Impact of Child Labour on School Attendance Among Junior Secondary School Students in Jalingo, Taraba State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to examine the Impact of Child Labour on School Attendance of Junior Secondary School Students in Jalingo Education Zone, Taraba State, Nigeria. Three specific objectives with corresponding research questions were raised and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population for the study comprised of four thousand two hundred and seventy- two (4, 272) Junior Secondary School Students drawn from forty-eight (48) schools. Using multistage sampling procedure with appropriate techniques, a total sample of four hundred (400) students in nine (9) Junior Secondary School were sampled for the study. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, descriptive survey research design was used. The instrument for data collection in this study was the researcher-designed instrument called Child Labour on School Attendance Questionnaire (CLOSAQ). The CLOSAQ consisted of 21 – items, which were bordering on variables such as, incidence of child hawking,  incidence if excessive childhouseholdshoresand  strategies on how to checkmate childlabourmenaceofbasic education students in Jalingo Education Zone, Taraba State. The Cronbach Alpha Correlation Co-efficient reliability of the instrument was 0.95. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer all the research questions while chi-square statistic was used in testing all the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a statistically significant impact ofchildlaboursuchaschildhawking,and excessivechildhouseholdshoresonschool attendanceofJuniorSecondarySchoolStudentsinJalingoEducationZone,TarabaState. Recommendations were made to the Taraba State government on proper sensitization exercise to educate parents and populace on the danger and effects of child labour as it affects not just their school attendance and academic activities but also their mental, moral, emotional and physical wellbeing.

Keywords: Impact, Child Labour, Students and School Attendance.