Purpose of the study: The development of digital technology has brought about significant changes in the patterns of social interaction and learning outcomes of children, including in developing countries such as Nigeria. This study aims to investigate the impact of new media use on the social interaction and learning outcomes of children aged 8–12 years in Nigeria. Methodology: Using a mixed-method approach with a sequential explanatory design, data were collected from 220 respondents through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Main Findings: The results showed that the majority of children use digital media, such as mobile phones and computers, not only for entertainment but also as a means of learning and social communication. A total of 59.6% of respondents had a good level of media use, while 64.6% demonstrated good social interaction, and 62.3% achieved positive learning outcomes. Regression analysis showed that new media use contributed 64.3% to the variation in children's social interaction and learning outcomes. This study confirms that with proper supervision and direction, digital media can be an effective tool to support children's social and academic development. Novelty/Originality of this study: These findings have important implications for education policy and the active role of parents and teachers in assisting children's use of digital media.
Queen Nwoji, Bashiru Aliyu Gada, Zahra Mohammed M. Alqahtani
The Covid-19 pandemic led to school closures all over the world, leaving children across diverse contexts without formal education for nearly a year. Remote-learning programs were designed and rapidly implemented to promote learning continuity throughout the crisis. There were inequalities in who was able to access remote-learning during school closures, though little systematic evidence documenting these gaps exists, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In this study, we surveyed 1,844 children in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, as well as their caregivers and teachers, regarding their engagement in remote learning, literacy and math test scores, and household economic hardships. We document inequalities in access to and engagement in remote-learning activities during the ten months in 2020 in which schools were closed in Ghana. Specifically, children in private schools and children in higher-socioeconomic status households engaged in remote-learning at higher rates and received more support from their schools and caregivers. Further, controlling for demographic characteristics and pre-pandemic learning outcomes, we document gaps in children’s literacy and math test scores, with food insecure and low-SES children, as well as children enrolled in public schools before the pandemic, performing significantly worse than their peers (0.2-0.3 SD gap). Finally, children in households that experienced more economic hardships during the pandemic engaged in fewer remote learning activities and had lower literacy and numeracy assessment scores. The findings speak to the potential consequences of increased inequalities due to the pandemic as schools re-open in Ghana and around the world and provide insight into how schools may address these inequalities as children return to the classroom.
Sharon Wolf, Elisabetta Aurino, Noelle M. Suntheimer et al.
The study examined the impact of maternal education and female labour participation on child health outcomes in Nigeria from 1990 to 2024.The study was motivated by the persistent challenge of preventable child deaths in Nigeria, where many children died before reaching the age of five.An ex post facto research design was adopted using annual secondary time-series data.The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was employed to analyse both the short-run and long-run relationships among the variables.The empirical findings showed that malnutrition and low vaccination coverage were key drivers of under-five mortality.A one-unit increase in infant mortality and malnutrition increased under-five mortality by 1.60 and 0.10 units, respectively.Conversely, vaccination had a strong negative effect, as a one percent increase reduced under-five mortality by 4.90 units.Similarly, under-five mortality increased infant mortality by 0.32 units.The study concluded that child health outcomes depended largely on adequate nutrition and immunization coverage, while maternal education and female labour participation had no statistically significant impact in Nigeria.The study recommended that the government should prioritize adequate nutrition and expand immunization coverage to reduce under-five mortality.It further recommended policies aimed at addressing child malnutrition through improved food security and healthcare access.Additionally, the government should enhance the quality and relevance of maternal education while creating supportive conditions for women's labour force participation without compromising effective childcare practices.
The advent of technology has brought about unprecedented opportunities for communication and access to information which has helped in professional skills development, fostering learning, research and creativity. It has also created an avenue for criminals to exploit the ‘vulnerable’ in the society, particularly the children; thus, making the cyber space unconducive for them. This paper examines the legal protection of children against online sexual exploitation and abuse in Nigeria. It identifies the various types of online child sexual abuse, examines the legal framework for the protection of children against online sexual abuse, pinpoints the challenges associated with the legal framework and proffers durable solutions that will help tackle the exponential growth in online child sexual abuse in Nigeria. This paper adopts a mixed method research design and finds that there is significant increase in online child sexual abuse in Nigeria in spite of the laws and institutions in place to address this problem. Additionally, it is revealed that the legal framework for the protection of children against online child sexual abuse in Nigeria is fraught with deficiencies. The paper concludes that Nigeria owes the obligation to protect its children from online child sexual abuse and needs to take proactive steps to ensure this. The paper recommends that measures be taken to ensure that perpetrators of the heinous crime of online child sexual abuse are brought to book to serve as deterrents to others in the society.
The study investigated Achieving Cyber Safety in Junior Secondary Schools in Rivers State. Three Objectives, three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. A descriptive survey design was adopted. Population of the study was 815 teachers of public junior secondary schools in Obio-Akpor Local government area of Rivers State. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 182 males out of 374 and 221 females out of 441 representing 50%. Instrument used for data collection was a 17 item questionnaire tagged –Achieving Cyber Safety Questionnaire (ACSQ) with a reliability index of 0.89, was used for data collection. Reliability of the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach Alpha. Research questions were answered using mean and hypotheses tested using z-test. It was found that there is a low awareness of problems associated with cyber usage by students in junior secondary schools among the educators. Also, there is no cyber safety strategies employed for the students. The study concluded that the educational system encourages learners to get involved in the cyber space, but cannot continue to overlook the risks involved and allow children to waste their future in the internet. It was however recommended among others that teachers should be good role models by using digital media in the way that they want the students under their care to use it now and in future and parents should also be involved in checking their children activities online.
