# Introduction he term "child labor" is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. (1). Interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work. (1). More than one-fourth of the world's people live in extreme poverty, according to 2005 U.N. statistics. The intensified poverty in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America causes many children to become child laborers. (2) Poverty and its related problems are some of the causes of child labor in Ethiopia. The 2001 survey reported that about 90 per cent of the children working in productive activities replied that they were working to either supplement family income (23.8 %) or to improve it (66%). (3). However, research has recently shown that mothers who only went to primary or middle school don't generate much impact on their children, whereas those who have completed high school are much more committed to sending their kids to school. Quite understandably, the more you study, the more you gain the skills you need to climb up the social ladder and get better job. (4). Long hours of work on a regular basis can harm children's social and educational development, U.S. adolescents who work more than 20 hours per week have reported more problem behaviors (e.g., aggression, misconduct, substance use), and sleep deprivation and related problems (falling asleep in school). They are more likely to leave the school. (5). Growth deficiency is prevalent among working children, who tend to be shorter and lighter than other children; these deficiencies also impact on their adult life. (6). Long-term health problems, such as respiratory disease, asbestosis and a variety of cancers, are common in countries where children are forced to work with dangerous chemicals. (6). Exhaustion and malnutrition are a result of underdeveloped children performing heavy manual labor, working long hours in unbearable conditions and not earning enough to feed themselves adequately. (6). The International Labor Organization estimates that 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 currently work under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, or extremely exploitative. (7) Of an estimated 215 million child laborers around the globe: approximately 114 million (53%) are in Asia and the Pacific; 14 million (7%) live in Latin America; and 65 million (30%) live in sub-Saharan Africa . (7). In In 2000 The phenomenon of child labor in Yemen touched the life of more than 400 thousand who belong to the age group of 14-16 years with a male percentage of 48.6%, and a female percentage 51.4%. Studied proved that more than 97% of child workers are children of illiterate parents.(9) In Hadramout and especially in Mukalla city; this issue was not yet addressed and may be neglected. This study was designed to explore in-depth about this sensitive and hidden problem in Mukalla city (capital of Hadramout province at eastern Yemen) focusing on elementary school children, and to address its impact on schooling drop-out and also form the child rights perspective. The specific objective is to determine the prevalence of child labor among school children in and to identify the reasons behind the child labor and its consequences on the health of the child. # II. # Methodology Study design: Across-sectional study was carried out by group (2) fourth year medical students of Hadharamout University in 2015-2016 to determine the prevalence of child labor in primary school students from 5 th grade to 9 th grade in AL-Mukalla city during 2015-2016. # Study area: The study was conducted in governmental elementary school students in Mukalla city, which is the capital of Hadhramaut governorate in Yemen. Study population: all students in the governmental elementary schools in Al-Mukalla city. # Sample size calculation: The sample size was being calculated by using the following formula: The minimum sample size required was 322 students, but actually we enrolled 330 students. Sampling Method: A two-stage sampling was conducted: In the First stage: the total number of governmental elementary schools in Al-Mukalla district were determined then three governmental elementary schools from the total governmental elementary schools were randomly selected by lottery method. The selected 3 governmental primary schools were: 14 October school, Al Gmaher school and Amar bin Yaser. In the Second stage: The sample size (332 students) were distributed proportionally among the randomly selected 3 governmental elementary schools according to the total number of students in each governmental elementary school Then in each governmental elementary school the sample was distributed proportionally among each level according to the total number of students in each level. Students in every level were selected randomly by a lottery method. # Data collection methods & tools: The data was collected by self-administered questionnaire which included the following: 1. Personal data. (age, sex, school, parents job and educational level). 2. Prevalence of child labor. 3. Reasons of child labor. 