Connections Between Child Migration and Education

I chose to read the article, “Independent Child Migration and Education in Ghana” because of the service learning project at Hope Community Boys’ Home. In speaking with PhD student, Rosie, who lived at Hope for 3 weeks, I learned that one young man she met had migrated to Accra to serve as a ‘house boy’. It sounded like he had a poor experience and moved into Hope as a result. I wanted to learn more about children’s migration experiences and the accompanying opportunities and disadvantages.  

In the article, Iman Hashim interviewed young people who had independently migrated from rural farms of Northeastern Ghana to rural and urban areas of Central and Southern Ghana. He describes connections between migration and access to formal and non-formal education.

Firstly, education in Ghana is made up of nine years of free, compulsory, basic education. Students can go on to senior secondary schools for a fee, if they qualify through examinations. School fees vary, but are considered expensive, especially for those with low income. Hashim states that one factor in a child’s enrollment in school is the family’s perceived benefit of securing well-being for the household. He writes that a senior secondary school certificate is mostly necessary to obtain formal job. A family must believe that a child will succeed and contribute to the household, since the family is investing so much in the education.

Hashim goes on to describe Northeastern Ghanaian families in intensive farming villages. Some families determine that work is more appropriate than formal education for their child (and is also seen as age-appropriate behavior for children). Hashim states that although there is need for a child to contribute labor and to teach them skills for adulthood, labor is also a process of enculturation into roles in the domestic economy and wider community. Furthermore, children are usually included in conversations about their migration. Younger children (7-13) are usually sent at the request for labor from a migrant relative, or to be cared for elsewhere. Older children (13-18) often choose to seek opportunities to maximize their welfare and livelihood, by moving elsewhere.

While some children may migrate for educational opportunity, there were negative outcomes, which include the risk of exposure to abusive and exploitative working conditions. Also, Hashim describes a trend in which children migrated to fill a labor void in a relative’s household. The filled labor gap allowed the relative’s children to fulfill their own educational aspirations.

Hashim’s research states that some positive aspects of migration are related to educational and training opportunities. Migration may allow a child to earn money to pay for school or an apprenticeship. Children may also be afforded support for going to school in exchange for the labor.

He states that a range of factors impact on the linkages between children’s independent migration and education, and the effects of migration on education are very context-specific. Migration may offer a greater opportunity for education for some, while others leave school in order to migrate for work.

This article has compelled me to consider the differences in concepts of education versus work and how these ideas vary between the U.S. and Ghana. The U.S. has laws which protect children from work through child labor laws. In order to understand this concept in Ghanaian culture, the next article I will review will be “New Laws, Old Values: Indigenous Resistance to Children’s Rights in Ghana” by Janice Windborne.  

Reference

Hashim, Iman. (2007). Independent child migration and education in Ghana. 

Development and Change. 38(5): 911–931.

Education for All

In his article, ”Lifelong learning and the attainment of the education-related Millenium Development Goals 2 and 3 in Ghana. Is there a critical nexus?”, Michael Tagoe from the University of Ghana, asserts that Ghana requires a lifelong learning policy and practice. He states that although Ghana has seen an increase in school enrollments, there are continuing disparities in enrollment and completion, and a lag in girls’ progress compared to their male counterparts.

He recommends a combination of formal and non-formal learning, and creation of programs that promote post-primary education. This will provide children, youth, and adults with the opportunities for successful lifelong learning. Informal learning is necessary to instill the value of education in young Ghanaians. This will ultimately improve the skills and competences of Ghanaian citizens.

One framework to address poverty and education on a global scale was the United Nations' Millenium Development Goals in 2000. These goals were a series of international development objectives to be achieved by 2015. MDG Goals 2 and 3 addressed education.

·         Goal2 was to “achieve universal primary education by ensuring that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling”.

·         Goal 3 was to “promote gender equality and empower women”. This goal’s education target was to eliminate gender disparity in primary, secondary, and tertiary education by 2005, and in all levels by 2015.

Another framework for improved educational standards was Ghana’s 1992 Constitution which states that all persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities with a view to achieve the full realization of that right. According to Tagoe, Ghana has worked to fulfill this by raising quality of teaching, improving access and retention, and increasing female school participation.

Despite both frameworks and efforts to follow them, educational disparities persist, specifically according to Ghana’s geography. There are geographic disparities of poverty, and thus, education and basic services. The northern savannah regions (Upper East, Upper West, and Northern Regions) and the Central Region experience higher levels of poverty.

Tagoe goes on to state that lifelong learning must be emphasized in order to combat persistent educational disparities. Lifelong learning recognizes and promotes the multiplicity of learning in life through family, schools, vocational training universities, the work place, and in the community.

However, lifelong learning requires a strategy and policies framework to provide some vision and structure for levels of education and training.  This requires strategies and policies in the education sector that promote lifelong learning-contexts, experiences, and competencies.  Ultimately, Tagoe believes that this process will foster and create access to a flexible learning system, which will improve the nation’s skills and competences to promote development and reduce poverty.

From Tagoe’s article, lifelong learning is a concept that is a natural element to daily life. Yes, it order to have meaning, the learning must be intentional. There must be a way to measure the learning to ensure that it is occurring and being realized by Ghanaians. I am curious to know if the term “lifelong learning” is something that most of the population can relate to and whether or not people would state that they participate in this concept as described by Tagoe.

Ghana Maymester peers-do you have any insight on this or further questions about Tagoe’s article?

Reference

Tagoe, M. (2011). Lifelong learning and the attainment of the education-related Millenium Development Goals 2 and 3 in Ghana. Is there a critical nexus? International Journal of Lifelong Education. 30 (1), 19-35. doi: 10.1080/02601370.2011.538191