TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification page ii
Approval page iii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgment v
Table of Contents vi
Abstract viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 13
Purpose of the Study 14
Significance of the Study 15
Scope of the Study 16
Research Questions 16
Hypothesis 17
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Framework 18
Theoretical Framework 18
Empirical Studies 18
Summary of Reviewed Literature 19
Conceptual Framework 19
Concept of Childhood 19
Concept of Hawking 20
Causes of Hawking 23
Concept of Child Development 26
Education and its Importance to the Child 30
Education as Child’s Right 32
Child Abuse 34
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Theory of Development of Arnold Gesell 36
Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura 37
Theory of Intellectual Development of Jean Piaget 38
Social Exchange Theory of Edward 39
REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES
Child Hawking and Academic Performance 40
Interest in School Subjects of the Hawkers and non-Hawkers 41
Child Abuse and Neglect 42
Agony of Hawking among Primary School Children 44
Summary of Literature Review 47
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD
Design of the Study 49
Area of the Study 49
Population of the Study 50
Sample and Sampling Techniques 50
Instrument for Data Collection 51
Validation of the Instrument 51
Reliability of the Instrument 52
Method of Data Collection 52
Method of Data Analysis 53
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
Research Question One 54
Research Question Two 55
Research Question Three 56
Research Question Four 56
Hypothesis One 57
Hypothesis Two 59
Hypothesis Three 60
Hypothesis Four 61
Summary of the Findings 62
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Discussion of Findings 64
Conclusion 68
Implication of the Study 68
Recommendations 69
Limitations of the Study 70
Suggestions for Further Study 70
Summary 70
References 73
APPENDICES
- Questionnaire 84
- Reliability Analysis 89
- Table showing Sample for the Study 97
- Result of Data Analysis 99
ABSTRACT
The study sought to find out the influence of hawking on children’s development. To carry out the research, four (4) research questions and four (4) hypotheses were formulated. The population of the study consisted of four hundred and forty (440) primary six hawkers, (174 boys and 266 girls) in Enugu metropolis. The instrument for collection of Data was Questionnaire. The data collected was analyzed using weighted mean, standard deviation and t – test statistical tools. The findings of this study was that hawking affects child’s physical development by making the child to feel pains in some parts of the body, feel weak, fall sick, grow thin, expose the child to injury, kidnapping, rape, road accidents and diseases. Hawking affects children’s socio/emotional development by exposing them to early drinking of alcohol, it does not allow them time to play with their mates, visit their mates, they lack respect for elders, they fight and have low self-concept. Hawking also affects children’s cognitive development by not allowing them time to read their books, do their assignments, it affects their writing ability, due to tiredness, they sleep in the class while the lessons are going on, they are often too tired to listen to the teacher, their mates do better than them in the class work, they don’t attend school regularly and they score below average in class work. Hawking also affects children’s moral development in that even at their tender age children hawkers are being asked for friendship by adults, it exposes children to wayward life style, they watch bad films and read books that can make them have feelings for sex, young boys also have feelings to have sex with their girlfriends, it exposes them to stealing, telling lies and leads them to early moral decay in life. The hypothesis revealed that the responses of male and female pupils on the influence of hawking on physical development have no significant difference, the respondents unanimously agreed that hawking has negative influence on their physical development. The hypothesis showed that there is no significant difference in the responses of males and females with regard to the influence of hawking on social/emotional development. The respondents agreed that hawking negatively influences their way of interaction with one another and understanding of oneself as member of the society. There is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female respondents on the influence of hawking on their cognitive development indicating that hawking has effects on child’s academic pursuit. There is no significant difference between the mean responses of male and female hawkers with regard to the influence of hawking on their moral development. This means that both male and female children agreed to identified effects of hawking on childrens’ moral development.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
There is no gainsaying that children are priceless gifts from God. The value of children as unique gifts from God has a worldwide acceptance. In Africa, children are the yardsticks with which a man’s wealth and success are measured. Furthermore, children ensure not only continuity of the society but also give parents their rightful positions in the society (Olaitan and Akpan, 2003). This gift of children is so treasured that people go to extremes to look for it. Any marriage without children is most often bereft of happiness and, in most cases; such marriages do not last or are usually epileptic in nature (Ugwu, 2007).
