FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH STREET HAWKING AMONG CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE

This study was aimed at investigating the factors associated with street hawking among children of school age in Enugu North Local Government of Enugu State. To guide the study, four research questions were formulated. The design adopted for this study was survey design. The population of the study consists of 779 teachers. This includes 690 female teachers and 89 male teachers in the 9 government secondary school in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu state (PPSMB 2017).Out of the nine schools, six schools were sampled using simple random sampling. Proportionate sampling technique was used in selecting the final respondents from each stratum numbering two hundred and sixty four (264) teachers. The research instrument was questionnaire designed by the researcher and validated by experts. The reliability of the instrument was established using Spearman’s Rank Order method correlation. The reliability coefficient was 0.87. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study from the teachers’ perception revealed that: high cost of living is one of the factors associated with street hawking among children; large family size is one of the factors associated with street hawking among children; poverty is one of the factors associated with street hawking among children; Ignorance is one of the factors associated with street hawking among children. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others that government should create more job opportunities so that parents would be employed to enable then cater for family needs .Education should be free at all levels so that the less privileged children would have the opportunity to be educated.