ICCLE-DREW Conference on Global Child Labor and Human Trafficking, April 25-26, 2008
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To bring attention to child laborers excluded from school during Global Action Week on Education for All, the International Centre on Child Labour and Education (ICCLE) and Drew University’s Master of Arts in Teaching Program (MAT) co-hosted the Global Child Labor and Human Trafficking Conference in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Madison, NJ, on April 25-26. This initiative also served as the official kick-off event of Drew’s MAT program. The conference was co-sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers, International Initiative to End Child Labor/Emily Sandall Foundation, Ramsay Merriam Fund, Galen Films, and Theological School and Division of Continuing Education, Drew University. This programme was also supported by the Office of the Mayor of Bogota, Secretary of Social Affairs. They facilitated participation in this conference of two Officials along with two former child laborers.
There was a wide array of participants from charity volunteers who work one-on-one with former victims of trafficking in the Newark, NJ, area., social service providers, and investigators with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), to secondary Social Studies and English teachers, school Principals, representatives of the NEA, the coordinator of higher education for the New Jersey State Department of Education, university students and faculty, youth group leaders, and high school students. There were more than seventy participants from seven states (NY, NJ, MA, RI, VA, MD and DC).
The conference offered participants the opportunity to meet and interview former child laborers from Colombia, attend a film festival and lectures by top scholars and human rights activists working in the field. Eleven-year-old Andrés used to work 6/7 hours a day, including Saturdays, recycling iron scrap for less than $1 a day, rather than going to school. Eventually he was identified by one of the operative teams of the Bogotá District Secretary of Social Integration’s Proyecto 218 "Prevention and Eradication of Exploitative Child Labor." Now he is going to school and believes that it is possible to achieve his dream of becoming part of the special police – the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) (Administrative Security Department). Since an operative team of Project 218 discovered 12-year-old Estefany spending too much time making and selling tamales in her family’s business, she has stopped working so much and started having more time to play and study. These stories were videotaped for classroom use and conference participants will develop teaching ideas to accompany these narratives which will be published for use in the schools.
There was something for everyone. Breakout sessions included everything from ‘Recognizing and Assisting Victims of Human Trafficking’ to ‘Successful Student Activists: Learning from Local, National, and International Anti-Trafficking Campaigns.’ The former session helped prepare participants to recognize the signs of trafficking as it may manifest in victims. Utilizing case study examples, participants learned the predominant characteristics that distinguish victims of trafficking from victims of other forms of violence. They also gained insight into various resources available to assist victims. The latter session focused on how elementary and secondary school students can become successful activists. Participants learned about specific local, national, and international campaigns that help fight child sexual exploitation and child labor. In addition, the participation of teacher-advisor Ron Adams of the famous Kids Campaign: A School for Iqbal and his students from Broad Meadows Middle School in Quincy, MA, were also a huge hit.
The conference provided the first forum in the United States for training in the internationally acclaimed, interdisciplinary SCREAM – Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and Media – programme, developed by the International Labour Organization, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC). Since the conference has taken place, Middle school teacher Suzanne Bronstein-Vogel has already started using the SCREAM Creative Writing module with her group of sixth graders at Galvin Middle School in Massachusetts.
The organizers received considerable positive feedback on the conference. The participants really appreciated the wealth, quality and approachability of the presenters/resource persons, especially independent filmmakers of Stolen Childhoods and Rescuing Emmanuel Len and Georgia Morris, photographer and author of Stolen Dreams and Before Their Time: The World of Child Labor David L. Parker, and officials from the ILO and G/TIP office. Pre-service teacher Melissa Garba Baker found the keynote panel with ILO-Washington Director Armand Pereira and G/TIP Senior Coordinator Mark Taylor most interesting. In her own words, “It was interesting to see the way that the ILO and the US Government each deal with the issues.”
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Shakira Rocks the Hill Asking US Lawmakers to Enhance Aid to Education
The popular singer and now Honorary Chair of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) Shakira was on Capitol Hill with Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) asking the US lawmakers to enhance the flow of predictable aid towards Education for All by 2015. Shakira said that she was speaking from experience of her native country Colombia where children have to work and beg for getting food.
She said that no child would ever want to work if they have the opportunity to attend full time school. For the children from poor families the only incentive to attend full time school is to provide meals in school. She gave the personal example of five schools she is running through her Bare Foot Foundation, which is providing 5,000 children in native Colombia with food and not a single child is ever absent.
Shakira said that the only way to break the cycle of poverty is to provide good quality education to the children of the world.
