PRESIDENT  Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the Department of Education to step measures to end child labor and bring back these children to school.

“The role of children is to study, learn and play, not to earn a living at their tender age.” President Arroyo  pointed out.  “I am therefore pleased that DepEd is working with other government agencies and non-government organizations, whether local and foreign, to bring back these children to school,” she emphasized.

Following President Arroyo’s directive, DepEd has recently signed an agreement with World Vision Development Foundation (WVDF) to step up efforts in bringing more than 800,000 Filipino children toiling as laborers back to the classroom.

Through the ABK2 Initiative, or Pag-aaral ng mga Bata Para sa Kinabukasan, DepEd and WVDF will jointly raise public awareness and mobilize resources to combat child labor and promote school attendance.

“Our children are supposed to be in school and not on the streets or in sweatshops working under horrible conditions,” Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said.

ABK2 is a four-year project funded by the United States Department of Labor that aims to contribute to the reduction of exploitative child labor in the Philippines.

According to Elnora Avarientos, executive director of WVDF, the six identified sectors where child labor is particularly rampant are in commercial agriculture (sugarcane plantation), domestic work, pyrotechnics business, mining, quarrying, sex trade and scavenging.

DepEd backs the project in the form of policy and technical support that will provide child laborers access to quality and relevant education programs.

Based on the 2007 sub-regional multiple indicator cluster survey conducted by the National Statistic Office and the United Nation Children’s Emergency Fund in 2007, some 830,000 children in the Philippines, or 16 percent of all children, are classified as child laborers. Of these, about 670,000 children both attend school and work as child laborers.

Lapus added that even if poverty is the major cause for such a sorry situation, these 830,000 children, undeniably, remain the responsibility of DepEd.

“We are accountable to them in terms of their education. This is one of our major concerns,” he pointed out.

DepEd has vigorously pursued non-traditional programs to increase the participation and retention rates of school children, especially those burdened by difficult circumstances.

This includes the “Child Find” program which is focused on reaching the unreached children who are out of school. DepEd is also holding multi-grade classes. It now   has 24,882 such classes all over the country.

The multi-grade class is where students of different grade levels are handled by a single teacher. “It not only provides access to education for children who are otherwise out of school, it also addresses the quality of education we provide to this sector,” said Assistant Secretary Teresita Inciong.

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.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) began yesterday the implementation of a four-year project aimed at providing free education to over 9,000 child workers in the country.

This means that child workers nationwide can now look forward to a better future as they abandon their jobs and go back to school, labor officials said.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the DOLE is signing today with the World Vision Development Foundation (WVDF) and the Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) an agreement to implement the project and give child workers access to educational opportunities.

Roque said the project, dubbed “Pag-aaral ng mga Bata Para sa Kinabukasan” (ABK2) or Take Every Action for Children (TEACH), would be undertaken with grants from the United States’ Department of Labor.

Under the project, DOLE said children who used to work in the mining industry, pyrotechnics and sugarcane plantations will be back in class this school year.

Former scavengers, domestic helpers, fishermen, and child prostitutes are also among the beneficiaries of the program.

After four years of project implementation, some 30,000 child workers are expected to complete elementary and secondary education.

Roque said representatives from the DOLE, WDF, CCF, and other social partners in the national drive against child labor would gather at the Bulacan State University (BSU) in Malolos, Bulacan where the main celebration of World Day Against Child Labor will be held today.

He said the theme of the celebration, “Education is the right response to child labor,” underscores the importance of education as a major strategy in preventing and eliminating child labor.

“Child workers often find themselves forced to drop out of school in favor of working to supplement family income or simply support themselves, but this time, they have the chance for a better future,” he said.

To help the children sustain their schooling, Roque said the ABK2 project would provide resources and access to relevant education programs to beneficiaries.

Project activities would focus on reducing child workers’ barriers to attending formal school and expanding skills and business-based learning opportunities for children 15 to 17 years old.

DOLE would also connect the parents of the beneficiaries with its pro-poor programs, particularly those that provide wage and livelihood opportunities to improve their income.

The project would be implemented in areas where there is high incidence of child labor, such the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Camarines Norte, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Leyte, Davao del Sur, and Compostela Valley.

“Educating children while providing their parents with income sources are the long-term solutions to break the bondage of poverty that ties child workers and their families to the cycle of child labor,” Roque said.

Unlike many school children in various parts of the country, most children in Negros Occidental are not getting ready for the coming school opening next week.

For instead of going to school, a large number of the young population in Negros Occidential would be doing their usual chores in sugar plantation.

Albertito Morados, program coordinator of the non-government organization Quidan-Kaisahan (QK) in Negros Occidental reported that nearly half of the children in the province are working.

“A high 36 percent of children in Negros are working, in fact, 8,600 children are joining the labor force every year,” Morados said.

He said that majority of the children are working in sugar plantations and exposed to health risk and other job-related accidents.

Laura Vicuna Foundation Inc. executive director Sr. Maria Josefina Carrasco said children as young as five years old are already working in sugar plantations in Negros.

“You can see in the sugar plantation five-year-old children throwing the sugarcane to the sky and cutting it before falling on the ground using bolo and other sharp tools,” Carrasco said.