Impact of illegal mining on school attendance and academic performance among students in public junior high schools in Atiwa west district

Abstract

This study assessed the impact of illegal mining on school attendance and academic performance of junior high school students in the Atiwa West District of Ghana. Phenomenological research design was used for this study and research instrument used was semi-structured interview. Twenty (20) student respondents were selected for the study. Purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were employed to select respondents for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the five junior high schools in the district and the pupil participants were selected using snowballing technique. Findings of the study has revealed that indeed illegal mining activities partake, by students do have negative effect on school attendance and academic performance and it was established that students who come to school regularly perform tremendously while the absentee students perform poorly. The study recommended that with the implementation of the New Educational Reform and Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education, parents must educate their wards on the importance of education, and parents must be made aware that it is their responsibility to bear the cost of their children’s need.