The document discusses two case studies of children in Central Kenya who work during the school term to support themselves and their families. It finds that some children are able to balance work and schooling with flexible schedules and understanding from employers and teachers. However, long work hours and tiring schedules also pose challenges to compatibility between work and education.

1. Compatibility of Work and
School: Informal School
Work Arrangements in
Central Kenya
Gladwell N. Wambiri
Kenyatta University,
Kenya
Presentation at East African Regional Symposium on Child Work/Child Labour, 20-21 March
2014

2. Introduction
• Childhood seen as a time of growing up and of
being nurtured and protected.
• View considers employing children as workers as
detrimental to their education and general
development.
• Most local and international instruments relating to
child labour silently based on this view (Liebel
2004).
• Labour regulations prohibiting child labour
ratified in many countries, making it illegal for
them to work, especially work that prevents
them from attending school.
• NGOs and governments have emphasised ways
of stopping children from work.

3. Introduction (cntd)
• Criticism: Work keeps children away from school.
• Studies have reported negative correlations between work
and school ttendance/ (e.g. Hagemann and Allais (2008).
Long hours of work have also been associated with low
performance (Edmonds 2005:3641).
• Work, indeed, could keep children away from school.
However many factors influence school attendance and
performance in school.
• Failure to control for these confounding variables.
• This paper suggests that a complex interaction of other
relevant variables, that are specific to the realities of
individual children, determine this relationship.
• In some cases, work could even be the catalyst that makes
schooling possible.

4. Introduction (cntd)
• Perspective: Children’s circumstances around the world, or even in one locale,
are not and can never be universal:Any measure contemplated or taken for the
good of a child must consider the child’s circumstances.
 Efforts to eradicate child labour built on the mistaken notion that child work is
undesirable and that it is not compatible with schooling.
In a typical context in Kenya
 The GOK has made a lot of efforts to increase enrolment of children in school:
FPE in 2003.
 Enrolment in lower primary classes e.g. in Kiambu County: 2003 and
2011(Muthara, 2012)
 Government directive & Corporate farms commitment not to employ children
below 18 years
 Individual families understand the formula by which they feed and clothe their
members: Blocking so-called ‘school unfriendly work’, means blocking means of
survival.
 In recognition of the peculiar challenges that some needy families face in Kenya,
this study provides evidence on the compatibility of schooling and work for the
affected children.

5. Research objectives and methods
 Purpose: To find out how children who worked
in certain private coffee farms and market places
in Central Kenya managed to work during the
school term.
 Research started with a survey of 113 children
and their parents.
 Age range: 5 to 17 and worked for pay on coffee
farms and in the Market.
 Data obtained through interviews with children,
parents and teachers.
 Emphasis given to children’s perspectives
 Study location: Ruiru District in Central Kenya

6. Children’s work in Ruiru
Broader context of children’s paid work in Ruiru District as
revealed by survey
Main Categories of children’s paid work:
 Coffee cultivation
 Coffee picking
 Working in the market (selling and porterage) Child
vendors sell goods by themselves or with their parents.
 Also, for a fee, children are sometimes engaged to watch
over shoppers’ cars to prevent them from being vandalised
or stolen by gangs.
 Note: Work opportunities for these children change
according to times and seasons.

7. Peak
activity
Month of the year Working hours
Coffee Picking June, July, November
& December
8a.m. -3p.m
Cultivation Jan May;
August to October
8.00a.m -5p.m
Market work All the months 6.00a.m - 5p.m

8. Children’s Work and schooling
 One third (33%) of the children in this study
worked and also attended school.
 36% of the school going children were in the lower
primary school, which remained open from 7.00
a.m. to 12.40 p.m. They went to school in the
morning and worked in the afternoon on school
days, and did a fuller day’s work on Saturdays.
 64 % of school going were in the upper primary
school, mostly worked in the markets as porters
after 4.30p.m
 Two thirds (66%) of the children in the study did
not attend school at all. They reported having
dropped out of school for various reasons

9. Reasons for being out of school
Reason Proportion
Lack of school fees 18%
Note: had all completed the
KCPE Primary education is Free
Lack of money to buy school
uniforms or desks
21%
Lack of food at home 38%
Poor results or disagreements
with the teacher
16%
Note:
69% of the out-of-school children reported that they needed to
work to help their parents provide food and other household
needs.
87% of out-of-school children expressed a desire to go back to
school.

