A Situational Analysis of the Conditions of Street Children in Tamale Metropolis in Northern Region of Ghana

Abstract

This paper examined the conditions and the reasons why children operate on the streets of Tamale Metropolis. It uses focus group discussion and observation to find out the problems facing the street children, the nature of their work and what they perceive to be the solution to their plight. Rooted in streetism is the problem of poverty as it was noted or expressed by respondents. Through literature review the paper discusses meaning, causes and effects of poverty and comes out with strategies for reducing poverty. The study noted that the children were on the street because the parents were poor and could not take care of them. The children also expressed readiness to leave the street if they could be assisted to learn a trade. It was noted that working on the street was risky, unpleasant and without hope of building one’s career.The study recommends that students in basic schools should be well trained in both theoretical knowledge and practical skills and be well equipped with employable skills so as to make them useful outside the classroom. Again, instead of dropping students along the educational ladder for not meeting entry requirements to higher institutions and thereby regarding them as failures, they should rather be given apprenticeship training to prepare them for the job market especially in the informal sector.

Keywords: streetism,  education, apprenticeship, poverty