There were a number of reasons for continuing the completion of the thesis and completing the examination procedures. There were several times Nomali considered dropping out of the program due to the workload of the study.
1 Pie chart of student activities in a township in 24 hours 10 2 Incidence estimates for South Africa and Namibia 11 3 Poverty among population groups in South Africa 23. 5 Repetition rates in primary schools in selected African countries 31 6 Student-teacher ratio at the primary education level of selected African countries 32.
THE ECONOMIC ROLE OF CHILDREN IN SOUTH AFRICA
- INTRODUCTION
- RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
- CHILD LABOUR AND CHILD WORK
- CHILDREN IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR
- THE IMPACT OF CHILD WORK ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
- BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY: THE CONTEXT
- History of Kwa Mashu
- The Demographics and Socio-Economic Profile of Kwa Mashu
- S.3 The School: The Study Site
- THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY
The above discussion shows that students are deeply involved as child labor in the informal sector of the economy. Many similar stories of children in the informal sector of the economy are told in South Africa (Griesel, Swart-Kruger & Chawla, 2002; Krige, 1985b).
CHILD WORKERS AND SCHOOLING
INTRODUCTION
- Unemployment
- Demography of Working Children
- Gender and Culture
- Educoltional Systems
It is the educational levels and access to services that give an image of the overall degree of development in a country. In former model C-school3, teachers were in the classroom 100% of the time of the school day.
TYPES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND REMUNERATION OFCRILDREN
- Domestic Work
- Non-Domestic Work
- Marginal Economic Activities
- Family Enterprises
- Working Children and their Earnings
About 40,000 children are believed to be involved in prostitution in South Africa (Richter, Dawes & Higson-Smith, 2004). In Cairo, working children are sometimes paid one-sixth of the normal wage (Daily News, 2001).
THE IMPACT OF CHILD WORK ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
While one study (Addison, Bhalotra, Coulter & Heady, 1997) claimed that schooling in Ghana is adversely affected when a child works more than 10 hours per week, a study (Steinberg, Fedley & Dornbush, 1993) in the USA found that academic performance of children between 12 and 17 years of age is negatively affected by 15 hours of work per week. Parental involvement in school contributes to better school performance for working children (Rogers & Standing, 1981).
CONCLUSION
PERSPECTIVES ON CHILD WORK
INTRODUCTION
- The Concept of the Child
- Street Children
- The Informal Sector
- The Nature and Magnitude of Child Work
The meaning of the term 'child' is crucial to an understanding of the nature and scope of children's work. As with the definition of the term 'child', there are also other definitional problems with the concept of 'child labor'.
SELECTED MEASUREMENT ISSUES
This is true because official statistics on economically active parts of the population often exclude young people who work part-time or in the informal sector. We must not forget that learning at school is highly dependent on the quality of the school. A paradox arises from the shortage of skilled professionals and the increase in the number of skilled unemployed (Dejene, 1980).
According to Bock (1983), formal education cannot contribute to the upward mobility of the poor.
THE SUPPLY AND DEMAND FOR CHILD WORK
- The Supply Side
- The Demand Side
In the United States, a majority of children by age 14 to 15 have experienced some type of paid work (Lavallette & . Pratt, 2005). The developmental model emphasizes that work, especially in the "right" kinds of jobs, can have positive effects on academic achievement. The literature review in the previous chapter indicates that there is a link between large families and child labour.
The dismantling of subsistence economies and the advent of export-oriented plantation agriculture led to an increase in the urban population.
CHILD WORK GENDERED
Certain tasks are technically suitable for children and very profitable from the employer's point of view as suggested by the case of "small hands" in the tobacco and match industries in the Indian subcontinent (Mizen, 2001). In rural African areas, the girl child's ability to claim her right to education is very limited. These include a polygamous family system, which gives a male member some degree of power as the head of the family over many wives.
It is not part of the labor market in terms of the accepted economic system.
THE WELFARE ECONOMICS OF CHILD WORK
For many years, the ILO has had a child labor convention that sets a minimum age of 15 for full-time employment. Any child labor practices that were detrimental to the child's health, morals, safety and well-being were supposed to be eradicated (under WBDV). One of the reasons for this conceptual opposition to child labor is the failure to distinguish between child labor and child labor.
Legislation is likely to be effective only where it is significantly difficult to conceal the use of children in the labor market and where there are relatively few benefits to child labour.
POLICY INTERVENTION
In Peru, schooling is offered in three shifts: morning, afternoon and evening. Although in theory children are prohibited from attending evening school, in practice many of them do so. Implementation problems are particularly severe in the informal sector, away from cities and in agriculture, domestic services and home work.
There are two approaches to the study of child labor in the informal sector, namely the libertarian approach and the protectionist approach.
INTRODUCTION
THE CASE STUDY
It is in this context that this case study attempts to thoroughly examine an individual or unit. The critical questions of this study examine the reasons for learners' involvement in the informal sector and highlight important features of a case study. It seeks to understand the whole child or the whole adult in the context of the individual's environment.
Opportunities for insight into a case study are also opportunities for subjectivity or even prejudice (Bogdan and Biklen, 1992).