10. Desire of out-of-school children and their parents
Children Parents
Combine work
with schooling
78% 24%
Schooling and
No work
18% 54%
Work and No
schooling
4% 18%
Undecided 0% 4%

11. Parents’ and Children’s reasons for wanting child to
Return to School
Reasons Proportion
of children
(%)
Proportio
n of
parents
(%)
To learn to read and write 93 88
To get better jobs in future 67 77
To be able to get better paying
jobs
72 81
To lead better lives 76 85
To be able to speak English 63 41
To be able to understand their
environment
12 26
To be respected 51 34

12. Parents’ and the children’s perceived benefits
derived from the children’s paid work
Reasons Proportion of
children (%)
Proportion
of parents
(%)
Supplementing
parents’/guardians’ income
86 78
Providing food for the family 83 69
Developing a sense of
responsibility
0 45
Buying clothes 19 45
Learning skills 24 38
Being well fitted into their
culture
4 17
Providing a form of security for
the children given that jobs for
educated children are not
32 61

13. The need for paid child work
 42 of 113 (37%) combined work with schooling.
 Main reason seems to be lack of resources
 For this reason these children are not likely to
return to sch. if stopped from work.
 Indeed, without working, some of these children
would have been going to school poorly nourished.
NOTE: If these children who need income are also to
attend school, they need to develop school-work
schedules. (Demonstarted by two case studies)

14. Case Study 1 (Mash)
Age: 11 years old at the time of the study.
Family background:
Orphan, living with maternal grandmother.
His single mother had died 5 years prior to study.
He had two siblings aged 7 and 15.
Dropped out of school immediately after his
mother’s death in order to take care of a younger
sister while his grandmother did casual work.
After 2.5 years out of school, he enrolled in primary
standard one., Mash was in primary std 3 at the
time of the study.
His grandmother had become sickly,no longer able
to work on the farm, was selling at a small green-
grocer kiosk that ran on very little stock. Low
Earnings hence the need for Mash to work.

15. Case study 1(Mash) cntd
 Older brother a full-time farm worker in a
neighbouring district. The brother uses most of
his earnings to pay rent for the family.
 For this family to eke a living, Mash picked coffee
(Full day’s job) 3 days a week (Tue, Thur & Sat).
 Absent from school 2 days a week. The teacher
corroborated with the following addition:
 “Mash is from a very poor family. He has a habit of missing
school whenever there is cultivation or coffee picking…. I
have talked to his grandmother to no avail.... I cannot send
the boy away when he comes, I am afraid this could make
him drop out from school altogether. It is better to have him
on some days than not to have him at all, because this way
he learns something. Furthermore, he is a very good and
obedient boy.” (Mash)

16. Mash’s Teacher hopeful his sch. attendance would
improve after the coffee picking session.
This indicates that this teacher was sensitive and
willing to sacrifice to help the child, and was a partner
in the sch-work arrangement.
Mash also worked for pay in the market 3 afternoons
(Wed, Fri and Sat.) after leaving school
Mash’s teacher reported that previously the boy used
to absent himself from sch on Wed to work at the
market. However the tr had successfully persuaded
him to attend school on Wed.

17. Mash and market work
Mash had this to say concerning his previous absence from
school on Wednesdays.
“I like to attend school as much as possible. However, our
needs in the family force me to go and work for pay in the
market on Wednesdays. I make more money on Wednesday
morning than I do in the afternoon. Most of the shoppers
come in the morning, I could only be certain of coming
regularly to school if we got an alternative source of
income.”
Full year work
“This is the job I do all the time [meaning virtually all the
months in the year]. I do this work every afternoon of the
two market days the year round. During the holidays, I do
the work the whole day on both market days. However
during the school term I only work in the afternoon after
returning from school. I run home, change my clothes and
rush to the market. I also go there on Saturdays.”

