Child labor

Child labor is an inseparable phenomenon in the s tructure of developing countries and third world nations. Numerous claims have been made about the benefits of the learning environment on child labor’s life. Individuals do their activities in designed environments, which can influence them. There were few s tudies on designing an educational place for child labors, especially in Iran. The purpose of this s tudy is using an architectural approach to absorb child labors into an educational place in Iran Isfahan. After running library s tudies about child labors and the effect of place on people, in a two years, many field s tudies have been done such as: observing child labors lifes tyle, their work condition, and visiting their support centers. A total of 45 child labors between the ages of 12-18 have been interviewed, and then some results of this interview were examined on a child labors’ help center building. It confirms and completes the results of interview. Initial evidence shows that there is a gap in educational sys tem. Regular schools cannot be responsible for child labors’ needs. So, firs t, the child labor’s personal needs were discovered, then some of the architectural parameters that affect their educational achievements were introduced. The focus of architectural guidelines in this s tudy is in three parameters: well-designed physical space, sense of ownership and social support. It uses architecture to give child labors’ los t social identity back. 

This study takes a rural development perspective to examine the various reasons behind the use of children under 18 years in cocoa farms in Ghana. Using descriptive research, a sample size of 385 cocoa farmers was selected through the multi-stage sampling technique. The analyses included mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage, and perception index. Although the level of usage of children on cocoa farms was relatively low (74%), majority of the children were involved in nursing of cocoa seedlings (87.8%), digging of holes for seedlings (76.3%), gathering of pods (55.7%) and heaping of pods (53.9%). Farmers involved children on cocoa farms for the following three reasons; to acquire indigenous knowledge of farming patterns (Mean=2.18), it is a way of life to learn their parents' occupation (Mean=2.18), and income source of the household (Mean=2.11). The challenge most farmers face in the use of children for farm activities is the fact that the children do not meet the required strength/energy (Mean=2.48). Policy efforts towards the complete eradication of using children under 18 years on cocoa farms must take into consideration the rural nature of the environments in which cocoa farming takes place in order not for it to backfire as is the case currently.