Education International (EI), a non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) on Tuesday launched a validation document on child labour aimed at strengthening teacher unions’ knowledge and capacity on child labour issues through in-depth review and analysis in the area.

The research would also intensify awareness on child labour and the importance of Education for All Goals to combat the phenomenon at the local, national and international levels.

Professor Stephen Ayidiya, of the Department of Social Work at the University of Ghana, who led a team of researchers in the collation of data said the IE-sponsored research was to get an overview of the child labour situation in Ghana and to identify challenges, best practices and lessons learnt form EI member organizations in that regard.

The five chapter research dubbed; “Child Labour and Education: The Teacher Unions Contribution” forms part of a pilot project in selected countries including Ghana. The study would provide the necessary baseline data for the development of the project in Ghana.

He said the research would provide information on the child labour situation in the country, the education policies Ghana government was implementing and also describe the functions and activities to be carried out by teacher unions.

According to the research, alarming portions of 81.4 per cent of children were involved in economic activity that fell within the young dependency age group of 5-14 years. The research said agricultural work was predominant in regions with majority of working children in Western Region being drivers’ mates, porters, truck pushers and labourers.

Galamsey, classified as hazardous under the children’s Act 560 of Ghana, was a common practice for children in mineral extracting areas. “It is estimated that 10,574 children are in the mining and quarrying sector,” the research disclosed.

Professor Ayidiya noted that over two million children from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were involved in one form of exploitative labour or the other and said poverty was a contributory factor to the phenomenon.

He said the phenomenon was more prevalent in the rural areas where school dropout rate was high and called on the relevant stakeholders particularly the International Labour Organization to device comprehensive programmes to address the situation.

Mrs Irene Duncan-Adunusa, Vice President of EI, said it was one of the largest global education workers unions catering for early childhood education through to the highest level.

She said the research would help teachers to integrate child labour issues into the main stream of education.

Participants recommended the inclusion of all relevant stakeholders, policy enforcement, women empowerment, skills development, family planning and support to the three teacher unions - GNAT, National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) to ensure effective advocacy work.

Source: GNA