18. Mash’s Hours of working and Schooling
Day School Type of work Total
Coffee picking Market HH
Chores
School Work
M A M A M A
Mon 6 2 6 2
Tue 6 4 2 0 12
Wed 6 2 2 6 4
Thur 6 4 2 0 12
Fri 6 2 2 6 4
Sat 6 2 3 2 13
Sun 4 4
Total 18 18 10 7 16 18 51

19. Mash on Market work
Observations
 Mash spent more time at work than he did at
school.
 Interview with the guardian showed that on week
days he spent an average of two to three hours
on tasks at home, including household chores,
helping the grandmother with selling at the kiosk,
and looking after his young sister.
 He did his school assignments after he had
completed the household chores.

20. Case study 2 (Tidi)Age: 13 years
School level: Primary Std 3
Deserted by mother, since re-married
Tidi left with a severely physically challenged father
Previously, he had dropped out of std two for 2 yrs
to work to support himself and his father.
Tidi did most of the HH chores. Initially,
accompanied his father to the nearby town for
roadside/market begging .Tidi had met and
explained his plight and that of his father to a
woman shopkeeper. Expressed wish for some
employment as it was becoming very difficult to
survive from begging.Tidi’s employer & her husband
had purposely employed the boy in order to support
his schooling.

21. Employers accountI knew Tidi because he would come begging by my
shop. He was polite and appeared different from
other children that begged in the town. He was
polite especially polite….We struck a relationship.
Sometimes I gave him some food……. Tidi kept
asking me to get him a job with one of the people
that I knew. I could not get anyone who wished
to have a small boy for a worker. Then, I thought
of an idea…I talked to my husband and we decide
to support him by giving him part-time farm
work….He now does farm work and milking for us
after he comes home from school.(Employer)

22. Time in hours spent at work and at school
Day
School Working
Farm Household
chores
Monday 5 4 2
Tuesday 5 4 2
Wednesday 5 4 2
Thursday 5 4 2
Friday 5 4 2
Saturday - 11 4
Sunday - 3 3
Total 25 34 17
Grand Total 25 51

23. Tidi’s Work schedule and payment
Terms of employment: Ksh 2,400 (about US$30)
per month. Sometimes food rations,
Wake up at 5.30 a.m. to prepare some tea or some
porridge before leaving for school.
Type of work Days Time
Fetching cattle feed,
feeding livestock &
other Farm work
Monday to Friday
Saturday
2.00 -5.00p.m
8.00-5.00p.m.
Sunday 8.00 – 10.00a.m.
Milking and
delivering milk to
customers
Monday to Sunday 5.00-7.00p.m

24. Tidi’s schoolingWork schedule purposely designed by the
employer to allow Tidi attend school,
Full time schooling: Attending such full time
(Primary std 3-Half day)
School requirements e.g. stationery provided
Employer encouraged Tidi to school
Reported to be below average in school
performance
Note: The work schedule was tight. Tidi had to
attend to HH chores, often doing home work late
and fatigued.
“I am able to do all the work and I also complete
my homework” (Tidi)

25.  Amore flexible schedule on Sundays. This is when
he washed his clothes and those of his father. He
also attended church regularly. He called these his
resting days as reflected in the following
comment.
 “I like Saturdays and Sundays. I do not have to
wake up early. I go to work at 8.00 a.m.…….. I
get home early and I am able to do washing and
cleaning before it gets late [meaning before it is
dark]. Sometimes I play with my neighbours.”
(Tidi)

26. Compatibility of schooling and work
Not always compatible.
Degree of their compatibility determined by:
(1)Level of schooling/structure of the school
programme (Lower primary: Compatible
Upper primary and secondary school: Not
compatible (School hours compete with the prime
time for work )
(2) Nature of the work: Market work could be done
anytime the child chose: But peak hours in the
morning competeing with sch hours.
(3) School-work arrangement specific to each
child
(4) The adult partner crucial in determining the
extent to which school was compatible with work.
For Mash: the understanding of the teacher was
crucial. For Tidi, Employers objective crucial.

27. Lessons
 Children’s need to combine work and schooling
should be respected.
 Some children obviously do need to work while
schooling, if they are ever going to get any
schooling.
 The work programme was not ideal for schooling.
 Little time for leisure and rest.
 Need to explore expedient ways of making
schooling fit to the work programme and vice versa
in such a way that the child does not get exhausted
while trying to achieve these two important and, in
some cases, necessary activities.

