Abstract:
Child labour, a global social problem, has attracted a lot of attention locally from individuals, groups and international organizations. Despite efforts to curb it, the problem still lingers. Peoples’ perception of things, their choice of a profession, and their professional training could influence the way they perceive such social vices. This study, therefore, investigated the perceptions of Helping Professionals (HPs) and Non-Helping Professionals (NHPs) on the forms of child labour and the factors that sustain it in Nsukka town. Using a survey design, a sample of 240 was drawn from parents in selected professionals in Nsukka. A 30-item questionnaire, designed and validated by the researchers, was used to collect data. Means, and standard deviations were computed to answer 3 research questions and T-test was used to test 2 hypotheses that guided the study. Results showed that the perceptions of HPs and NHPs on existing forms of child labour are similar. No significant difference was observed in their perception of factors that sustain child labour. Implications of these for anti-child labour activities were discussed and recommendation made with the most common forms being wheel barrow pushing, street hawking and engaging children in domestic work for long hours.