A child at birth is helpless and totally dependent on the adults for all its needs, which start from conception, but it has a personal uniqueness and individuality with strong and loud demands for attention, care and security.
Any family, society or nation that has no good agenda or proper plans for the children has automatically failed to secure its future existence and continuity. According to Uche (1988), it is an established fact that the continued existence and development of any society depends on the ability of the children and youth of that society to function effectively socially, politically, economically and religiously as members of the society without being sent to the street to hawk in helping their family to meet up with their social needs. In other words, the children should be able to relate with others participate in politics, contribute to the economy and have good morals so that they should be able to adapt in the environment in which they find themselves. This prospective enablement can be achieved if the society values the future development of the children.
There are variations in the conception and definition of a child. In view of this, child and childhood are defined differently by different cultures Melchiorre (2004). According to him, a child is not necessarily delineated by a fixed age. He further stated that children’s abilities and maturities vary so much that defining a child’s maturity by calendar age can be misleading. There is no uniform definition of a child in Nigeria. Nigerian Labour Act defines children as those who are 16 years of age and below, but the International Labour Organization – ILO (1999) has brought it down to individuals below 15 years of age. In spite of the variations, in this context children are seen as any human beings below the age of eighteen (18) years.
Early childhood (0 – 6 years) has come to be recognized as a period critical to the development of the human being. During this period love, care, good nutrition a safe environment, stimulation, and encouragement are particularly critical for the individual’s future life (Dixon-Fyle, 2002). Regrettably, in Nigeria, many children in the process of their development seem to experience exposures to street hawking. Hawking refers to an occupation engaged by children and young adults, which involves selling of items or goods from place to place, in public places and in the streets. It is also a way of displaying, wares for sale from one point to the other by sellers. These wares could be pushed around in wheelbarrows or carts, and/or carried in flat trays or pan on heads by the sellers. The wares on display for sale usually includes fruits and vegetables, household items, detergent and soaps, clothing materials, food items, fresh meat, bread and any other items as deemed fit. Article by dodolika 24 (8, 186, pt’s) January 27, 2011.
Street hawking refers to the act of selling items or goods in the street. In Nigeria, hawkers could be seen on the streets of major cities of Nigeria. And majority are young people mostly teenagers and the children both male and female. In the light of the above, Ikechebelu, Udigwe, Ezechukwu, Ndinechi and Joe Ikechebelu (2008) considered street hawking as the act of canvassing for the sale of items carried by the hawkers along the street from house to house or in the public places in the town. Hawking is a method of sourcing for income and thus financially empowering the seller or actual owner of the goods. It is widely believed that these hawkers make profit, as they do not spend money on renting shops to display and sell their goods. This is a good strategy of selling, as people who are unable to go to the market can buy from the hawkers closer to their homes.
Sadly, the trends for the children to be involved in hawking are increasing. Children are sent out to hawk by parents or guardians to earn money for the family so as to make ends meet. These children hawkers are then exposed to dangers and risks and in some cases, they are hit and killed by reckless drivers. There are also some cases where the children are abducted and used for ritual purposes. Girl hawkers have been known to have been rapes by either their male customers or strangers. Many of these children are not in schools and even when they attend schools, they have little time to work on after school assignment or even time to rest from the long hours at school.
Street hawking have been tackled at different levels but this trend is like a symptom of diseases but the main disease is poverty. And this issue is not properly treated. Many of these children hawk until late and at times and could be punished for not selling all the wares given. However, some of the after effect on the children hawkers are that it exposes the children in sexual abuse and in sometimes they may and end up been infected with HIV/Aids virus. The children when abducted are at times trafficked and they end up being used as slaves or commercial sex workers. Some of them end up joining on the streets, the girls could be attracted to robbery gangs and prostitution rings. And the boys could become petty thieves and some end up as armed robbers. There are cases of children who dropped out of school due to their day jobs as hawkers.
