The effects of mining activities on the schooling of indigenous youth and the corporate social responsibility of mining companies in Tarkwa

Abstract

The study is about the educational background of the indigenes of Wassa West District and their employability at the mines. Most of the indigenes in the district are not gainfully employed. They are neither engaged in farming nor formal mining which are the main sources of income in the area. They rather resort to galamsey and pay little attention to schooling. There are occasions when the mines express the desire to recruit the indigenes as a compensation for exploiting their natural resources, but they are often constrained by the inadequacy of the skills of the indigenes. This research therefore, uses interviews and questionnaires to investigate the problems that militate against effective Human Resource Development of the indigenes. 23 Basic Schools were purposively sampled from 75, two Senior High Schools from five, and 17 galamsey units were selected for the research. Questionnaires about indigenes and interviews were administered to some teachers of the selected schools. Similar questionnaires and interviews were administered to Galamsey operators. The findings indicate that most of the indigenes prefer working at small scale mining and Galamsey sites rather than schooling. It is recommended that apart from the educational infrastructure which is provided by the Mining Companies, they should also provide scholarship schemes to entice the residents of the communities to patronise schooling.