The regional director of the Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday expressed fears that children are being used as child laborers in gold-rich areas in Compostela Valley Province.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Dr. Susana Estigoy said only eight children enrolled in the Singapore Primary School in Mabini, Compostela Valley Province as of June 29, when enrolment was formally closed.
The school used to have a minimum of 100 enrollees.
“Maybe, the children are now in the mining sites,” Estigoy said.
She said she already gave instruction to locate the unenrolled children so DepEd can decide whether to close the school and merge the eight enrolled students to a nearby school in the municipality of Mabini.
She said Singapore Primary School is located in a very remote area in Mabini.
Estigoy said if the authorized school authorities in said school cannot track down the children, “they might recommend for the closure of the school.”
If the recommendation for closure pushes through, it would be first time for DepEd to do so, she said.
A primary school in Pamintaran, Maragusan, Compostela Valley was nearly recommended for closure when many of the 150 enrolled pupils did not show up for class.
She said the school’s superintendent was thinking of closing down the school; fortunately, the children were located soon after.
Based on DepEd study, many school children in Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte , and Davao del Sur are engaged in child labor.
The study showed that in Compostela Valley Province, many children are working in the mining industry.
Child labor in mining and quarrying is one of the priority sectors of ABK2 Initiative, a special project funded by the United States Department of Labor to combat child labor through education in the Philippines.
The other priority sectors are children in fishing; children in commercial sexual exploitation, children in domestic work; children in pyrotechnics; and children in sugarcane plantations. –JUDY QUIROS, Daily Mirror
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