Speaking on the occasion Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) said that even in this time of recession, the US economy can meet the additional cost of providing all children in the US and the world with good quality full-time education. She said that providing education is an essential pillar of our foreign policy today as it is directly linked to peace and security.
Gene Sperling, Chair, Campaign for Education, USA, said that it is worth contemplating that the US share in the funding on education is one fifth of the share of the UK as they invest close to one and a half billion annually. The US should take a leadership role by enhancing its aid to global education compact.
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Metuchen High School students aim to end child slavery in Ghana
By Elizabeth Brennan • Metuchen High School • April 28, 2008
For Americans, slavery ended with the 13th Amendment, which was ratified in 1865.
But slavery still exists in the world.
Each year, according to the United Nations, more than 200,000 children are sold into slavery in West and Central Africa.
Just in Ghana, in West Africa, there are more than 1,000 children living as slaves, risking their lives every day by fishing in dangerous lakes where many have drowned. These victims, mostly boys who are 5 to 14, work from dawn to dusk, casting and drawing nets.
At Metuchen High School, students taking Evan Robbins' Political Institute classes are trying to end this practice.
"It costs $4,256 to save a child slave," said senior Chris Morris, 18.
To raise money, Morris, Robbins and the students in the two classes are planning a Walk for Ghana.
"The walk will take place on May 4, 2008, at noon," said senior Marisa Dietrich, 18. "The walk is a 5K (about 3.1 miles), and will (take place) at Edgar Middle School (49 Brunswick Ave. in Metuchen)."
Through the walk, the two classes are hoping to raise more than $15,000 to buy the freedom of three child slaves.
"The walk will help stop the practice of slavery in Ghana," said Robbins, the head coordinator of the walk. "It will stop fisherman who own slaves, and will enable them to fish without using child labor."
In an effort to reach their goal, the Political Institute classes have already raised money.
"We've sold sponsorship, contacted businesses whose name will appear on the T-shirts at the walk," Robbins said.
On April 14, the class had a pasta dinner. "The dinner was a real success," Dietrich said. "We raised about $2,000."
In addition to their efforts to raise the money to help end slavery, the classes also are trying to spread the word in Central New Jersey — and around the nation — about how slavery still exists.
"Child slaves are sold by their parents to slaveholders to work in fishing boats," Morris said. "The average age of the slaves in Ghana is 4 years old to 10 years old."
Morris added how dangerous it is for the children working with fishermen.
"The kids get caught in nets and sometimes even drown," he said.
How do they get the word out?
"We made movies, along with interviews," Robbins said. "We showed the movie at a presentation for the school."
The name of this effort is "Breaking the Chain: Metuchen Walks for Ghana."
The money raised will go to the International Organization of Migration, or IOM, which was founded in 1951 to help resettle people displaced by World War II. Today, the organization helps people all over the world.
"IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all," according to its Web site, www.iom.int
The freed children will be returned to their families so that each child will be able to receive an education. Also, to help the fisherman who once used the children as slaves, IOM will help provide the fisherman with knowledge on how to run a business without exploiting youth.
"By planning this walk, I'm now aware of the child slavery that takes place in the world that we live in," Dietrich said. "It's opened my eyes to the horrors of child slavery. This walk encourages me to help in every way I can."
Those who would like to become a sponsor should contact Metuchen High School at (732) 321-8743. Those who wish to make a donation should send a check to Breaking the Chain, Metuchen High School, 400 Grove Ave., Metuchen, NJ 08840.
More information is available by visiting www.mhsghanaproject.com
Elizabeth Brennan, 16, is a junior.
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080428/
LIFE0101/80428011/-1/NEWS06
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Students study child labor in cocoa industry
By MEGAN PROFT
An excerpt from Erin Hahn, Samantha Roback and Kayla Erickson’s letter:
“We are 5th graders at Sibley Elementary School, Northfield, Minn. We are in reading quest and have been studying child labor. Many people overlook the fact that child labor may still be around after all these years, but they are incorrect with their thoughts...
“Children slave away many long hours to harvest the cocoa that many people consume on a regular basis. Cocoa is the main ingredient in chocolate. These children are in poor conditions and probably don’t even get a piece. They suffer from lack of food, lack of sleep, and most likely they suffer from intestine diseases caused by water infested with microscopic animals and plants. They are exposed to dangerous pesticides. They are also separated from their families.
“We are out to make a difference for kids in these horrible conditions. If you want to know more, a great and accurate Web site is www.laborrights.org.”
