Child participation in the soapstone production and its Influence on school going children in Tabaka division, Gucha south sub county, Kisii county, Kenya

Child participation is a human right framework demonstrating that many different provisions in the conventions on the rights of the child which reject the punitive treatment of children explicitly promote the child's human dignity, physical and mental integrity, free expression influence in decision making in their wellbeing. Soapstone mining and carving at Tabaka Division has been ongoing since 1895. The bedrock of the soapstone spreads across at 25 square kilometer area. Most of the soapstone is sold as finished products in the form of carvings locally and abroad. The problem lies in that despite lots of efforts have been put in place for improving and protecting the rights of the children based on the interest of their welfare, children continue to participate in work which affect their life socially, mentally and academically and thus hinders them in living life to the fullest. The general objective for this study is to explore child participation, in the soap stone production and its influence on school going children in Tabaka Division, Gucha South Sub-county Kisii County. It is on this strength the study sought to examine the prevalence levels of child participation in soapstone production, examine the socioeconomic factors promoting child participation in soapstone production and analyze the challenges facing child participation on soapstone production efforts aimed at reducing child participation in soapstone production. The study was guided by the participatory theory propounded by Goethe which emphasizes that the traditional approaches in the societies needs to be merged with scientific knowledge children have their own capacities as experiencing subjects who are capable of autonomous social action and cultural creation.The study was of a cross-sectional descriptive design. The study population comprised of 364 children of classes five, six, seven and eight who participate in soapstone production. Glenn's formula was used to arrive at the sample size. Simple random sampling was used to arrive at the representation of respondents (pupils) per school. Teachers and chiefs were interviewed in this study. They were selected purposively. Qualitative data was collected through key informant interviews, in-depth interviews and semi-structured questionnaire. Quantitative data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Qualitative data was analysed manually where the emerging themes were verified then presented using verbatim quotes, narratives and analysed reports. SPSS (Version 20) was used to facilitate quantitative data organisation and analysis where frequencies were used to summarise the data which was presented through tables of frequencies and percentages.Prevalence levels were revealed to be high among children at the age of 10-14 years falling under classes 4-8. The need for money was pointed out as a major factor that enhances child participation in soapstone production. The study revealed poverty as key drawback to implementation efforts on policies related to child participation. Hence, efforts put in place to fight unhealthy child participation in soapstone production cannot be achieved. In summary, soapstone production by children was considered to have both pros and cons in relation to going to school. As much as it affected pupil performance due to increased absenteeism, it enabled some children to remain in school instances where they used the money to meet school related expenses which at times their parents were not able to meet. Conclusively, properly created child participation policies need to be developed to enable quality and beneficial child participation practices. This will make child participation satisfactory to children, school and the society at large.