Gender is a social construct. It has to do with time. Gender is constructed by the society. Gender as a sociological term refers to the role and attribute and behaviour that the society has assigned to the sexes Azikiwe (2006). Also, gender could be referred to the sociological label “those non-physiological components of sex that are culturally regarded as appropriate to males and females” Unger (1979). He used the word gender to describe certain characteristics of men and women who are socially determined while those that are biologically determined are regarded as sex Oakley, (1970). Gender is socially oriented and therefore, it is dynamic. Gender roles for men and women differ. Nevertheless, since gender is socially determined and culture is dynamic, hence, gender patterns change with time. Boys and girls show different types of behaviour as they advance in age. More girls than boys are engaged in hawking. Most Nigerian children have been vulnerably pushed into exploitative child labour ILO, (2002). The exploitative child labour occurs when children, especially the young ones are exposed to long hours of work. It becomes worrisome that the girls who are more involved in hawking will suffer more effect considering the harmful and hazardous effect that lack of access to education poses on the female child, trumpeted that educating a single girl is like educating the whole society Hasan (2009: 3).
Childhood is recognized as a period of sensitivity. It is the foundation of the world’s future and therefore must be given the highest priority. It is a time when children are allowed to grow healthy and strong with confidence, in school and at play, with the encouragement of their families and extended families of caring adults and gradually taking on the responsibilities of adulthood, free from fear, safe from violence and protected from abuse and exploitation (United Nations International Children’s Education Fund, UNICEF, 2004). The various experiences children have while growing up are of utmost importance in shaping and moulding their behaviour. Therefore, for a full and harmonized development, the child should grow in an environment of happiness, love and understanding with enough stimulation, self-esteem as well as the readiness to enjoy the right to life, freedom of association, right to education, right to good health, right to communication, right to privacy, right to leisure and recreation, freedom from discrimination, protection against exploitation and inhuman treatment as the child develops, child development of the federal ministry of women affairs and child development (1995).
In the light of the above, the child’s right to education according to article II of the OAU charter spells that
“Every child shall have the right to education. The education of the child should be directed to:
- The promotion of child’s personality, talents, mental and physical abilities to their fullest potentials. The preparation of the child for responsible in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, tolerance, dialogue, mutual respect and friendship among all people, ethnic, tribal and religious groups
- Provide free and compulsory education.
- Take measure to encourage regular attendance at school and reduction of dropouts
- Take special measure to ensure that children from disadvantage group of communities have equal access to education”
However, in our country Nigeria, most of the children hawk wares while others are in the school learning. This hawking makes the children not to be regular in school. Some of the children do come to school late because at times they hawk wares early in the morning before coming to school. Some children hawkers who attend afternoon school will hawk from morning to afternoon against the time they are supposed to be at their school. Hawking influence children’s development in that they affect their cognitive thinking. Children that hawk wares will always be thinking on how to make profit from the sales instead of how to do the take home assignments. Children who hawk do not have time to play with their mates, socialise with others and visit friends. These children hawkers are daily exposed to dangers in some cases they are hit and killed by careless drivers. They can be abducted and used for rituals. Those children have early moral decay. They tell lies, they steal, and they are too insultive.
Child development refers to the sequence of change in human beings that begins with conception and continues throughout life. It involves the emerging and expanding of the capacities of the individual to provide greater facilities (ability to do something) of the individual in functioning. It is both quantitative and qualitative. It also refers to the biological and psychological changes that occur in human beings between birth and the end of adolescence.
The physical growth of children is affected by street hawking. The physical development of the children proceeds in an orderly and predictable pattern. It is noted that more of genetic factors than environmental factors control development. Two factors influence physical development (hereditary and environmental factors). The environment can influence the age at which certain skills and abilities manifest. However, there are stages of physical development according to the theorist Gesell Arnold which includes: infancy stage (0 – 2 years), early childhood (2 – 6 years) stage, late childhood (6 -10 years) stage. Late childhood is the period of primary school age. This period is characterised by steady increase in height and weight from the beginning of this stage until the onset of puberty. Growth proceeds at very slow rate, more slowly than was observed during the early childhood stage. Depending on the genetic makeup and the quality of environmental factors including quality of nutrition, many children will be taller or shorter that the observed average in height. Observations have shown that there is a slight difference in the average height and weight of boys and girls. The difference as found to be in favour of girls. (Durojuye, 1976). Heavy load affect the physique of the children and make their growth retarded by affecting the bones and the central nervous system. Children hawkers can easily be kidnapped. They can easily be attacked by arm robbers. These children can be knocked down by careless drivers that may lead to loss of life or injury. These children hawkers might be malnourished due to poor feeding habits. They can easily fall sick because of the dirty environment they match on.