The study was aimed at identifying child labour practices existing in urban and rural areas in Cross River state. The study utilized survey design while cluster random sampling and purposive sampling technique was used to select samples, questionnaires and key informant interview were deployed for data collection. The analysis of data involved use of percentages and transcription of views of the key informants. The study discovered that child labour practices in urban areas of Cross River state include domestic work, street hawking, and shop/store operating, blue-collar laboring, plate washing in restaurants, car washing and bus conducting. In rural communities, child labour the practices are kiosk operating, palm wine tapping and sales. The findings have also shown that in urban communities, nearly half of the respondents are paid for their services while in rural areas most of the children are not paid for their services. The amount of money paid to the child labourers in the urban areas ranges mostly between N300-N500 while in the rural communities, majority of respondents receive below N200. The category of people engaging children as child labourers in urban areas, are mostly business owners/operators while in rural areas, parents are the group that uses children as child labourers the most. Recommendations for controlling child labour in urban areas include execution of child right laws, creation of awareness and prosecution of people who engage children in labourous practices. In rural areas, creation of awareness, poverty reduction and execution of child right laws was recommended.
Both government and non-governmental organisations have been making efforts in the fight against the menace of child labour, child poverty and deprivation.Despite these efforts, 70% of world's child labour still work in agricultural sector.This study examined the nexus and impact of child poverty, deprivation and other socio-economic variables on child labour among rural farming households in Enugu State of Nigeria.Data for the study were collected using survey research design with the aid of structured questionnaire and interview.Descriptive statistics and multinomial logit regression was applied for data analysis.The result of the study shows that majority (92%) of the farming households were engaged in crop farming, majority (69%) of the children aged between 4 and 17 combined both schooling and agricultural labour.For children who were completely out of school, 5% we found to be idle while 16% engaged in agricultural labour.A significant number of children were engaged in agricultural labour, and 62.3% of them had access to primary school only.About 49.4% of children cannot obtain primary health services.Age, household size and gender of children had positive and significant (p < 0.10) relationship with child labour.We recommended a redesign of poverty alleviation programmes for rural active farmers and public schools make attractive, accessible and affordable in the rural areas.
Abstract This article engages with some salient issues relating to child labour in colonial and post-colonial Africa. The central argument hinges on the inconclusive assault of capital on pre-capitalist socio-economic formation in Africa and the urgent intellectual task of liberating the study of child labour from humanitarian, United Nations and non-governmental organisation bureaucrats by privileging the voices of children themselves. The first section deals with historiographical issues, while the second focuses on agriculture, aspects of urban poverty and the emergence of a Lumpenproletariat to examine the transformation from above which took place after the colonial state was created at the turn of the century. The third section addresses two insidious categories of child labour in the post-colony: child trafficking and child soldiers. The final section grapples with the moral economy of child labour by interrogating the complex array of instruments that have emerged on the global scene to address what is today seen as the child labour ‘problem’.
This study examines the prevalence of child labour and child trafficking in the Gombe Local Government Area (LGA) of Gombe State, Nigeria, employing a survey research design. Utilising a structured questionnaire, data were collected from 379 residents out of a target population of 551,000 in Gombe LGA, yielding a high response rate of 69%. The methodology incorporated both quantitative and qualitative approaches, with data analysed using frequency counts, simple percentages, and correlation analysis. A binary logistic model, derived from established frameworks, was specified to assess the influence of variables like household income, poverty, household size, and unemployment on child labour and trafficking. The findings indicate a substantial prevalence of child labour, with 74.67% of respondents reporting children engaged in work, and 56.20% having experienced child trafficking within their households. A majority of respondents (41.42%) believe both male and female children are affected. Poverty was identified as the leading cause by 38.79% of respondents, followed by unemployment (21.90%), and a combination of factors (25.33%). The demographic profile of respondents showed a slight majority of females (53.56%) and a significant concentration of middle-aged adults (54.35% aged 31-40). Household incomes were predominantly low, with 43.27% earning less than ₦5,000 and 47% earning between ₦5,000 and ₦50,000 per month. The study highlights the urgent need for interventions addressing socio-economic challenges to mitigate child exploitation in the region.
Street children are exposed to violence, rape, abduction, neglect, physical and mental abuse.These violent experiences, combined with the constant insecurity of having to struggle to find food and shelter, rob these children of their fundamental rights and opportunities to attain full and best life potentials.This study, therefore, evaluated the impact of child labour and violence on the ability of street children to have access to education as well as the effectiveness of co-ordination and collaboration efforts of stakeholders in curbing child labour and violence in Anambra state.The data for the study were collected through the use of interview schedule and questionnaire and were analyzed through descriptive and multinomial logistic regression methods.Results showed that child labour had significant but negative impact on the ability of street children to go to school while child violence is negative but non-significant.The significance of child labour is further confirmed by the long hours and high frequency on the street by street children, thus making it difficult for them to succeed in school.Results further show that there is coordination failure among stakeholders.The study recommends very strong political will to implement child rights' laws and encourages citizens' vigilance/responsibility towards reporting child abuse, labour and violence.
Joan Nwamaka Ozoh, Benedict Ikemefuna Uzoechina, Chinwe Monica Madueke et al.