NORTHFIELD — It’s a large component of many of their favorite sweets, but a handful of Northfield students won’t be consuming cocoa so jovially anymore.
Sibley Elementary fifth-graders Erin Hahn, Samantha Roback and Kayla Erickson swore off snacking on Nestlé candy bars when they read that child labor is used to harvest the cocoa used in the products.
The girls study with Linda Kovach in the Gifted and Talented Enrichment Services program, designed to challenge accelerated students in various subjects. Kovach works with talented readers and had her Sibley and Bridgewater students research and create a project about child labor.
“They were just stunned to find out child labor existed today,” Kovach said. She showed her students old photos as well as current ones — the differences were sparse.
“I love looking for things that just have a jaw-dropping ending to it,” Kovach said. She aims to stretch her 48 GATES students in ways other than what is happening in the classroom.
Students read that in some cases, children are paid six cents a day, have quotas to meet in order to earn that pay, and are often abused in the workplace.
Allegations of child labor in regards to companies who purchase cocoa overseas has been a hot topic for several years. The cocoa industry has said publicly that it has been working to remedy any situations involving child labor that might exist and that it values the lawful labor practices in cocoa growing.
“There was never a good condition for kids in child labor,” Roback said. “I feel grateful for the life I have.”
Hahn said part of what impacted her most was knowing that many kids forced to work are her age. They are deprived of education, she said, which is often taken for granted in America.
On the heels of Easter, Erickson said she felt guilty and even a little angry at herself for being a happy consumer of a company that she says knowingly purchases cocoa from suppliers that use child labor.
The last step of the project was to take action on what they’d found. Hahn, Roback and Erickson did so by writing a formal letter to media, individuals, kids’ magazines and government officials educating others on child labor and encouraging others to seek alternative chocolates.
In their research, the girls have found several chocolate labels committed to not using child labor, including Sweet Earth, Equal Exchange and Devine chocolate.
“I think they felt empowered that they have a voice and can make a difference,” Kovach said.
Other students studying with Kovach looked at things like soccer ball production — whatever was of interest to them and in their power to change, she said.
Kovach made a formal proposal to the Teaching American History Grant to help fund materials needed for this project.
http://www.northfieldnews.com/news.php?viewStory=116
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Local officials get education on child exploitation
Greg Sowinski - Apr. 29, 2008
LIMA — Estimates place the number of children exploited for work and sex in the United States in the hundreds of thousands.
It would be easy to assume some exploitation has taken place under the radar locally although police, juvenile court officials and children services agents have no reported cases.
On Tuesday, members of those agencies came together to learn more about the crime to help them recognize it should they come across it, said Donna Dickman, director of Partnership for Violence Free Families.
“We want to have an awareness around here,” she said.
Columbus Police detective Ken Lawson was the presenter at the workshop titled, “Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery.” It was held at Allen County Children Services and sponsored by Allen County Juvenile Court.
Lawson was brought in at the request of Lima Police Department officials who wanted others to know about human trafficking, which is defined as forcing a person against his or her will to engage in labor or prostitution by force, fraud or coercion, Dickman said.
Ohio has no law against human trafficking but there is pending legislation in the General Assembly. The state relies on federal laws to prosecute, Dickman said.
The children being exploited often are runaways or come from a foreign country, Dickman said. It’s not uncommon for someone to groom a child using the Internet to talk him or her into leaving home.
“Life would be so much better with me they tell them,” she said.
But that’s hardly the case. Children who meet up with the exploiter often are beat into submission and hauled away. The FBI reports the age range of a child entering exploitation is between 11 and 14, Dickman said.
It’s easy to sit back and say any child being exploited should just walk away but it’s not that easy, Dickman said. Foreign children may be in the country illegally with their exploiter telling them they will get in big trouble when they go to the police. Some are working off debts for being brought to the country, she said.
The threat of violence, beatings or threats against a family member keep other children in the circle of exploitation, she said.
http://www.limaohio.com/story.php?IDnum=52460
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Report ties U.S. retailers to sweatshop shrimp
From Zain Verjee, Elise Labott, Justine Redman and Kocha Olarn
CNN
(CNN) -- Americans on average eat three pounds of shrimp a year, but can U.S. shoppers be sure the shrimp they love was produced without slave labor?
A three-year investigation by the AFL-CIO affiliated Solidarity Center found several leading U.S. retailers received shrimp from plants in Thailand and Bangladesh where workers as young as 8 are subject to sweatshop conditions.
