Articles

The purpose of this study was to examine the categories of child labour children engage in and their influence on their academic work in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region of Ghana. Purposive sampling was used to select 12 JHS teachers whilst the simple random technique was used in the selection of 120 pupils giving a sample size of 132. A questionnaire instrument was used to gather data from the respondents. Descriptive and influential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results indicate that two major categories of pupils; namely, direct offspring and house help offer services to different categories of people in the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis to earn income. The pupils’ active involvement in child labour activities adversely affected their academic work in the school. Pupils lost interest in attending school and their grades were also poor. It is recommended that The Guidance and Counselling Unit of Ghana Education Service and the National Commission on Civic Education should educate parents on the negative impact of child labour on pupils’ academic work so that parents will not push their children into child labour. It is also recommended that the government, non-governmental organisations, religious organisations, district assemblies and individual philanthropists should support the victims of child labour to reduce the negative impact child labour has on the pupils’ academic work and their social life.