Presentation from international meeting on children's work and child labour hosted by the Africa Child Policy Forum, Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, and Young Lives in Addis Ababa, 20-21 March 2014

1. CHILD WORK AND SCHOOLING IN
ETHIOPIAN COMMUNITIES
Yisak Tafere
Alula Pankhurst
Young Lives Ethiopia
East and Southern African Regional Symposium on child work/labour, Addis Ababa, 20-21 March 2014

2. • Introduction
• Data source
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
OUTLINE

3. • Contrasting views of child work and schooling:
• first, child work inhibits schooling and at one extreme suggested it
should be banned (e.g. UNCRC and the African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of Children)
• Second, acknowledging the detrimental effects of work on
children, work benefits children, particularly those living in poverty
• suggests linking work with schooling is possible, useful and in
some cases necessary.
This study, drawing on longitudinal Young Lives data, investigates how
children combine both work and schooling in Ethiopian communities
and how one impacts on the other.
INTRODUCTION

4. Survey data
• Three rounds of survey (2002 aged 8, 2006 aged 12, 2009 aged 15)
• Number of children: R1 = 1,000, R=980, R3= 973
• In R3 the composition was: 51% boys, 49% girls, 42% urban, 58% rural
• Survey on Time use, Activities, Schooling
Qualitative data
• 3 rounds fieldwork (2007 aged 13, 2008 aged 14, 2011 aged 17)
• 30 children (18 rural and 12 urban; 15 boys, 15 girls)
• Self-reported one-week diary, educational timeline, interviews
DATA SOURCE

5. School enrolment (%) Primary
school
completion
rate (R3) (%)
Drop-out
(R2-R3)
(%)
R1 R2 R3
Average 66 97 90 18 8
Urban 89 98 96 29 4
Rural 51 97 85 10 12
Boys 64 97 88 19 9
Girls 68 98 92 17 7
RESULTS: SCHOOLING

6. Hours per typical day spent on activities by children at 12 and 15 years old
Age 12 (N=955) Age 15 (N=970)
Total Rural Urban Girls Boys Total Rural Urban Girls Boys Non-poor poor
In domestic activities (child care and chores) 2.84 2.90 2.76 3.59 2.12 3.30 3.54 2.94 4.40 2.25 2.03 2.69
In Unpaid family business outside home 1.62 2.33 0.57 1.03 2.18 1.35 1.93 0.49 0.43 2.21 0.73 1.85
on paid activities
1.47 2.17 0.42 0.90 2.01 0.41 0.45 0.36 0.32 0.51 0.01 0.02
on all kinds of work
4.46 5.23 3.33 4.63 4.31 5.06 5.91 3.79 5.15 4.97 0.88 0.95
in school
5.42 5.12 5.87 5.49 5.36 5.51 5.04 6.22 5.75 5.30 6.10 4.35
on studying at home
1.73 1.59 1.94 1.71 1.75 1.86 1.64 2.19 1.82 1.89 1.26 0.87
RESULTS: CHILD WORK AND SCHOOLING

7. • In a typical day, children spent more than 6 hours in school, with
slightly higher proportions for urban children.
• Children from non-poor families have more time for schooling than
those from poor families.
• As they grow older, the time children spent on work increased while
the time devoted to schooling remained almost the same.
• Young Lives survey data shows that children combined both work and
schooling.
• Qualitative data illustrate children’s experiences in combining work and
schooling.
TIME USE: WORK AND SCHOOLING

8. Schooling
• 29 of the 30 children attended some level of
schooling
• At age 17, only 4 girls have completed primary
school; others were between Grade 2 and 8
• Four boys and two girls (for marriage) have
dropped out at 17
Work for cash
• 19 (4 urban and 15 rural) have reported to have
worked for cash
• Three urban girls have reported to have helped
mothers to generate income
• Children began work for cash as young as 8
• The types of work:
• Rural: irrigation, stone crushers, sorting
haricot, selling stones, fishing, casual work,
• Urban: street vending, taxi attendant, car
wash/work in garage
SCHOOL AND WORK: CONDITIONS OF CASE-STUDY CHILDREN

9. I began working for cash by washing private cars in our area
since the age of 8 or 9. I also worked as an assistant to a taxi
driver. When I was very young, older boys used to order me to
wash a car and we share the money. When I got older, I began
working on my own and took all the money. …. In the last three
years, I have been working in fixing tyre of cars and sometimes
wash cars. Sometimes, I work in a garage. ….Two years ago, I
quit my education because of injury. As I did not attend
regularly, the school gave me a report card stating:
‘incomplete.’
I used to rely on education before but now I prefer to work. I
want a better thing by doing business. I want to become
involved in selling cars; we meet people while doing our jobs
and they tell us how to do it(Bereket, 2011).
Bereket (aged 14), damaged his hand when he misused electric
power while filling pressure into a tyre. He had to go to a
hospital for treatment. It took him three months to recover
missing his school. He had to interrupt school for the year and
repeat the grade. He had to spend much of his savings.
COMBINING WORK AND SCHOOLING: TRADE-OFFS

