Child labour and its impact on children's access to and participation in primary education: A case study from Tanzania

Abstract

The project was developed as a collaborative partnership, carried out by a team of colleagues from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK. The first, central, goal of the investigation was to provide a preliminary, empirical database upon which to consider the impact of work on the access, and participation, of children in formal primary education and to consider the consequences of this in terms of policy suggestions and further research.

A second goal was to strengthen collaboration between the two institutions and broaden their respective research experience and capacities.

Specific aims of the project were:
1) To gain an understanding of the extent to which household demand for child labour determines children's access to, and participation in, primary schooling.
2) To determine how the household division of labour, based on the structure of the family kin system, affects girls' and boys' access to, and participation in, primary schooling.
3) To identify the nature and extent of child labour in a number of representative geographical areas under the different categories of: a) household chores; b) indirect contributions to household earnings through unpaid assistance to household members; c) directly through waged employment or petty trading; and d) other compulsory labour of the worst form (Article 3 of Convention 182, International Labour Organization 1999).
4) To identify the relative importance of such variables as household location (urban/rural) and household background characteristics (education, health, hygiene/sanitation, material conditions and other economic characteristics) in explaining household demand for, and children's involvement in, labour.
5) To determine the relative importance of community, household and school inputs, as well as the role of contextual factors (political will/environment, local and national government policies), cultural conditions (macro, meso and micro economic conditions) in determining girls' and boys' access to, and participation in, primary schooling.

Citation

Educational Paper No. 48, DFID, London, UK, ISBN 1 86192 536 0, 90 pp.

Child labour and its impact on children’s access to and participation in primary education: A case study from Tanzania

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2003