academic. The pupils will be also assured of confidentiality of the information they would provide. This will be intended to optimize the quality of responses and to ensure as much as possible that the participants are treated respectfully.
1.8 Anticipated Limitations of the Study
The researcher might face a challenge of limited cooperation from the respondents. This may be due to their own reasons among themselves being that they have limited time and interest in providing the information required. However, the researcher will strive to explain to them the importance of the study as academic so as to get their cooperation.
Also the researcher may face a challenge of some respondents who are not literate. This will be overcome by translating to them the meaning of the questions in the language that they understand.
The research may face limited time to carry out research and other classroom work. However, the researcher will draw a work plan which will be strictly followed.
The Researcher may be limited by financial resources such as the transport costs and stationery to carry out her research effectively. In an effort to mitigate this shortcoming, the researcher will source for funds from a few relatives.
