Child labor and schooling in Ghana (original) (raw)

The Determinants of Child Labour and Child Schooling in Ghana

Journal of African Economics, 2002

This paper investigates the main determinants of child labour and child schooling in Ghana, with special reference to the interaction between the child labour and adult labour markets. This paper proposes a test of the link between household poverty and child labour hours, and provides Ghanian evidence. The quality of schooling in the neighbourhood is found to have a strong impact on child labour hours. The results show that the impact of adult male wages on child labour hours is quite different from that of adult female wages. The Ghanian data confirms the positive role that adult education can play in improving child welfare.

Short and long-term impacts of economic policies on child labor and schooling in Ghana

2002

While the issue of child labor in developing countries has received increased attention in recent years, most of the empirical analysis has been based on one-time cross sectional samples. While this may give an idea of the incidence and determinants of child labor at one point in time, it is silent about the dynamics of child labor over time and sometimes may even be influencing policy choices against child labor adversely. This paper attempts to fill this void, analyzing the dynamics of child labor and schooling in Ghana, aiming at investigating the impact of broad economic reforms on child labor and schooling in the short, medium and long run. Starting from a premise that the simple -direct -relationship between poverty and child labor, which has often been seen as the feature of child labor, may not adequately capture the multi facetted nature of child labor, we find evidence of asymmetries in the child labor-poverty link, as well as quite complex dynamics in the evolution of child labor and schooling and their determinants over time. Most notably, child labor is found to be responsive to poverty in the short run, but not in the long run, while child schooling is unaffected by poverty in short run but responds in the mediumto long run. These results suggest that child labor acts as an economic buffer of the household in the short run, regardless of changes in the economic environment or perceptions of the latter following economic reforms, thus supportingand refining -the poverty explanation of child labor.

Concepts, Causes and Institutional Response to Child Labour in Ghana: A Socio- Economic Review

Journal of Economic Research & Reviews, 2021

This paper is written by authors to primarily look at 'concepts, causes and institutional response to child labour in Ghana'. Methodologically, this paper adopted a desktop review approach which relied its sources of information mainly from secondary data and related literatures on the subject. The paper revealed that, some of the challenges of child labour are frequent illness, attempts of rape, financial difficulty and many others. It is therefore concluded that, stakeholders should continue their participation in eradicating child labour and their support, increasing enrollment and classroom attendance participation. It was in agreement that the media and other concern bodies like the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and traditional rulers should increase campaign and education against child labour and intensified publicity of the criminal nature of child labour. It is strongly recommended that single parents in local communities especially women should be empowered to financially and vocationally through free vocational and financial management training to provide enough avenues for single parent (women) to cater for their children's education. Government and stakeholders should implement policies aimed at promoting classroom enrollment, classroom attendance and classroom participation. If these recommendations given are feasibly implemented, searching for every day in African and Ghanaian childhoods would be reduced if not curbed. www.opastonline.com

Child labor and schooling in Africa: A comparative study

World Bank Social …, 1999

This paper analyzes the determinants of child labor in Africa as inferred from recent empirical studies. The empirical analysis is based upon five country studies undertaken in three different African countries, namely C6te d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Zambia. Some support is found for the popular belief of poverty as a determinant of child labor, however other determinants are of similar importance. Among school costs, transportation costs have the greatest effect on child labor and school attendance, whereas the hypothesis of imperfect capital markets and that of household composition generally find some support.

Revisiting the Link between Poverty and Child Labor: The Ghanaian Experience

1999

The link between poverty and child labor has traditionally been regarded a well established fact. Recent research, however, has questioned the validity of this link, claiming that poverty is not a main determinant of child labor. Starting from a premise that child labor is not necessarily harmful, we analyze the determinants of harmful child labor, viewed as child labor that directly conflicts with the human capital accumulation of the child in an attempt to identify the most vulnerable groups, thus possibly enabling appropriate actions to be taken by policy makers. We reinstate the positive relationship between poverty and child labor, a conjecture that has been questioned by recent literature. Further, we find evidence of a gender gap in child labor linked to poverty, since girls as a group as well as across urban, rural and poverty sub-samples consistently are found to be more likely to engage in harmful child labor than boys. The established gender gap need not necessarily imply discrimination but rather reflect cultural norms. A further exploration of this issue seems to be a potentially fruitful avenue for further research. The last main finding is that there exist structural differences in the processes underlying harmful child labor in Ghana across gender, across rural/urban location as well as across poverty quintiles of households. † We are grateful to Rosemary Bellew for invaluable support and for helpful comments and suggestions. Remaining errors and omissions are ours. The views expressed here are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank or any of its member countries.

Contribution of Child Labour to Children’s Schooling in and Around the University of Cape Coast

Child labour has become a global phenomenon especially in developing countries. Most discussants of the topic focus on rural Ghana where agriculture dominates economic activity with little or no attention given to the presence of child labour in educational institutions. This study set out to find out the contribution of child labour to the schooling of children in and around University of Cape Coast community. Structured interview and observation were used to collect data from respondents who were obtained through the snowball method. In all, fifty (50) respondents were involved in the study. It also found that, economic constrains, poverty and occupational background of parents compel children to get themselves involved in child labour mainly in the form of providing domestic services for students. The data shows that child labour has both positively and negatively contribution to the education of children in the study area. Positively, it enables some of the children to buy schoo...

Child Labor in Africa: A Comparative Study

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2001

This paper analyzes the determinants of child labor in Africa as inferred from recent empirical studies. The empirical analysis is based upon five country studies undertaken in three different African countries, namely Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Zambia. Some support is found for the popular belief of poverty as a determinant of child labor, however other determinants are of similar importance. Among school costs, transportation costs have the greatest effect on child labor and school attendance, whereas the hypothesis of imperfect capital markets and that of household composition generally find some support.

Child labour and schooling in developing countries: a review of the literature

This paper shows that there is a trade-off between child labour and schooling. The costs (both direct and indirect cost) and benefits from education are considered by parents in making schooling and child labour decisions. Evidence seems to support the view that although some work can help children to acquire human capital (in the form of on-the-job training, and the money earned from child labour makes school possible for children themselves), in general, child labour lowers the acquisition of education and human capital. Moreover, the adverse effect of child labour on schooling outcomes is likely to be increased if a child spends more time on labour activities outside the home. Easy and improved access to the credit market can significantly increase school attendance and reduce child labour. Income transfer programmes, targeting the households living below poverty line, can help to stimulate demand for education by reducing the cost of education. The introduction of compulsory schooling in a given period and retributive taxation from adults to elderly people in the following period could be an effective strategy to eradicate child labour. Therefore, it has been found that an increase in the supply of education is not enough to ensure school enrolment; the demand side of education should also be targeted.