Child workers

DESPITE the government’s nationwide campaign against child exploitation, the Philippines is still teeming with child workers, who are forced to drop out of school not only in the countryside but also in Metropolitan Manila and other urban centers across the country.

Clearly, the sight of thousands of such children, working as scavengers, farmers, vendors, barkers and laborers, suggests that grinding poverty remains a major problem of the government in a country where corruption is pervasive and deep-rooted.

We agree with Keiko Numi, a regional official of the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, that when families have limited resources, children as young as five are forced to work at the cost of dropping out of school, risking their health or even their lives.

The poor must often choose whether to educate their children or send them to work to help support the family, said the ILO official during a ceremony held in Manila last Thursday to mark World Day Against Child Labor.

Although the number of Filipino children in the labor force declined from 913,000 in 2003 to 774,00 in 2005, education department data showed that the school participation rate dropped to a seven-year low of 38.22 percent in the 2006-2007 school year, said Numi.

It is lamentable that in some areas, children attending schools walk long distances, lack quality instruction and study materials and often have to study in poor physical facilities because of lack of financial resources.

In a speech, the UN official underscored the need to ensure that child laborers are successfully integrated in schools and that they do not return to work until they grow up and acquire education and training.

Should the state allow the country’s youth to join the labor force to supplement the family income? We do not think so. It’s incumbent upon the authorities to implement pro-poor programs designed to give child workers access to education.

But it is heartening to note that the country has launched a four-year project to raise school enrolment levels in areas that have a high incidence of child labor. The project will be implemented in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Camarines Norte, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Leyte, Davao del Sur and Compostela Valley.

A project of the Department of Labor and Employment, World Vision Development Foundation and the Christian Children’s Fund, the program aims to educate the children and provide the parents with income sources.

We cannot afford to have an oversupply of school dropouts and child workers if we are to join the world’s fraternity of economic giants. –People’s Journal