Child Work and Schooling in Butajira and its Vicinity: Beliefs And Practices

Although some studies show that work keeps young people away from school, others suggest that income from work covers school expenses and makes schooling possible. The major purpose of this study was to examine child work and schooling in the Ethiopian context. The study focused on factors that push children to enter the world of work early in their lives, working children’s school profiles and effectiveness of the combination of work and schooling. We gathered data using questionnaire, interview, and focus group discussion from a sample of 103 child workers, 24 parents and 8 key informants. Results from both quantitative and qualitative data revealed that although poverty is the major factor that pushes children to enter the world of work early in their lives, family size and existing child rearing practices of the community also play significant roles. While one-half of the child workers were not attending school at the time of data collection, the combination of work and schooling was unfortunately not effective. Besides, relative to their male counterparts, female child workers were more likely to have no schooling.