A Study on the Educational Status of Tourism Child Labourers in Petra, Jordan

Abstract

The study seeks to identify the real status of child labour in tourism in the Petra area and the children's cultural and social tendencies through using the descriptive social survey. The study identifies the real status of child labour through revealing the demographic and social characteristics of children working in the field of tourism and the economic and social characteristics of those children and their families, as well as monitoring the set of values those children have pictured, which express their tendencies and stands toward work, education, and future. The study revealed that the majority of the children working in tourism in Petra face educational and health troubles and they are subjected to different types of abuse. As for the characteristics of children working in tourism in Petra, the majority of them come from large families with relatively high monthly income (around or over the national rate), they are residents of Umm Saihoun village, and half of them work permanently between 8-12 hours per day, the majority of them dropped out of school at early age because of their poor academic performance and disinterest of education.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p20