Children's lives in an era of school closures: Exploring the implications of <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 for child labour in Ghana

Mohammed, Abdul‐Rahim

doi:10.1111/chso.12611

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…After schools resumed, 15 per cent of boys did not return while 39 per cent of girls at the same school did. Furthermore, children in this context could not make use of government‐sponsored distance education programmes due to poverty and lack of infrastructure, as other studies (see Mohammed, 2022) and the interactions with the parents show.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

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Child marriage and education in the context of a global pandemic: Exploring the gendered implications of COVID‐inspired school closures in Ghana

Mohammed

2023

Child Abuse Review

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This article aims to cast light on the negative but silent effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on girls' education and welfare in Ghana. Since the pandemic emerged in 2019, unprecedented changes have occurred in ordinary people's health, education and social life. As a response to the pandemic, governments globally implemented social distancing regimes, lockdowns and school closures to curtail the spread of the virus. While this approach did help in curtailing the spread of the pandemic, implementing lockdowns and school closures in Ghana had unintended consequences: they amplified gendered inequalities in access to education. Drawing on one‐on‐one semi‐structured interviews with (i) 10 teachers and one head teacher, 13 parents of child brides, and 11 child brides (aged 15–19), and (ii) Focus group discussions (FGDs) with 15 community leaders in a rural Ghanaian setting (Mion), this article provides empirical evidence to show how the pandemic has disrupted the lives and education of 11 girls. In particular, school closures and rising poverty due to the pandemic led to increased child marriage. These 11 schoolgirls were seen as a burden by their parents, and, consequently, married off to older men as an adverse coping strategy. Furthermore, some of the girls themselves requested to be married, due to rising household chores occasioned by the school closures. Finally, the school closures also offered the community the justification to reactivate deeply held notions about the value of a girl's education as a basis for marrying them off.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…The few post-school closure studies have explained how Ghana's school closures have had a devastating effect on children's lives and education. Mohammed (2022) demonstrates how a regime of school closures pushed children from poor contexts into child labour, for example.…”

Section: Ghana's Child Marriage Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child marriage and education in the context of a global pandemic: Exploring the gendered implications of COVID‐inspired school closures in Ghana

Mohammed

2023

Child Abuse Review

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“…Child labour is another prevalent issue especially in developing contexts. It has been worsened by the pandemic, as found by Mohammed (2023) in Ghana. A child‐centred approach to address child labour will need more research that captures children's own voices.…”

Section: To (Re)theorise Global Childhoods From Children and Young Pe...mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Similarly, the move to digital classrooms was not available to many children in Ghana. Indeed, as Mohammed (2023) showed there was limited access to education provision during the pandemic, resulting in many children in rural areas risking becoming child labourers and working with their parents on farms or streets. This example highlights the unequal effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on those children from poorer and rural areas.…”

Section: To Understand How Children and Young People Experience The P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Children and young people's perspectives on and experiences of COVID‐19 in global contexts

Hoskins

Gao

et al. 2022

Children & Society

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This special issue was proposed by Children & Society editors specifically for the journal's strategic aims to enhance its internationalisation; and to embrace children's perspectives and experiences in producing knowledge about childhoods in challenging times and underrepresented contexts (Berriman et al., 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic is such an ongoing challenge and has profoundly affected the daily lives of children around the globe (Cowie & Myers, 2021). Lockdowns, social distancing, and quarantine increase children's anxiety and stress and reduce access to vital family members, friends, and care services. The COVID-19 pandemic re-sets the boundaries and spaces of formal education, by bringing it directly into homes across the globe and shifting the family involvement in children's education and care. In addition to social, developmental and mental health issues caused to children due to lockdowns and constraints with learning (Cowie & Myers, 2021), there is a high proportion of children worldwide who live in difficult circumstances and experience issues such as poverty, lack of food, water, sanitation or hygiene, domestic violence and abuse, special needs, conflicts and those who are refugees and migrants (UNICEF, 2020). They may have already been in those disadvantaged situations, and the COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately has worsened the circumstances for them.During the time of the pandemic, home has become a more visible quasi-public space through digital technologies for some children, but has also further marginalised children living in digitally impoverished contexts (Iyer et al., 2020). Digital contact in the hybridisation of public and private spaces raises concerns over child protection and safety for many children (Iyer et al., 2020). Nevertheless, little is known about how space (physical and digital) has been experienced by children who were confined to their homes. Even less visible in scholarship concerning children and young people's experiences of and perspectives on COVID-19 are those from children living in contexts other than mainstream notions of 'home' and from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.Set against this context, this special issue examines the challenges that have faced children and their families across a range of different cultural and geographical contexts. These include countries from six continents of the world, namely: Europe

