Child Street Hawking and Its Effects on Educational Development in Kano, North West Nigeria

Child street hawking is a visible social problem in many Nigerian urban centres, depriving children of educational opportunities and exposing them to various forms of exploitation. This study investigates the effects of child street hawking on the educational development of children in Kano Metropolitan Area, North West Nigeria. The study adopts a descriptive survey design and targets hawking children between the ages of 6 and 17, their parents or guardians, and schoolteachers in selected communities within Kano. A sample of 150 respondents is drawn using purposive and snowball sampling, and data are collected through questionnaires and interview guides. Frequencies and percentages are employed in data analysis. Findings reveal that the majority of hawking children have either dropped out of school or attend irregularly, with poverty and parental disregard for formal education cited as primary push factors. The study also finds that hawking children are exposed to road accidents, physical abuse, and psychological trauma. Social work programmes addressing child labour remain limited in scope, and enforcement of child protection laws by relevant authorities is described as inconsistent. Recommendations include expanding school feeding and conditional cash transfer programmes, strengthening enforcement of compulsory education legislation, and deploying social workers to high-density hawking areas to conduct regular outreach and referral services. Keywords: child hawking, educational development, child labour, Kano, social work outreach