EFFECT OF STREET HAWKING ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL (JSS III) STUDENTS IN CALABAR
EDUCATION ZONE, CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA
Nwagwu, Grace Francis; Anyin, Nnyenkpa Ntui; Effiom, Bassey Ekeng;
Ameh, Enemadukwu David & Undie, Peter Angiagieye
Department of Guidance and Counselling,
University of Calabar,
Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract
Child street hawking is a prevalent and persistent socio-economic problem affecting the educational development of children, particularly in developing countries. A street child is a child that is living on the street, working on the street, or dependent on the street for survival, even if they have some connection to a family. Among the problems children street hawkers suffer is that, many lack access to education, while those enrolled in school are often absent and have no time to do their homework or revision, as a result of their engagement in street trading. This potentially impacts their academic performance negatively, especially in English Language, which requires regular class attendance, rapt attention and regular performance of exercises for mastery of the subject. One research question and one hypothesis were formulated for the study. Ex-post facto research design was adopted. A sample of 520 respondents was randomly selected for the study using the stratified and simple random sampling techniques. The questionnaire titled “Child Street Hawking and
Academic Performance of Students’ Questionnaire” (CSHAPSQ)” and English Achievement Test (EAT) were the instruments used for data collection. The instruments were subjected to face and contents validation by two experts. The reliability estimate of 0.71 to 0.80 of the instrument was established through test-retest method; simple regression analysis was the statistical analysis technique adopted to test the hypothesis. The null hypothesis was tested at .05 level of significance. The results of the analysis revealed that child street hawking had significant influence on students’ academic performance in English Language. Comprehensive interventions involving government policies, community awareness,
educational support programmes, and NGO involvement to mitigate the practice and improve students' academic outcomes are recommended.
Keywords: Academic Performance, Child Street Hawking, Child Labor, Education, Poverty. DOWNLOAD PDF