The center's findings were supported by the State Department, which shares concerns about human trafficking in Thailand and worker abuse in both countries.
The report makes clear not all shrimp imports into the United States from Thailand and Bangladesh come from problem plants.
However, with shrimp imports from those two nations totaling $1.5 billion annually each year, the report suggests U.S. consumers are in a position to put pressure on producers to improve worker conditions.
The report names some of the most popular retailers in America, including Wal-Mart, Costco and Trader Joe's.
But only Wal-Mart responded to CNN inquiries about the shipments and pledged to examine allegations of abuse in plants which supply some of its shrimp.
"Safety is a top priority at Wal-Mart," spokesman Deisha Galberth said in a written statement to CNN. "We hold our shrimp suppliers to the highest safety and quality standards -- including maintaining processing plants and packaging facilities that meet or exceed Best Aquaculture Practices standards set by the Global Aquaculture Alliance.
"Although we have not seen the Solidarity Center's report, we are working with our suppliers to investigate the allegations shared by CNN. We're not aware of any issues in our supply chain," the company said in the statement.
The center's 40-page report found sexual and physical abuse, debt bondage, child labor and unsafe working conditions are common in Thailand and Bangladesh's shrimp processing factories, and that Thai plants often use trafficked workers.
"There's so much slime on the floor you can hardly stand up, and that just keeping your bearing and footing while you are trying to do work that involves using sharp knives," Ellie Larson, the executive director of the Solidarity Center, told CNN.
"They are treated in ways I'm sure most American people think went by in the days of slavery. In fact that's the kind of conditions these workers are engaged in -- slave conditions," Larson said.
In the past two years Thai police have raided several shrimp processing plants and rescued hundreds of trafficked workers.
Mark Lagon, the State Department's ambassador at large for trafficking in persons, visited Thailand and met a young Burmese girl rescued from one of the plants.
Lagon said guards at the factory made an example of her and a handful of other who tried to escape.
"Her head was shaved. She was beaten. You can't describe this in other fashion except slavery," he said.
The State Department and the International Labor Organization are working with both countries to improve the conditions for workers in their shrimp industries. The Department of Labor told CNN it has been working with the Thai government on a project aimed specifically at eliminating child labor from the shrimp industry.
In interviews with CNN, diplomats from both countries said their governments are working to address problems in the shrimp sector but stressed their economies were still developing.
"We proceed from the same common premise that this thing is evil. This thing has to be tackled squarely," Krit Granjana-Goonchorn, Thailand's ambassador to the United States told CNN. "I don't think you will find anyone more willing than the government of Thailand in that regard."
Bangladesh's ambassador to the United States, Humayun Kabir, said about 15 cases have come to the country's labor court since 2006. About half of them have gone to trial, he said and those responsible have been punished.
"So the government is taking those legal measures," he said.
The shrimp industry's global trade group, the Global Aquaculture Alliance, says it is not aware of its member plants operating under the conditions the Solidarity Center report describes, but said it is going to take a harder look and the offenders could be cut out from the global marketplace.
"We absolutely will investigate any specifics that come forth from this report," GAA's Executive Director Wally Stevens told CNN. "If those plants are in any way conducting themselves in an inappropriate way, they'll be dropped from our program"
The Solidarity Center says it is publishing this report in an effort to raise consumer awareness.
The State Department also hopes the report will force consumers to think before they buy, Lagon said.
"If consumers are concerned about the tuna they buy and if dolphins were harmed, surely the consumer would care about potential slavery."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/24/shrimp.retailers/?iref=hpmostpop
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Child labor book is an excellent source for teens doing research on issue
Jennifer Prince • Children’s Book Review • published April 21, 2008
Child Labor Today: A Human Rights Issue” (Enslow Publishers 2008) by Wendy Herumin is a powerful treatise. At just more than 100 pages, this slim book is astonishing in its breadth, detail and systematic explanation of child labor.
Herumin begins by explaining what child labor is and how it differs from doing chores around the house.
“Child labor,” she explains, “refers to work that is inappropriate because of a child’s age, the nature of the work, the number of hours worked, or some combination of these factors.”
In accessible, clear writing, Herumin goes on to discuss various forms of child labor like domestic service, bonded labor and commercial sexual exploitation just to name a few.
Herumin points out that the issue of children at work is loaded with complex causes: crippling poverty, old attitudes about the value of children and childhood, and the AIDS epidemic leaving innumerable children as orphans.
