Influence of child labour on children’s attendance and discipline in primary schools in Kampala District

Abstract

The study was carried out after evidence of increased child labour in different parts of Uganda. The influence of such child labour activities on children’s attendance and discipline in primary schools had not yet been established. The study was set with a purpose of establishing the forms of child labour and their effects on primary school children in the areas of attendance, and discipline. The study was modeled on three guiding objectives and these were: to identify forms of child labour in Kampala District; to establish out how child labour affects primary school children’s attendance; to find out how child labour affects children’s discipline in primary schools. A sample of 460 respondents was randomly selected from 10 different primary schools in Kampala District. The composition of the sample was 10 head teachers, 50 teachers and 400 children. The information from these respondents was collected using questionnaires, Focus Group Discussion Guide and Document analysis. The data was compiled and analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative research designs. The qualitative design was used to analyze data that was obtained from open-ended questions within the questionnaires, Focus Group Discussion and document (Pupils’ class registers and PAR Forms) through careful examination and critical assessment of each response, using interpretive means and the semantic approach, and then developed into themes which were used to complement the quantitative data. Quantitative design was used to analyze data that was obtained from close-ended questions within the questionnaires by putting them into frequencies and then transformed into tables with numerical values Percentages and descriptively.