"Children are better off over the course of
a lifetime if they go to school. Better educated kids grow into
more productive and better paid adult workers. Education also benefits
society as a whole: educated adults are generally healthier; more
involved in the political process; less dependent on social support
programs; more apt to save and to innovate".
(Senator Tom Harkin, USA, speaking at the May 17
Washington Conference on Action against Child Labour)
Education key solution
Education is recognized as one of the key solutions
to the elimination of child labour. An IPEC project, launched in
1995, identified the best practices worldwide on promoting education
as a major strategy in the elimination of child labour and on how
to further mobilize teachers, educators and their organizations.
There is an overwhelming consensus on the right
to education as a basic human right and as the only viable alternative
to labour.
Education in IPEC Action Programmes in Indonesia
IPEC Action Programmes in Indonesia involving education
are numerous. Many times working children participate in non-formal
education, because this is a more flexible form. It gives them a
possibility to combine work with school and to enter school although
they missed several years.
n The Ministry
of Home Affairs identified working children, motivated them and
their parents to send their children to school and provided 5000
scholarships. Although many children do not completely stop working,
they work at least less hours. n Many children at the dump
site in Bantar Gebang receive non-formal education at the site.
A school is built and scholarships are provided. The latest phase
of the programme makes it a condition that children do not work
at the dumpsite anymore at all in order to receive a scholarship. n In the plantation sector
in East Java, many children received scholarships for non-formal
education and formal education. Religious leaders (Kyai) are helping
to motivate the parents and the children. n In a joint exercise with
UNICEF and UNESCO, within an organization called Education International,
an Information Kit for teachers and their organizations on child
labour was developed. Together with PGRI, the Indonesian Teachers'
Association, this Information Kit is being translated and adopted
to the Indonesian situation. The Kit provides information on child
labour, child rights and education for teachers and exercises, games
and posters to transfer the message to children. n With the Ministry of National
Education, programmes to improve the quality of non-formal education
and the teaching methods have been running.
Examples in other countries:
n Thailand,
to prevent child trafficking and prostitution through the award
of scholarships. "The Ministry of Education's Sema Life Development
Project" has provided 145,000 scholarships to girls at risk
of being recruited into prostitution between 1994 and the present. n India, where a major project
removes children from bondage and streams them into the formal education
system. Since its inception, the MV Foundation's Camp-Based Bridge
Course has allowed 15,000 working children in the state of Andhra
Pradesh to go to school n Kenya, where an Education
and Training project, which ran until 1999, aimed to mobilize education
and training stakeholders, particularly teachers' unions, to institute
interventions aimed at creating awareness by sensitizing parents
and teachers, communities and society with regard to the rights
of the child and especially the right to basic education and protection
from economic exploitation; and strengthening formal and transitional
education/training systems. One of the principal outcomes has been
a pronounced increase in school enrolment.
Strategy
IPEC strategy is based on the development of holistic
education and training programmes which:
n incorporate
awareness-raising activities on child labour and children's rights
to education n provide or expand early childhood
development programmes to create a demand for further education n increase access to public
primary and secondary education and strengthen the quantity and
quality of formal and non-formal education streams n mainstream innovative education
methods to allow access to the formal education system n improve the quality and structure
of transitional non-formal education and ensure linkages and mainstreaming
into formal education or training through integrated general education
packages and skills and vocational training n provide quality teacher training
through national plans and policies