Factors that contribute to the prevalence of child labour in Uganda, a case study of Mayuge district Busoga sub-region
Abstract
The problem of child labour has lingered on in many countries because of the complex combination of social, cultural and economic factors involved. Parents play a critical role in child labour as it provides much needed extra income for the family. The purpose of this study was to determine factors that contribute to the prevalence of child labour in Busoga sub-region in eastern Uganda. The objective of the study was to establish whether access to education, orphan hood status, employment status of parent(s), and education status of parent, family size and gender are associated with prevalence of child labour in Uganda, a case study of Mayuge district Busoga sub-region. . The methodology for the study was descriptive cross-sectional research design to determine the factors contributing to prevalence of child labour among children aged between (5-12) years in Mayuge district. The study adopted Cochran’s formula to come up with a sample size of 100 and simple random sampling technique was applied in selecting the respondents who were included in the sample. Data was collected with the use of self-administered structured questionnaires and data was analysed using STATA version 15.0. Quantitative data and findings were presented using tables and percentages. The findings revealed that; access to education, orphan hood status, employment status of parent(s), education status of parent(s), family size contribute to prevalence of child labour and on the other hand gender does not. The research findings also indicated that significantly access to education contribute to children’s involvement in labour work with the P-Value (0.000), orphan hood status contribute to children’s involvement in labour work with the P-Value (0.043), employment status of parent(s) contribute to children’s involvement in labour work with the P-Value (0.014), education status of parent(s) contribute to children’s involvement in labour work with the P-Value (0.031,0.009,0.001) among the levels, family size contribute to children’s involvement in labour work with the P-Value (0.008), However according to this study gender of a child doesn’t significantly contribute to children’s involvement in labour work with P-Value (0.602). The study concluded that control of child labour should be a multi-sectoral approach involving poverty alleviation, family planning to reduce family size and free, compulsory education up to junior secondary level, female education and public enlightenment, especially targeted at mothers are possible components of an intervention package to address the problem. The study recommended that those further studies be undertaken on more factors contributing to the prevalence of child labour, particularly on effectiveness of government programs, policies and laws in Uganda.