The causes of child labor are varied and the solutions are, too. Labor organizations and governments make efforts to improve education for children at risk, improve the financial situations of poor families, create and enforce labor laws, and create world-wide awareness of this issue. Through these efforts, child labor has decreased in some areas of the world, but is far from being eliminated.
Interspersed throughout the book are special sections that relate true stories of individual children who work in unsafe conditions.
Herumin does an excellent job of presenting these vivid cameos without sensationalizing. Much of the information consists of first person accounts from the children themselves who were interviewed by journalists or labor groups. One account comes from Micheline, a Haitian girl who was sold for $2,500 to a cousin in the United States. The cousin expected her to care for three children, including a newborn. Micheline had to do all of the housework. She was verbally and physically abused.
Other special sections relate the stories of individuals known for fighting child labor practices. For example, Craig Kielburger, of Canad,a was 12 when he founded the organization Free the Children in 1995. Free the Children raises money to improve the lives of child laborers and their families around the world.
A few high-quality color photographs supplement the text. The photographs appear to be candid shots of children engaged in dangerous work: two girls crushing rocks at a quarry, a boy scavenging a trash pile looking for items to sell, a girl working a loom.
The accessible writing and non-sensational tone make this a first-rate book for teens doing research. Extensive source notes, Web sites and suggestions on how to support this cause are included.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880419059
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Global Campaign for Education Breaks World Record for World’s Biggest Lesson!
7.5 million children, adults, teachers joined politicians in over 100 countries to learn about the importance of everyone having the chance for a quality education
More than 7.5 million children, adults, teachers and campaigners took part in the Global Campaign for Education’s “World’s Biggest Lesson”. The world record for the largest simultaneous lesson in history has been broken already – and the numbers are still coming in. The World’s Biggest Lesson focused on providing a quality basic education to everyone especially the 72 million children and 774 million adults who are currently missing out. All over the world Politicians and Ministers went back to school, were taught the lesson by children before being asked what they planned to do to make sure everyone gets a quality education.
The Global Campaign for Education is still collecting verification forms from around the world, but an early count shows that the World Record has been broken. The total attempting the record is at least seven and a half million people. The country with the highest recorded count is Bangladesh, with 2.5 million people taking part in over 25,000 different locations across the country. Millions also took part in lesson in Vietnam and in an impressive campaigning effort a million took part in the lesson in the Palestinian Territories.
Celebrities, Heads of States, and Officials took part in the lesson across the world, with the highest profile being Colombian singer and Grammy award winner, Shakira. She sought international attention as Honourary Chair of Global Action Week, both on a media call with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick, and as she lobbied Congress with students in Washington.
“I find it so inspiring that there are so many young people who care so deeply about the rights of all children to go to school that they would bring about this global movement,” said Shakira.
Amongst the impressive list of others to take part in the World’s Biggest Lesson were Papua New Guinea’s Head of Sate Paulias Matane, Afghanistan’s Vice-President Ahmad Zia Masuood, Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni, Mozambique’s Vice Minister for Education, the Netherlands Minister of Development Co-operation, Bert Koenders and Turkmenistan’s Deputy Minister of Education, Ms Gulshat Mamedova
“The most promising reason to believe that the world will achieve its goals of Education for All by 2015 has been the emergence of strong civil society movement and this mobilization of millions of children, women and men during the Global Action Weeks each year,” noted Kailash Satyarthi, GCE President. “We will not fall silent until we have ensured quality education for all.”
“One in four women in the world are illiterate. It’s not right, and it’s not just. The Global Campaign for Education has been demanding an end to this injustice since 2000,” noted Muleya Mwananyanda, GCE Action Week Coordinator. “By having legislators and government leaders join in the World’s Biggest Lesson, we are challenging them to share with us what they are doing to ensure others get educated, and have the opportunities to be sitting where they’re sitting now.”
The World’s Biggest Lesson was the highlight of the Global Campaign for Education’s (GCE)’s Action Week which is taking place 21st – 27th April. Every year civil society across the world takes part in this week that pressurizes all governments to keep their promises and meet the Education for All goals, which were signed up to by 164 governments in Dakar in April 2000. With the phenomenal success of the World’s Biggest Lesson, 2008 is having the biggest Action Week since the beginning of the Global Campaign for Education in 1999.
Just a few highlights of the ‘World’s Biggest Lesson’ from around the world include:
Cambodia – His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni was taught the lesson by children who’ve been excluded from education and adult learners.
