The Untold Misery of Children in Mining

Basic Education is a form of education system designed to help an individual achieve his/her basic needs. Acquiring basic knowledge, competencies and skills, writing mathematics, problem solving, critical thinking, numeracy and life skills needed to survive, develop and thrive is almost becoming unattainable or difficult to realize by many children across the globe. Much of the problem confronting basic education development can be attributed to child work, predominantly illegal mining activities. Illegal mining is tremendously impeding basic education development for many children, yet still today, tens of thousands are found in the illegal gold mining sites in the Asutifi South District. The purpose of the study is to examine the extent to which illegal mining activities affect basic school enrollment in the district, and also to examine parent’s commitment in the attainment of basic education in the area. The urgent need to ensure sustainable socio-economic development through pragmatic management decisions and practices has given rise for this study to be undertaken to examine the extent to which the peril of illegal mining is affecting education standards.