“Push” and “Pull” Factors Influencing Junior High School Students Engagement in Child Labour in Fishing Communities in Ghana

Abstract

The literature has multiple reasons for child labour. Poverty, war, HIV/AIDS are amongst the most cited causes. In impoverished fishing communities, decisions by students to engage in labour might be different from the usual causes. This paper therefore, aims at understanding the factors that trigger off Junior High School (JHS) students’ decision to engage in child labour and bring out counselling implications. Using the causal network analytic approach of the qualitative methodology designed by Miles & Huberman (1994), data were gathered through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 20 participants comprising students, parents and teachers.  This is part of a lager research project on socio-cultural context of child labour from two JHSs in fishing communities in the Cape Coast Metropolis in the Central Region of Ghana. The results show that “Push” factors include socio-cultural values regarding work and education, family history of child labour, and desire for formal education. “Pull” factors include peer pressure and materialism. Single-parent condition however, is a “push- pull” factor. The study concludes that school children are pushed as well as pulled into work at an early age and that parents value education but are impoverished. Guidance coordinators in schools are entreated to engage in community/family counselling, to enlighten parents on the need to promoting the total well-being of their children by protecting and providing for their basic needs as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Ghana is a signatory.

Key words: child labour, pull, push, counselling, socio-cultural values.