LIFE HISTORIES
- Life History and Truth
- Life History as a Process
The use of life history approach enables access to the identities of the research subjects. But from the 1940s until today, the life history approach has been somewhat unfashionable. The analysis of the social, historical, political and economic context of a life history by the researcher is what turns a life story into a life history (Hatch & . Wisnieski, 1995).
Life history differs from other forms of narrative because of its connection to social circumstances (Hatch & Wisnieski, 1995).
CONDUCTING THIS STUDY .1 Access and Permission
I inquired with the department manager to request permission from the department as we are constantly reminded that teachers are not allowed to leave the school and go to the regional office in the city. I decided to write a letter to the superintendent and ask the director to pass it on to him on my behalf. The principal gave me permission to go to the district office because she was also tired of asking about the letter.
I had to explain the content of the letter and what was expected from the Ministry of Education.
PARTICIPANTS
I was told that the director represents the Department and therefore it is his/her duty to grant permission. The problem was that the letter I wrote disappeared and they were still looking for it. Some of the students working on this study will face their external exams next year.
These are senior year students with many years of involvement in economic activities, which makes them ideal candidates for study.
RESEARCH METHODS
- The Survey
- The Questionnaire
- Producing the Life Histories
Focus groups reduce the distance of the researcher's control over the interview process (due to its unstructured nature). The unstructured nature of focus group discussions also reduces the researcher's control over the interview process. Fortunately, most of the participants were happy to tell me their stories.
The influence of the interviewer on the production of the interview narrative cannot be ignored.
VALIDITY
SUMMARY OF RESEARCH DESIGN
There are many paths from the field to the text, many ways of entering and attributing experience. This chapter consists of the presentation and interpretation of the information collected through the questionnaire, letters and individual interviews. In order to get a broad understanding of the context of the inclusion of learners in the informal sector, it is necessary to establish a profile of such learners.
The third part examines the reasons for learner involvement in the information sector of the economy.
WORKING BACKGROUND
- Learners' Characteristics
- Parental Level of Education
- TYPE OF ACTIVITIES LEARNERS ARE INVOLVED IN
- Skilled Learners
- REASONS FOR WORKING
- Extra Pocket Money
- WORKING: WHEN AND FOR WHOM?
- CONCLUSION
Employed students are from large families of up to 21 people living together in the same house. Most working students are involved in sales activities in the informal sector of the economy. He is employed occasionally, whenever there is a need to guard houses in the municipality.
The type of activities in which learners are involved indicates that most of them work in the informal sector of the economy.
VOICES OF THE INVlSmLE
INTRODUCTION
STORIES OF WORKING LEARNERS' LIVES
- Analysis of Mandlakhe's Story
My older brother works in Johannesburg and my other younger brother disappeared in the year 2000. I had to wake up early and tie the cattle in the field before going to school. Mandlakhe considered poverty and polygamy as the causes of his involvement in the informal sector of the economy.
In Mandlakhe's case, his father is very poor and his children have to work for other families in the community.
Sipfio: J{'uUfen <But :Not POTgotten
- Analysis of Sipho's Story
He was born after the death of his mother's husband and was given to another family to be raised. It was when he was in high school that he first recognized that he was nothing more than an ordinary worker. His frustration was further compounded by the fact that he realized for the first time that he was a slave working for nothing.
He thought he was bewitched for working for the same family for so long.
HIe: Who are my Relatives?
- Analysis of HIe's Story
It was terrifying to be close to him even to meet him on the street. It was very difficult and painful to stay with someone I knew did such a horrible thing to me. My brother went to live with my mother's family and I was all alone. It was during this very crucial period that I was ordered out of the house.
They were not happy when I told them that I was going to my mother in Durban.
Thando: Days are Always Dark for Me
- Analysis of Thobile's Story
- Economic Activities
At that time my mother worked in the sugar cane fields and earned R3 a day. She did not get any food and had to depend on her neighbors for it. At home she was responsible for her brothers and sisters, while her mother worked and stayed at the sugar cane complex.
When my mother heard all this, she confronted us and promised that she would not be involved.
CONCLUSION
LEARNING FROM WORKING LEARNERS
WORK AND WAGES ARE GENDERED
This is consistent with research among pastoralists in the Sahel (World Bank, 1994c), where there is a division of labor between men and women. In such a study, girls milk, cook, spin and care for the younger children, while boys care for the animals. They show how children, especially boys, actively seek better work opportunities, change occupations depending on what is available and make good use of networks (UNICEF, 1999).
This is also the case in this study as girls are still in housework even in their adolescent stage while boys have changed jobs.
I Girls' Work Activities
- Exploitation and Abuse of Boys
In this study, it emerged that some girls are still involved in the job even after they have long passed this age (see story 4). In an interview with one of the pre-school teachers in the area, she suggested that such girls bring most of the children to her school. This is normal in school, as it also applies to the outsiders who sell to students during recess.
Also, if the victim has no knowledge of the perpetrator(s), she is likely to generalize about men (McCahill, Meyer & Fischman, 1979).