28. What form of schooling is compatible with work?
 Bearing in mind the significant number of
children that drop out after primary school each
year for lack of school fees, there is a need to
rethink the structure of the upper primary and
secondary school programme to provide space for
children who are in dire need of earn-and-learn
programmes.
 Policies that support such a schooling system
need to be developed and implemented to
increase learning opportunities for such children.

29. How does work contribute to schooling?
 Children’s earnings contributed to their schooling
both directly and indirectly.
 Child work plays an important role in supporting
the families and schooling.
 Pri. Ed is free in Kenya, but pupils need to
purchase some basic requirements such as
clothes, pencils, exercise books, food, and
sometimes desks.

30. How does work contribute to schooling?
”I like this work very much because sometimes I
get good money. Some of the shoppers know
about my family and they just give me more
money. One day a woman that I carried goods for
gave me a packet of flour and clothes for my
sister and me….At the market, I buy something to
eat. In the farm I have to wait until I go home to
eat.” (Mash)

31. How does work contribute to schooling?
Tidi had a somewhat similar experience:
 ‘I always have food. Before I started to work
many times we were not able to buy flour for our
meals and we would sleep without food. ...Now
we have a meal almost every day….’
With all the determination in the world, if the
children had had to go to school hungry all the
time, it is obvious they would have dropped out
eventually.

32. Other perceived benefits of child work
Child work not always driven by financial reasons.
Tidi and Mash reported other benefits of their working
career.
 Food and other provision for families
“I like this work very much because sometimes I get
good money. Some of the shoppers know about my
family and they pay me more money..... One day a
woman that I regularly carried some luggage for
gave me a packet of flour and clothes for my sister
and me.” (Mash)
“I always have food. Sometimes we were not able to
buy flour for our meals and we would sleep without
food. ..Now we are always sure of getting a meal….”
(Tidi)

33. Other perceived benefits of work (cntd)
Esteem and social benefits
 Families appreciate their contributions and this
gives the working children a sense of
responsibility and self-worth.
“My father is very happy with me. He tells many
people about my work. He is happy because we
are able to feed even when he is not lucky to get
much money from begging.” (Tidi)
This recognition also extends to the community,
which adds to the child’s feelings of self-worth.
”My neighbours tell me I am very good….” (Tidi)

34. Other perceived benefits of work
Developing social ties at work.
“Some shoppers give me a fruit [on top of the pay] to
eat. Some of them have become my friends. They
like my work and so I am happy….” (Mash)
Social interaction skills (essential for any
developing child).
“I have learnt to walk to people and ask them to let
me carry goods or watch over their cars while they
are shopping. Sometimes I talk to new shoppers in
the market. When I started this work, I was afraid to
ask some people to give me work. I do not fear to
talk to them now.”(Mash)

35. Conclusion
 Even with FPE, children in certain socio-economic
situations may not attend school in the absence of support
structures or systems . Such children may need some form
of paid work.
 Informal school-work arrangements providing a bridge to
schooling
 Chances of the S-W arrangement ensuring that the child
continues with their schooling to the highest possible level
are bleak.
 While recognising the role these informal school-work
arrangements are playing, there is need for better S-W
support arrangements that are officially recognised since
these would be more promising and could provide long-
term prospects for the children they serve.

36. Conclusion (cntd)Child work should not be labelled blindly as ‘wrong’.
Because of their peculiar circumstances, some children
may choose to combine schooling with paid work.
The child’s decision to work currently has no place within
the current government efforts to realise schooling for all.
Relevant authorities need to put mechanisms in place for
careful examination of such decisions, taking into account
the individual children’s circumstances.
There is a need to make schooling favourable for children
that really need to work. The current schooling system in
Kenya does not take care of this group of children. There is
a need to restructure the schooling schedule to
accommodate children that need to earn in order to attend
school.

37. Conclusion (cntd)
 Finally, there is a need for more formal and recognised
school-work arrangements. Informal S-W
arrangements described here cannot guarantee future
schooling.
 Private commercial institutions should come up with
formal school-work arrangements that are fully
recognised.