10. Time 15/10/2007 17/11/2008 20/04/2011
6:00-6:30am
put on my clothes, washed my
hands and face
Put on my clothes, used toilet,
washed my face
Put on clothes and used toilet
6:30-7:00
Did home work I cleaned house Cleaned house alone
7:00-8:00
Cooked wat (stew) Had breakfast Fetched water from outside alone
8:00-8:30
Had break fast Went to school Had breakfast
8:30-10:00
Studied Learned, played at break Sorted out haricot beans (8:30-11:00)
10:00-12:00
Attended makeup class in school Returned from school returned from work, washed (11:00-
12:00)
12:00-12:30
Had lunch Had lunch Had lunch
12:30-1:00
fetched water outside home Washed went to school
1:00-6:00pm
sorted out haricot beans at
employer’s house
sorted out haricot (1-3pm),
combed my hair (3-3:30), studied
(3:30-5), played (5-6pm)
Attended school (1-5pm), did
homework (5:30-6pm)
6:00-8:00
baked injera, cooked wat boiled coffee, cooked stew (6-8) cooked stew and coffee (6-9pm)
8:00-8:30
Ate dinner and slept Ate dinner, slept ate dinner, washed utensils, studied
and finish assignment (9:50-12), slept
(midnight)
TIME-USE: MULATUWA’S DIARY

11. During the weekends, Mulatua worked in sorting
out haricot beans for about 10 hours. The trade-off
is so evident. She said: “We were suffering a lot
from a shortage of food for consumption…. When I
do daily labour, I earn some money. But my
educational performance is negatively affected. My
health is also affected because of the dust (2008,
age 13).
The problem has continued over the years. At the
age of 16, she reported: “I work in sorting out the
haricot from the dust. I get 25 Birr per quintal
which takes me three days to finish. … This is
affecting my health and schooling but my mother
obliges me to continue to work. I cannot study
properly after I come back home as the seat we
use during the sorting out of the beans is not
comfortable (2011, age 17).
The work affected her health (nose, eye, back pain)
and indirectly her education. But still she is one of
the few students who completed primary school at
the age of 15 and she is confident that she will
pursue her university education.
TIME-USE: MULATUWA’S DIARY (cont’d)

12. “The situation started to change since 2004,
when the development work flooded to this
Kebele (locality). The focus of children
shifted to work and the value given to
education declined. Since the introduction
of irrigations by investors on farm lands,
most children are engaged in daily labour.
This has affected education negatively.
The farms are adjacent to the school
compound. The students pretend that they
go to toilets but they escape through that.
They don’t want to listen to their teachers.
In fact, they tell the teachers that it is their
business to learn or not. They tell them that
they want money, not education. They have
learned working in the vegetable farms
since their young age. So they do not bother
about education. They prefer money to
education” (school director, 2011, Oromia
site).
Grade Enrolled
in
school
Attending
during
observation
Absentees
during
observation
Number of
dropouts
1 117 47 70 9
2 100 39 61 20
3 58 39 19 2
4 54 27 27 6
5 50 36 14 4
6 51 33 18 2
7 53 36 17 10
8 56 32 24 1
Total 539 289 250 54
SCHOOLING AND WORK: COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

13. Age 13
1) Haymanot
learning Grade 5, lived with aunt
2) Bereket, attending school,
washing car for cash
3) Mulutwa, attending school and
sorting haricot for cash
4) Defar – Grade 2, sells stone with
father
age 14
Haymanot - working in stone crusher,
dropped at Grade 5
Bereket - work in garage, injured,
interrupted school, but resumed
Mulatua - continue haricot picking,
health problem, but still good at school
Defar – attends school, do causal work
for cash, sell stone, head injury, …
Age 17
• Haymanot - stopped working,
married at 16
• Bereket - continued to work and
gained skills, wants to start car
business, in school but less interested
• Mulatuwa -continued to do the same
work, finished primary school and
hopeful to continue and finish
university
• Defar, dropped at Grade 4, does any
paid work,
WORK AND SCHOOLING TRAJECTORIES: EXAMPLES

14. • Work is common to all, but children
go through an intermittent
educational trajectories.
• the prevalence of the ‘ambiguity’ of
children’s ‘educational status’
• we were puzzled whether some
children could be considered as
‘students’ or ‘workers.’ Some were
registered as ‘students’ but they were
actually ‘working.’
• Thus, combining work and schooling
does not necessarily mean that they
are ‘regularly attending’ school.
• ‘Flexibility’ from parents, employers
and schools ‘led’ children to have
‘loosen’ boundary between work and
schooling
DISCUSSIONS: THE AMBIGUITY OF WORK-SCHOOLING

15. • In the past, children had to do more work for
the family before they set up their own
independent lives. Very few had the
opportunity to go school and were not
required to do both.
• Expansion of schools and other investments
brought new responsibilities for children –
combining work with schooling.
• Children do paid work because the work is
available and secondly, they have to meet
school costs which are difficult for families
who are already struggling economically.
• In the rural areas, primary schools and
investments attracting child work are at their
backyards
• While children try to do both, many are not
successful in making the synergy
DISCUSSIONS: AMBIVALENCE OF COMBINING WORK AND SCHOOLING

16. • School expansion has brought an additional responsibility for children:
combining both work and schooling
• Work may help children for their immediate survival, schooling and future
life
• As they grow older, children find it hard to combine work and schooling
because both need a considerable time –making the synergy more difficult.
• The negative impact of work on schooling is evident but its magnitude is
diverse based on age, gender and location
• However, for poor children, making the best of the synergy between work
and schooling, remains as a necessity.
CONCLUSIONS

17. Thank you!
http://www.younglives.org.uk/