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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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%

Parents’ and Children’s reasons for wanting child to Return to School

Reasons Proportion

of children (%)

Proportion 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

To become wealthy 79 86

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 assured

32 61

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)

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.

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)

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.

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.”

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

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.

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.

Employers account I 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)

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

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

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)

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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)

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)

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)

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.

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.

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.