Hello,
I am Ida Midley, writing from Ghana. I am contributing to your project, and this is my first entry.
Child labour may be defined as the engagement of children under fifteen years in income generating activities other than the usual light domestic and agricultural work within the household of their parents. With child labour, the work performed by the child is considered excessive, detrimental to the development of the child and hinders proper preparation for adult roles and responsibilities.
In Ghana, child labour is found in both rural and urban areas. Some of the issues which teenagers face are that:
1. They are being used by their parents to generate income for the
family due to the present economic situation of many families in Ghana.
2. The rate of divorce in the country causes broken homes and the
teenager may be living with the mother who may not be able to take
care properly of him, therefore forcing him to take some
income-generating activites outside the home.
3. Due to wars and armed conflicts in Africa most children who lost
their parents have to fend for themselves by engaging in all sorts of
menial jobs for survival.
4. Some parents renege their responsibilties towards their children
and thereby expose them to all manner of risks, leave them vulnerable
and at the mercy of their peers who influence them to leave their
homes for outside jobs.
5. Death of both parents at times leads to children being rejected by
relatives to find it inconvenient and financially burdensome living
with orphaned children of their relatives.
6. These teenagers are at times bought by some individuals from the
rural areas with the promise that they will find better future in the
cities, only to exploit them.
SOLUTIONS
1. In Ghana now, a comprehensive Children's Bill to protect the right
s of children was approved by parliament in 1997. This bill provides
for the maintenance of children and protection against child labour.
2. Children are protected from excessive work and exploitation by a
labour decree which prohibits a minor from entering into a contrct for employment as a worker.
3. It is not easy to enforce this law in the home or informal sector because some children take a job to help their parents sponsor them in school or pay their own way through school.
Ida Midley
ARMED FORCES SECONDARY/TECHNICAL SCHOOL
P. O. BOX KS 12863
KUMASI
GHANA