The Impact of Illicit Gold Mining on School Dropout: A Case of Senior High Schools in Asante Akim Municipality

Abstract

Studies indicate that there is a continuous relation between illicit mining and children's education. This study therefore, sought to examine the ramification of illicit mining on school dropout in the Asante Akim Central Municipality, Ghana. The purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. A sample size of 360 was chosen for the study. Questionnaire and structured interview guide were used to collect the data. The correlational research design was used in the study. Linear regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and standard deviation were used to analyse the data. The study found the three leading factors that accounted for students to enter into illicit mining to be Poverty (M = 3.9222, SD = 1.19169), perceived lack of employment opportunities after school (M = 3.5972, SD = 1.42657) and disinterest towards schooling (M = 3.5611, SD = 1.38501). The study further found a significant positive relationship between illicit mining and school dropout (R = 0.178, p < 0.05), students' academic performance (R = 0.206, p < 0.05,) and health risk and diseases (R = 0.312, p < 0.05). Effective implementation of legal framework to prevent children of school-going age from mining activities is imperative to ameliorate this educational menace. Again, vocational and technical education must be intensified to give such students employable skills in the shortest possible time.