Household poverty and child labour in Kyela District Tanzania

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Date

2006

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Sokoine University of Agriculture

Abstract

This study was done in six rural villages of Matema and Ipinda wards, Ntebela division of Kyela District, Tanzania to study the causes of child labour in rural areas of the district and the factors which perpetuate the problem. The study design was cross-sectional whereby 120 children and 36 households were purposely sampled in equal numbers from each village, and data were collected using structured questionnaire, check list of questions and focus group discussions. Children of the age 5 to 14 years were studied. Computer software of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was employed to code, enter and analyse the data. The study found that the factors influencing child labour in the area are household poverty indicated mainly by low household income as the main cause; many economic activities per household leading to bad/wrong time of working, long duration in hours of work per day and improper socialisation of children; adults and children migration in search of employment; marriage instability and breakage; children orphanage; children personal needs; allurement of children by casual daily or seasonal wage employers; low education level of the household head and lastly children not being interested in schooling. The null hypothesis was adopted since the chi-square test (single tailed test) show that p=0.0755 (p>0.05) at 5% significance level. In conclusion the study has dwelt on and revealed that many agricultural and non-agricultural household activities which are done to reduce poverty in the rural villages have side effects on the high participation of the children of the same households as child labourers. Therefore it is mainly recommended that the government should help people in rural areas to reduce household poverty and in turn the households will reduce and eliminate child labour.

Description

The Degree of Master of Arts in Rural Development

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