Description:
The today challenge which causes primary school children not to complete the cycle of seven
years of primary education is child labour. Although efforts have been made by different
organs to fight against child labour, but there seem to be difficult, as a result completion rate
of standard seven pupils is decreasing time to time. Therefore the purpose of this study was
to determine the impact of child labour on primary school completion. The study employed
exploratory design where by quantitative data was collected by use of a questionnaire that
was administered to 54 pupils. In addition qualitative data was collected through an interview
conducted among six (6) heads of schools, one (1) district education officer, six (6) school
committee representatives, six (6) ward education coordinator and thirty five (35) street
children. The purposive, systematic and snowball sampling techniques were used to select the
respondents. The data was analyzed using a computer programme, the statistical package for
social sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. An analysis of the findings indicated that there is big
relationship between child labour and primary school completion rate also there is
relationship between child labour and absenteeism. Again the findings showed that those
pupils from poor families are mostly affected by child labour compared to the children from
rich families. It was recommended that the government should establish a strong relationship
with different partners to protect children through establishment of different programs,
policies and to enact and enforce different laws which will protect children from labouring