Cognitive development depicts the stage the children develops the capacity to learn, remember, symbolise information and to solve problems. This period is very sensitive to the development of the children, some Nigerian parents send out their children to hawk wares in order to make income for the family. Those children spent a lot of time on street hawking wares thereby affecting their academic pursuit in the school because they were not given time to rest and study. Some of the children hawkers will be thinking only how to sell all their wares after school. In other words, their mind will not be in the lessons that are going on in the classroom. Children are most likely to do well in school if their parents value education and are interested and involved in school activities Gelles (1985). Some of the children come from homes where their parents lack interest in children’s school work because of their being over burdened by the struggle to make money for the satisfaction of the basic needs of the family such as: food, shelter and clothing for such children. For such children, the end product is poor academic performances. The children hawkers who hawk in the morning before going to school are perpetual late comers beside they find it difficult concentrating in class work due to fatigue and stress following hawking.
Hawking is one of the debilitating factors that affect the socio-emotional development of the children involved and the society at large. In the late childhood, stage (6 – 10 years) it is the age of primary school. The children learn at this period by observation Bandura (1989). It characterised the period at which children always play as a natural activity which contributes to their development which gives them satisfaction and enjoyment Ibiam, (2006). It is the time children socialise with each other in the school and in the environment in which they find themselves, they interact with one another and make friends with their mates. They explore their environment. However, some children are denied the opportunity due to the exposure to street hawking. Emotion is the stir up of an individual, which involve both internal and external manifestation, Uche and Ngwoke (2004). Teenagers, especially the female folks are exposed through hawking to be sexually aware too early in life. In attempt to sell their wares teenage females mingles with the touts in the motor parks and in the streets. Some of the teenage hawkers are lured into sexual relationship that will result into pregnancy. Some of the female hawkers may become promiscuous following exposure through hawking. As a result, of this, females may drop hawking and resort to prostitution. Prostitution which occasionally results from street hawking can lead to the spread of venereal diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and subsequent criminal abortion and illegitimate children Igwe (1996). Some children hawkers learn the act of smoking cigarette and other drugs because of the interaction with people of questionable characters. Smoking and drugs have physiological, economic and social implications. Some children hawkers have low self-esteem; some children because of hawking may be away from school for maybe for a term, two terms or more when they come back to school they may become too big for their class mates. These children who are too big for their classmate may fall victim of name calling by their small classmates, Nwabuzo (1996). This type of situation could have ravaging psychological effects on the children.
However, in the moral development, the child needs positive simulation, security and guidance in the moral behaviour, feeling of belonging and self-worth which only a concerned parent or guardian can provide. The good moral needs are continuous throughout childhood and a child whose moral needs is at disadvantage and handicapped in the perception lacks good moral behaviour. Morality is the justification of a righteous way of life. Positive morality is a behaviour that is conformed with the acceptable way of a living culture (Ngwoke, 2004). The economic pressure, unemployment, illiteracy, poor housing family size, broken homes, poor coping mechanism, poor self-image, some are factors that contribute to child hawking (Garbain, 1991). The youngsters through hawking are aggressive, tell lies in order to make gain, they lack respect, less self-confidence and less responsive to adult modelling Redly, (1991).
However, in Nigeria, it appears that child development is grossly abused through the increasing display of hawking in almost all the streets in Nigeria towns. In fact, the proportion of hawking and its attendant consequences has uncontrollably assumed an alarming stage as children between 6 – 15 years are seen everywhere in the cities hawking wares (Ibiam, 2002).
In fact, walking along the streets in various cities and towns in Nigeria, one would find a substantial number of children (who are supposed to be in school) hawking all sorts of items, just to make an income either for themselves, parents or guidance.
