P RESENTATION OF A NALYSED D ATA FROM THE Q UESTIONNAIRE

The findings presented in this section are from the data emerged from the questionnaires which were given to 119 students in two classes in 8^th grade

(Appendix No. 5). There were 112 students that answered that they had some kind of work outside school which is 94% of the total number of students asked. From this

total of 112 there are 66 girls and 46 boys. In the following I will present the findings of the kind of work the students do, why they work, how many hours they work and whether they like or dislike it.

4.2.1. Kind of Work done by Students in 8^th Grade

Kind of Work

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Weaving House chores

Pottery Others Car washing

Shoe shining

Carrier Others

At home Outside home

Work

Number of Students

Boys Girls

Table 1: Kind of Work

The table shows that most of the students are engaged in work taking place at home.

That is the case for both girls and boys. Some of the students mention several activities. The most common activity is house chores. From the 112 students there were 69 who answered they were involved in household activities (61,6%). Both boys and girls take part, but far more girls than boys. Altogether 51 girls mentioned some kind of household activity as their work whereas 18 boys say they are involved in that kind of work. The boys mention activities such as cleaning the house, bringing water, helping parents, going shopping and washing clothes. The girls mention

cleaning the home and different utensils, washing clothes, cooking and baking injera.

There were 19 students who answered that they were involved in weaving. As this business is considered as one of the most common in this area it was surprising that not more than 16,6% of 112 students say they work with weaving. That this is a

business for the males is also shown by the fact that 14 boys are involved compared to only 5 girls. In pottery only girls are involved. Information given in the interviews say that in families occupied with weaving and pottery all the members of the family are involved. Further it is said that these activities are the most common in this area.

That is also my impression from my informal observation when walking in the area.

It is therefore a surprise that so few of the students say they are involved in these activities. Is it so, as some of the teachers mentioned, that they are too ashamed of telling that they are involved in this kind of work.

Other kinds of working activities they do at home are metal- and wood work, assisting parents with various jobs, serve as waitress or shopkeeper, and go to the flour mill or “whatever jobs assigned for me”. There are more boys who say they have work outside home than the girls. The kind of work they mention are washing cars, shoe polishing, transporting goods and working in a tea room, a shop and a garage. The girls mention taking a child to school, selling injera or vegetables and working in a barber shop.

4.2.2. Why do Students Work?

In the questionnaire the alternatives showed in Table 2 were given to answer the question why the students work. The answers given are shown in the table. Some students chose several alternatives. The figures show very clearly that it is the need to assist their families that make the students work. There are not many who say they work in order to earn money. Neither are there many who actually get paid for the work they do. One question in the questionnaire asked about that. From 110 students answering 24 said they were paid.

Table 2:

Why Students Work

4.2.3. How much do Students Work?

One question asked about the number of hours the students work every week. It seemed this was a difficult question to answer as only 37 of the 46 boys and 45 of the 66 girls answered the question. Some wrote “always” or “every day”. The answers given are shown in the following table.

Girls Boys Total

1 – 10 hours 22 19 41

11 – 20 hours 13 6 19

21 – 30 hours 3 6 9

31 – 40 hours 4 3 7

41 – 50 hours 2 1 3

51 - hours 1 2 3

Table 3: Number of Hours Students Work

Girls Boys Total

1. I like working 11 8 19

2. I want to earn money myself 1 5 6

3. My parents want me to work 12 4 16

4. I have to earn money for my family 4 8 12

5. I have to assist my family 54 27 81

6. I want to learn a skill 6 7 13

4.2.4. Why do Students like/dislike Work?

Like/Dislike Work

Like work;

33 Like work;

52

Like work;

85

Dislike work;

13

Dislike work;

12

Dislike work;

25

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Girls Boys Total

Number of Students

Table 4: Number of Students who like/dislike Work

From the 112 students working there were 110 answering the question whether they like or dislike the work they are doing and why they do so. Altogether 85 of the 110 students say they like the work – a percentage of 77,2%.

The different answers given about why they like work I have grouped into categories which I have called: help; skills; like, paid and obligation. Most of the answers

mention “learn new skills” as the reason. Some say they simply “like” the work or use the words enjoy, proud, pleasure or good. Further many say they want to or have to help their parents. It seems as if the concept help has different implications. A few (only 5) say payment is the reason. Some say they like work because they have to work or say there is no school without working. I call it obligation. This last mentioned category I have also used when classifying the answers about dislike of work. Others are education and harmful. Some say they dislike work because it takes from the time they should rather have spent on studying. Others say the work is exhausting, it spoils the eyes and is not clean; those are answers I have categorized as harmful.

4.2.5. Summary

The answers from the questionnaire show that most of the students who do some work outside school work at home and mostly are involved in household chores.

Since this is an area where a lot of the families run weaving and pottery businesses it would be expected that more of the students were involved in those activities. Most of the students say they work in order to assist their families and relatively few get paid. It is interesting to register that so many say they like work. Those who dislike work have mentioned as main reasons the obligation to work and that education will suffer.