4. Education level of the parents. # The consequences of child labor on child health The pre-testing of the questionnaire of the study was conducted on 20 students of October primary school at 10/5/2016. The sample of students used in this pre-test was not included in the study. The questionnaire was pre-tested to determine the age of students, question sequence, and the identification of difficult words. The questionnaire was initially constructed in the English language, which was later translated into Arabic language. During the pre-test a few difficult words in some questions were found and these words were changed into simple local words. Also extra necessary questions were added. These problems were discussed with the members of the research team and the questionnaire was modified accordingly. Statistics: Data collected was organized and analyzed using descriptive statistics methods (frequency, percentages, range, mean and standard deviation), # Volume XVIII Issue VI Version I # Results A total of 330 students in elementary schools of Mukalla were enrolled in the study. The mean age of students are 14.6 years (SD 1.6 years) with a range from 11 to 18 years. The study showed a high prevalence of child labor among school children in Mukalla city (179/330, 54.2%) where most of them (73%) were working at night after the school time. (Table 1). Although (57%) of students working in a place where the owners are relative to them but they complain of at least one type of abuse in their work (35.2%) and the work is a hard duty (58.1%) (Table 1). The Working students feel satisfied with this situation as (54.2%) reported that the working environment is clean, and the given salary is sufficient for them (57%), and their employer reward them (53.1%) (Table 1) while the main reason of child labor is that children have the interest to help their families (69.9%). Child labor affects negatively on their school's achievements (63.4%) and about (20.7%) of them thinking to leave school while (79.5%) thinking continues in their work regardless of their schooling achievement. (Table 2). Educational level of parents may have a role in deciding child labor, but in this study, it has not ignificant association with child labor (p-value 0.11). Child labor is not free from health consequences on the working children as (40.2%) of the studied working children were injured due to their work and (31.3%) of them admitted to hospital due to workrelated problems. Psychologically, most of the studied working children feel fear (53.6%), guilt (16.8%) and depression (29.6%) (Table 3). # Discussion The high prevalence of child labor is reported in this study (54.2%), child labor is common in developing countries like Nigeria (64.5%) due to poverty. 10 Similar motivation like their interest to help their family (69.9%) was also reported in Ethiopia (46.7%). 11 Families may encourage their children to work due to the poverty status and in this study no significant association exist between child labor and educational level of their parents (p-value=0.11), the situation is similar to Ethiopia 11 . The working environment is more or less comfortable to the studied students, but most of them are exposed to problems in the place of the work (77.1%) or being abused by their employer (35.2%). The same finding was reported in Ghana (40% abused) 4,12 Effect of child labor in their schooling children is in a negative direction; about (63.7%) of students have failed in their school due to work and (20%) of students wants to stop studying due to work, similar findings were reported in India. (4) Health-related problems are reported in this study as 40.2% of students were injured at their place in contrast to Ghana (28.6%), this may be due to the nature of work and lack of regulations (12) . V. # Conclusion High prevalence of child labor may affect on their school achievements and be a predisposing factor drop-out. Working students are prone to health and psychological problems. Poverty and lack of legal protection of children are main constrains to save the child rights, and to protect them from abuse. 1Working CharacteristicsNo. of students (N=179)%Working timeAt night13173.2%On the day4826.8%Work-loadComfortable5741.9%Hard work10458.1%Nature of the laborFixed in place10156.4%Mobile5933%Others1910.6%The working environmentHygieneClean9754.2%Accepted7340.8%Bad95%consanguinity between childand work ownerRelative10257%Not relative7743%SalarySufficient10257%Not-sufficient7743%Owner rewardingYes9553.1%No8446.9%problems with place ownerYes13877.1%No4122.9%Child abuse from place ownerYes6335.2%No11664.8% 2Student achievementNo of working children N=179%The child failing in their studyYes11463.4%No6536.6%Child have the interest to leavetheir schoolYes3720.7%No14279.3%Child have the interest to continueworking regardless to theirschooling achievementYes12879.5%No5120.5% 3 ## Acknowledgment First and foremost we wish to thank Allah who granted us the wisdom and strength to persevere and finish this study under sometimes difficult circumstances. We would like to convey our warm thanks to everyone who helped us in preparing our study. We would like to thank HUCOM for their encouragement and facilities which give us the opportunity to achieve this study. Also, we would like to thank the staff at Department of Vice President Office of employee's Affairs of Hadhramout University for providing data of the study subjects. ## International Programme on the * Causes and Consequences of Child Labor in Ethiopia. Causes of child labor 2001 * Child Labor in India: a Poverty of Schools. A different solution: parents' education * International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour. Health Issues. Psychosocial Effects of Child Labor Accessed at :5/8/2016 * Addressing the challenge of child labor in tobacco growing. Consequences For Children * Where does most child labor occur Child Labor Public Education Project * Prevalence, types and demographic features of child labour among school children in Nigeria. BMC International Health and Human Rights MFBolanle ONFidelis OAdebiyi 2005 5 * The rapid assessment study on child labour in selected coffee and tea plantation in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Employers' Federation AKifle GBelay ABeyene February, 2005 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia * What is the effects of child labor on learning achievement evidence from Ghana .United nations children's fund .Innocent research center Heady October 2000 Florence, Italy