• norsk
    • English
  • English 
    • norsk
    • English
  • Login
View Item 
  •   Home
  • Fakultet for samfunns- og utdanningsvitenskap (SU)
  • Institutt for pedagogikk og livslang læring
  • View Item
  •   Home
  • Fakultet for samfunns- og utdanningsvitenskap (SU)
  • Institutt for pedagogikk og livslang læring
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Perspectives and experiences on young people´s work in small-scale gold mining in Amansie West District of Ghana

Osei-Tutu, Jonah
Master thesis
View/Open
Osei-Tutu Jonah.pdf (Locked)
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2401978
Date
2016
Metadata
Show full item record
Collections
  • Institutt for pedagogikk og livslang læring [1859]
Abstract
The recent resurgence in small-scale mining activities in Ghana has coincided with falling

standards of education. This has led to public concerns about the participation of young

people of school-going age in the mining work. The continuous engagement of young people

in the mining work is perceived to make efforts to improve enrolment and performance in

schools futile. The response at the governmental level, therefore, has been to ensure the

application of international and national legislations which seek to prevent young people's

participation in mining activities. This is what has made it necessary to listen to the side of

the story of the young workers in particular. This study, therefore, aims to look at the

perspectives and experiences of young workers and other stakeholders on the issue.

The main theoretical perspective underpinning the study is the Social Studies of Children and

Childhood, with its fundamental tenets. The actor-oriented perspective positions young

people as competent social actors who contribute essential social and economic resources

towards the livelihoods of their households. The young participants constitute the principal

informants, along with other significant adults. As a qualitative study, multiple participatory

methods were used to collect data from the participants. These include individual interviews,

observations, focus groups discussion, essay writing, attitude survey, and recall chart. The

fieldwork was conducted in the Amansie West District, using three schools from three

different communities. Four parents, three teachers, two government workers and two

community leaders were recruited as adult informants in addition to ten young workers who

were the main participants of the research.

The study found economic hardship as the main reason for young people's participation in

mining work. Other reasons such as unstable employment and/or irregular income, large

household/family size, parental separation and migration, as well as reasons bordering on

culture were also found to contribute to the phenomenon. The findings underscore the

importance of work in the lives of young workers and their households by benefiting them in

diverse ways. The decision-making process leading to young people's mining work is largely

a collective (family) one. Against the backdrop of work-school incompatibility, the findings

disfavour the conventional stance on abolitionism, revealing that young workers use the bulk

of their mining earnings to support their education. The tension between securing

individual/household livelihoods vis-a-vis broad societal interest pursued through legislations

is highlighted. Young people's mining work or its abolition were found to carry implications

for educational pursuit as well as both present and future livelihoods and economic prospects.
Publisher
NTNU

Contact Us | Send Feedback

Privacy policy
DSpace software copyright © 2002-2019  DuraSpace

Service from  Unit
 

 

Browse

ArchiveCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDocument TypesJournalsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDocument TypesJournals

My Account

Login

Statistics

View Usage Statistics

Contact Us | Send Feedback

Privacy policy
DSpace software copyright © 2002-2019  DuraSpace

Service from  Unit