Determinants of Parents' Perception of Child Labour Practices in Southwest, Nigeria

The study examined determinants of parents’ perception of child labour practices. The research design adopted in the study was descriptive design of the survey type. The population of the study consisted of all married male and female parents living in southwest geopolitical zone. The sample for the study consisted of 1,649 married male and female parent’s selected from three states in Southwest, Nigeria. A self-designed questionnaire tagged “Perception and Child Labour Questionnaire (PCLQ)” was used to collect data for the study. The validity of the instrument was ensured through content validity. The reliability of the instrument was determined by finding the internal consistency of the instrument using Cronbach alpha. This yielded a coefficient value of 0.83. The data collected from the questionnaire were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of this study revealed that parents perceived child labour differently as most of them do not encourage child labour practices. The findings further revealed that there is difference in parent’s perception of child labour practices based on their educational status, employment status, income status and location. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Government should intensify more effort on public enlighten to create more awareness about detriments of child labour. Jingles should run on radio and television periodically in English and local dialect for better understanding of the evil called child labour.

Keywords: Determinants, Parents’ Perception, Child Labour, Practices,