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“…No Nepal, em meio às rígidas leis de bloqueio e fechamento de indústrias na emergência sanitária, com milhões de crianças fora da escola e famílias perdendo seus empregos essenciais, as Organizações Não Governamentais e as Organizações Comunitárias uniram-se para agir na tentativa de reduzir o trabalho infantil na produção de tijolos, bordados e na indústria de tapetes (21) . Na África Ocidental, dados coletados entre outubro/2020-fevereiro/2021 em uma comunidade rural de Gana, mostraram que o fechamento de escolas propiciou que crianças em contextos de pobreza fossem levadas ao trabalho infantil, forçadas a acompanhar seus pais para trabalhar nas fazendas ou vender alimentos na beira da estrada (22) . Globalmente, quase 9 milhões de crianças e adolescentes correm o risco de ser direcionados para o trabalho infantil até o final de 2022 como resultado do surto pandêmico.…”

Section: Página81unclassified

O trabalho de crianças e adolescentes: repercussões da pandemia de Covid-19

Robazzi¹,

Silveira²,

Piagge³

et al. 2023

Trabalho Da Criança E Do Adolescente: História, Perspectivas E Desafios

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O trabalho infantil está presente na sociedade há muito tempo e, em algumas culturas, tornouse natural ver crianças e adolescentes trabalhando. No entanto, é um grande problema, pois ao ser inserida no mercado de trabalho desde muito cedo, a criança acaba por perder sua infância e transforma-se, precocemente, em um adulto, passando por uma transformação física e psicológica mais cedo do que é o natural. Nesse texto, buscou-se identificar as modificações acontecidas no trabalho infantil sequentes ou desenvolvidas em decorrência da pandemia da COVID-19. Foram pesquisadas as bases de dados e bibliotecas virtuais de âmbito nacional e internacional buscando-se estudos referentes ao trabalho infantil durante o surto pandêmico; entretanto, pouco foi encontrado sobre a situação da criança/adolescente trabalhador na pandemia, embora esse tipo de trabalho parece ter aumentado, em muitos países, incluindo o Brasil, possivelmente decorrente da situação econômica deficitária já existente e incrementada pela pandemia, sendo que, em sua maioria, as famílias recorrem aos jovens (crianças e adolescentes) para auxiliar na sua própria manutenção. O trabalho infantil e suas perspectivasPresente na sociedade há muito tempo e em algumas culturas, tornou-se natural ver crianças e adolescentes trabalhando. Essa forma de trabalho é aquela que priva as crianças de sua infância, seu potencial e sua dignidade e que é prejudicial ao seu desenvolvimento físico e mental. Refere-se a atividade laboral que é mental, física, social ou moralmente perigosa e prejudicial para as crianças, que interfere na sua escolarização, que as priva da oportunidade de frequentarem a escola, que as obriga a abandonar a escola prematuramente ou exige que se combine frequência escolar com trabalho excessivamente longo e pesado (1) .É considerado um grande problema, pois a criança ao ser inserida no mercado de trabalho desde muito cedo acaba por perder sua infância e transforma-se em um adulto

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Children's lives in an era of school closures: Exploring the implications of COVID‐19 for child labour in Ghana

Cited by 7 publications

References 28 publications

Child marriage and education in the context of a global pandemic: Exploring the gendered implications of COVID‐inspired school closures in Ghana

Child marriage and education in the context of a global pandemic: Exploring the gendered implications of COVID‐inspired school closures in Ghana

Children and young people's perspectives on and experiences of COVID‐19 in global contexts

O trabalho de crianças e adolescentes: repercussões da pandemia de Covid-19

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