THE INFLUENCE OF CHILD LABOUR ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN AWKA NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ANAMBRA STATE

ABSTRACT The study investigated the influence of child labour on the academic performance of secondary school students in AwkaNorth Local Government Area of Anambra State. The study adopted descriptive survey research design; three research questions guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 1,380 students in the 8 public secondary schools in Awka North LGA of Anambra state. The simple random sampling technique was used to select 50 respondents in 8 public secondary schools from the 8 schools. The instrument for data collection was a 20-item structured questionnaire titled “Influence of Child Labour on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students Questionnaire (ICLAPSSSQ)”. The Cronbach alpha statistics was used to ascertain the internal consistency of the developed instrument. Data collected in the study were analyzed using weighted mean. The findings of this study revealed that; students who are engaged in child labour are clumsy in class activities, fail their test/assignments, hardly get teachers’ questions right, in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State. The study recommended among other things that; Government should create a task force to curb those involved in child labour and the parents or guardians of such children should be prosecuted. Children exposed to labour activities should be given equal right to attend school regardless of any engagement whether at home or elsewhere.