Letter of the Day | Put an end to child labour
Published:Tuesday | June 13, 2023 | 12:18 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
We have all seen school-age boys at various intersections wiping the windscreens of cars and selling wares; however, many of us are far removed from their realities. In some instances, there is disbelief that so many abuses and atrocities are meted out on a daily basis to those who are marginalised and living in poverty.
Due to the economic realities, it has become rather common to hear of teenage boys dropping out of school to find employment, to take care of their mothers and younger siblings. It is true that governments alone cannot solve all the social ills of any society; nevertheless, governments have a guiding role in setting policies to help reducing many issues we continue to grapple with. Globally, governments have not done a good job at protecting the rights of children.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the first World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 on June 12, as a way to highlight the plight of these children and what can be done to help them, and the action and efforts needed to eliminate child labour.
The theme this year was ‘Social Justice for All. End Child Labour!’ The term ‘child labour’ is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and/or interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely, or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
Today, 160 million children are still engaged in child labour. That is almost one in 10 children worldwide.
There is no country on the planet which does not have the scourge of child labour. An estimated 38,000 Jamaican youth between the ages of five and 17 years old are involved in child labour, and 26,000 work in hazardous conditions. These are some of the findings contained in the Jamaica National Youth Activity Survey conducted by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica and the ILO, which identified 53,274 children overall engaged in economic activities.
Unfortunately, Jamaica’s education system is not as robust as it ought to be in tracking these students. Many of our boys find school uninteresting, given our one-size-fits-all approach philosophy. We need to move towards addressing the needs of boys in our school, given that most boys tend to be tactile learners. It is clear that as a society, we must act now to redouble all efforts and maximise our resources in order to put an end to child labour.
WAYNE CAMPBELL