Socio-economic Factors affecting Female Child Labour and School Attendance : the case of Menge and Komosha

Child labour has been a very important research topic since two decades. lt is the concern of both developed and developing nations as well as every sector of the society. To that end, international and national conventions were held to discuss about issues related to child labour. However, participation of children in work still exists in many c ountries. The notion t hat c hildren work instead of schooling negatively affects the formation of future human capital. Ethiopian is one of the countries where child labour is high with low school participation. Children participate in different forms of work activities that range from household activities to fieldwork of farming, cattle herding and the like. Sorne children specialize in work alone while others combine work and schooling. Engagement of children in such work activities has detrimental effects upon their school
attendance as well as physical and psychological growth. ln line with the above-mentioned reality of the country, this research
aims to find out causes, magnitude and socio-economic factors of female child labour that either hinders school attendance or affects their scholastic achievement. lt was hypothesized that female children engaged in different work activities as a result of social, economic, political and cultural factors and this engagements affect their school attendance, academic performance and physical growth. Both ethnographie and quantitative analyses were used to capture the reality of the situation. ln most cases, the result goes with expectations. The education system of the specific study area is found to be internally inefficient. More than half of female entrants to school drop out without completing the first cycle of primary level and many of them repeat
class. Parental need of their labour contribution is one of the major reasons for their withdrawal form the school and poor academic performance. Female child labour contribution is higher than that of males.Female children participate in domestic work affairs, traditional gold panning and agricultural activities.