Child Labour is counterproductive to development

YOU see children selling bottles of water on the streets by the traffic lights. You see them lending a hand at the mechanic shop or at the farm and you hear of them working in the mining pits all day instead of going to school. What you don’t see is their childhood being robbed from them as they are forced to work to help provide for their families.

But what would happen to the family- the mother and her five children- if her son stops his work and goes to school instead?

The Nelson Mandela quote: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, is easily one of the most popular quotes to date about education. It adequately sums up the importance of education. With this in mind, it is equally important to know that denying someone education equates to stymieing development.

Just this past week, Guyana joined with the rest of the world to observe World Day against Child Labour. This past week, too, Guyana-through the Ministry of Social Protection- forged ahead with stamping out child labour through its Draft National Policy against Child Labour.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), child labour is “…work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity and that is harmful to mental and physical development.” And according to the International Journal on Health Services, “The root cause of child labour is extreme poverty.”

Moreover, through evidence gathered here recently by way of a rapid assessment, reports of child labour are far more widespread in the “informal economy”, particularly in the agriculture and small-scale mining sectors than in any of the other sectors. Sectors which may pose considerable threats to health.

Cognisant of this, the Social Protection Ministry through its Department of Labour, is working assiduously to regularise, or formalise, this informal economy. That’s where the aforementioned policy steps in.

With focus being placed on keeping children in schools and providing assistance to families so that a child need not carry the burden of providing for the family, the policy will seek to ensure that children enjoy their childhood and become productive citizens- when the time is right.

On the observance of the World Day against Child Labour, the Junior Minister of Social Protection stressed, “Work is for adults.” And it undoubtedly is. Children engaged in work are engaged in Child Labour.

Luckily, it was reported in another news outlet that there are no instances of Child Labour on the coast- even though many say other. The Chief Labour Officer Charles Ogle clarified, “There are different definitions (for child labour); the first world definition or the third world like Guyana definition will be different.” He added that “light work” is not considered child labour, but it should not be during school hours.

But should a child focus on work instead of equipping themselves with the necessary knowledge and skills, that child is entrapped until he/she is able to garner those. Worse yet, if a child is forced into a low-paying job out of “necessity”, it becomes harder for social mobility to occur.

To this end, it must be noted that child labour might not be outright caused by poverty, but the poverty definitely contributes to this scourge. And it is for that reason that the Secretary of the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis, has also called for a national strategy that is focused on poverty eradication.

The mother and her five children might find financial constraints, but the child has to give up their right to education, which in Guyana is free up to the secondary level. In a nation where the biggest portion of the national budget goes toward youth development and education, it is quite counterproductive to let child labour continue unabated… or even at all.

And even with a policy that seeks to stamp out child labour in Guyana, the onus is on all of us to prevent its occurrence. Better must come.

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