POVERTY NOT THE REAL ISSUE FOR CHILD LABOUR
By: Boniface Mouti
The other day I was at the Tengeru market, and as usual it never escapes my eyes
watching those children selling plastic paper bags called AMarlboro@ and some
pulling heavy carts. I get concerned and my question has been; is it true that
these children are doing all these because they are poor at home? I asked my
friend who comes from around that area whether indeed these children come from
poor families who cannot afford to feed them. His response was Athese are
children who come from around and find going to school tedious for them and
their parents have no time to follow them up@.
Research has shown that poverty is not, as is often believed, the major cause of
child labour nor is it the main obstacle to making full-time formal education
accessible for every child. Child labour is in the vast majority of cases not
necessary to >help families survive=. Many studies show that children=s wages
only contribute in a meagre way to the family=s income, whereas the cost of
children missing out on education is much greater in both the individual
development of the child as well as development of society as a whole. Several
experiences in a country like ours show us that existing social norms,
tradition, exclusion and discrimination of certain groups as well as a badly or
>indifferently= functioning educational system are the most important reasons
why children are working and not attending school.
The discussion about the right to education often ignores the inextricable link
between universalisation of education and the abolition of child labour. A large
number of children are not going to school because of their involvement in some
form of child labour. The emphasis has been on providing infrastructure and
improving the quality of education. Though these inputs are very important, they
are not enough to bring all children to school. It is essential that the school
system itself - together with other >stakeholders like parents, children and
civil society - actively enrols and retains all working and other out-of-school
children - including girls who work at home - into formal full-time education.
This implies the need to establish or (re)confirm the norm that work should
never be an impediment to full-time education.
Many people however - including international donors - believe that child labour
is >a necessary evil=. This view limits the international donors= approach on
child labour mainly to a focus on its worst forms labour, leading to piecemeal
ad hoc solutions and creating an obstacle to a sustainable comprehensive
strategy towards the elimination of all forms of child labour. The result is
often that one group of children is replaced by another as a cheap source of
labour, since there is no norm that child labour is unacceptable. Providing
informal part-time education to working children, equally conveys the message
that child labour is acceptable for some children, thereby creating or
reinforcing >=first and second class rights= to education. Within this context
the campaign maintains that any form of child education, like night schools or
part-time education, are supporting child labour and therefore must be
challenged.
To ensure the right to full-time education, international donors must B wherever
possible B contribute to the promotion and implementation of laws on compulsory
education and the prohibition of child labour and their compatibility. In
addition, they must contribute to the right to education and prohibition of
child labour in practice. It is therefore necessary that development
co-operation for basic education is guided by the following criteria and
considerations:
Co-operation between the ministries of education, labour and other relevant
departments, especially with regard to a better co-ordination of the inspections
on education and labour. Formal full-time education should become and remain
free of costs for all children. That includes any additional costs like
schoolbooks, uniforms and school transport, which should B especially where the
poor are concerned - be borne by the government. Establishing the norm that no
child should work has to be part and parcel of every programme that aims to get
all children into full-time education. This can only be done through the
education and mobilisation of each and every >stakeholder= in education:
including children, parents, teachers, town and village councils, (local)
government, education and labour inspection, institutions for welfare and
security, public transport, unions and NGOs.
The mandate, competencies and funding of the education system (from the Ministry
for Education to every single school) should be designed in such a way that the
education system is not only responsible for children already going to school.
It should also be responsible for the implementation of measures to get all
working and other non-school going children into school, including any child
under fourteen that has missed school when he/she was younger. It is also
necessary to establish a system of visits to (likely) >drop-outs= and their
parents as soon as possible, talk about their problems and try to find a
solution. All this means that close cooperation is needed between all
stakeholders and that resources should be made available allowing active
participation of the local community.
The above mentioned mandate should also include the organisation of
>bridge-schools= (via courses, classes, extra lessons etc.) that will help older
children to mainstream into full-time education. In addition >bureaucratic
barriers= to education should be removed or parents should be supported to
overcome them. These include: filling in registration forms, securing of a birth
certificate or a medical proof of illness, inadequate school transport,
mandatory school uniforms, impossibility to enrol after the age of 6 etc. All
these seemingly trivial issues often keep children out of school and/or lead to
drop-outs. The education system should help parents - especially those who are
illiterate and poor - to deal with these matters. Let us save our children from
exploitative habits like child labour.
Mr. Mouti is the Director for Children for Children's
Future (CCF), an NGO committed to empowering and protecting street children in
Arusha.
Email: rehofo@yahoo.com
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