This act of hawking to which children are exposed or subjected to appear to exploit and harm them in various ways (physically, socio-emotionally, mentally, morally, or by blocking their access to education). In the regards of the above, when a child assumes the occupation of a parent, like hawking, in a tender age, it will not give him or her access to education. Children involved in street hawking are frustrated, suffer from role conflict, have low occupational income and educational aspiration. Children who hawk may have lower self-esteem that may militate against effective capacities. Exposure of the child to search and desire for money will no doubt make the children to learn dishonesty. Hawking exposes children to all kinds of dangers, like accidents and unplanned events that may lead to loss of lives or damage of property or injury. Hawkers are exposed daily to accidents, kidnappers, rape, that is sexually abused and in some cases; they may end up being infected with HIV/Aids virus. The children may be abducted, at times trafficked and they may end up being used as slaves or commercial sex workers. Some of the children end up joining on the streets, the girls could be attracted to robbery gangs and prostitution rings and the boys could become petty thieves and some end as robbers Saiku, (1993), opined that hawkers in an attempt to sell their wares or escape from law enforcement agents sustain serious injuries.
The International Labour Organisation ILO, (1999) defines child labour as working in any economic activities that is harmful to health like – hawking, enslavement, prostitution, trafficking, forced into illegal activities and exposes to hazardous environment of children below the age of eighteen years (18 years). Hawking is a general condition and human problem that should concern all and sundry. Therefore, individuals, families, associations and the government should cooperate in controlling hawking in our society. Hence, the central task of this research is to determine the effect of hawking on the development of children of primary school age.
Statement of the Problem
It remains a matter of concern among scholars as children who are supposed to occupy a pride of place in any given society are rather regarded as the most vulnerable in society. In developing countries like Nigeria, it is very unfortunate that children of primary school age are found hawking wares. It is a source of worry, as the academic problem has not been satisfactorily addressed in the existing literature. To this end, the problem this study is set to address is to find how hawking influence a child’s physical, cognitive, socio-emotional and moral development, especially within the geographical area of Enugu metropolis.
A greater number of children hawk wares during school hour while some hawk wares immediately after school thereby, not having time to read their books and do their take home assignment as a result of this their academic pursuit is likely to suffer.
The above is a source of worry among people, especially educationists, as this dictated academic problem has not been satisfactorily addressed in the existing literature. To this end, the problem this study is set to address is to critically find how hawking influence child’s physical, cognitive, social/emotional and moral development, especially within the geographical area of Enugu metropolis and suggest practical ways to curb this menace.
Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study is to find out the influence of hawking on children development. Specifically, the study aims at:
- finding out the ways hawking affects physical development of males and females
- establishing how hawking affects child’s social/emotional development of male and female
- ascertaining the ways child hawking affects child cognitive development of boys and girls
- examining how hawking affects moral development in children both girls and boys folk
Significance of the Study
It is hoped that the finding will be useful to a number of people such as parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, head of schools, curriculum planners, researchers and psychologists in various ways.
Specifically, parents, guardians and caregivers will now be able to know the type of work to give and where to draw the line while training children. It will be significant to parents as it will arm them with the knowledge about the dangers of hawking. The study will be significant to teachers and head of schools as them may be enabling to know how to counsel students who are found to be significantly absent from school and are low in academic due to hawking. Curriculum planers may find it useful in that it will help them see the need to include the teaching of children’s right in the curriculum while reviewing the curriculum. If the rights are included in the curriculum, children will be favoured and know when their right has being violated. The findings of the study will serve as a reference material to other researchers. Trained professionals like the psychologist may find it useful in monitoring and educating the children on the dangers of hawking on their development. Finally, it may also supply relevant data that will help reduce the influence of hawking on our society
Scope of the Study
This study involved primary six pupil in Enugu metropolis, and these are made up of boys and girls who hawk wares. This study was limited to the investigations of the influence of hawking on the development of primary school children in Enugu metropolis. The content was limited to the influence of hawking on the child’s physical, social/emotional, cognitive and moral development.
Research Questions
To guide the study, four research questions were posed.
- In what ways does hawking affect child’s physical development?
- How does hawking affect child’s social/emotional development?
- In what ways does hawking affect child’s cognitive development?
- How does hawking affect moral development in children?
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The hypotheses will be tested at 0.05 level of significance.
- There is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female respondents on the influence of hawking on the physical development of children in the Enugu
- There is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female respondents on the influence of hawking on social/emotional development of children in Enugu
- There is no significant difference on the mean responses of the male and female respondents on the influence of hawking on the cognitive development of children in Enugu
- There is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female respondents on the moral decay of hawkers in Enugu
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
INFLUENCE OF HAWKING ON CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT IN ENUGU METROPOLIS
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