EFFECTS OF CHILD LABOUR ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CHILDREN IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AWKA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

Child labour is a contentious issue in our society. This is because it has far reaching consequences to the child, the family and the society. Governments and non-governmental organizations had made efforts to stop the incidence of child labour in the society, but these efforts have not yielded much result. This study examined the impact of child labour on academic performance of children in secondary schools, using selected secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State as the study area. Five out of the thirteen state-owned secondary schools were randomly selected for the study. A total of 300 respondents were drawn from these selected schools. Key informant interview (KII) was used to elicit information from the principals of these schools. Data collected was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Findings showed that street hawking is the most common type of child labour and that it has negative consequences on the academic performance of the child. Based on the findings, the study recommends that government should abolish all forms and categories of street hawking.