India - Hundreds of former child laborers and school children participated in the World's Biggest Lesson. Children themselves imparted a lesson to the noted Bollywood personalities: actress Mahima Chaudhry, producer Tanuja Chandra, singer Jasbeer Jassi, and Amit Shyal. Members of Parliament and campaigners were given the lesson by President of Global Campaign for Education, Kailash Satyarthi.
Norway – Officials took part in the World’s Biggest Lesson, and discussed their leadership role for the next High Level Group on Education, in Oslo in December.
Pakistan – The World's Biggest Lesson took place in 40 districts with politicians joining schools and local community groups.
Peru – Over 300 schools in different parts of the country took part in the World’s Biggest Lesson. GCE’s school report card for Peru was presented to Ministers, Congressmen and Members of the National Council for Education in Lima.
Philippines – The World’s Biggest Lesson was given to Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Congressman Del de Guzman and other officials across the country. At the end of the lesson, an E-Net (the education coalition) kite was flown high in the air in a call for quality Education for All.
USA - Shakira appeared beside leading young advocates for education from all across the USA on Capitol Hill on the eve of the World’s Biggest Lesson to advocate for education and raise awareness for the Bipartisan Education for All Act 2007. Kenyan peace activist Karambu Ringera also led a lesson in Colorado.
AFRICA
Education Coalition Calls for an End to Exclusion
Public Agenda (Accra)
21 April 2008
By Frederick Asiamah
Accra
On the platform of the 2008 Global Action Week (GAW) on Education, the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has called for more concerted efforts towards delivering quality education in order to end exclusion, especially in the three northern regions.
The coalition warns: "Unless steps are taken to ensure that qualified teachers are assigned to all classrooms with acceptable numbers, the goal of quality education for all may not be achieved."
Similarly, the coalition fears that Ghana's commitment to the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary school completion by 2015 may be dashed.
Worldwide, some 70 million children of school-going age are still outside the system. 800,000 of these children are estimated to be in Ghana with majority of them in the three northern regions, according to the 2007 global monitoring report on education.
GNECC fears the problem could worsen if mitigating measures are not put in place. However, the focus should be on quality education and not just any kind of education, the coalition emphasized at the launching of GAW 2008 in Accra on Wednesday.
Locally, the week is being observed under the theme: "Quality Education to end Exclusion" and the launching took place simultaneously with those of about 50 other countries. The week is usually observed worldwide between April and May every year.
Mr. Bright K. Appiah, Chairman of GNECC, said drop out rate at the basic level was very high in Ghana despite the capitation grant.
For instance, prevailing levels of poverty account greatly for the drop out rate in the three northern regions, said Dr. Don Taylor, the Director of Education, Department for International Development (DFID), an agency of the UK Government that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty.
Dr. Taylor explained that due to the poverty, some children are compelled to work for their parents either as farm hands or in other sectors to enable the family feed themselves. Other children have disabilities. Hence, the schools are unable to meet their peculiar needs.
Naa Prof John S Nabila, Wulugunaba and Member of the National House of Chiefs said lack of quality education among the three northern regions has led to wider migration proportions.
According to him, the lack of quality education has even driven women, who were formerly not associated with migration, to become the ones leading the rural-urban drift.
Reverend Fred Deegbe, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana noted that rural-urban divide is a driving factor for exclusion and therefore advocated the creation of better opportunities for accessing quality education in rural communities.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804211729.html
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Nigeria: Country to Miss 2015 Education Target, Says Minister
Daily Trust (Abuja)
24 April 2008
Ruby Rabiu and Ruqayyah Yusuf Aliyu
Abuja
Nigeria may not achieve the international target of Education for All (EFA) by 2015,the Minister of Education, Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu said Tuesday in Abuja.
Speaking at a press briefing in commemoration of the 2008 EFA week, the minister said Nigeria and Pakistan were listed as being far from achieving the EFA 2015 goal in the E-9 report.
According to him, "the alarming figure of eleven million out-of-school children shows that Nigeria still has a long way towards achieving the EFA goals by 2015. This was underscored by the E-9 Report which stated that Nigeria is one of the two E-9 countries that might not achieve EFA by 2015."
The minister said, " the theme of this year's celebration, 'Quality Education to End Exclusion' was carefully selected to draw attention of over 80million children of school going age world wide and to about 11million Nigerian children in particular who are out of school. It is designed to draw attention to the fact that access and retention levels particularly for categories of people such as girls, children with special needs and those in difficult circumstances are still low despite government efforts towards attaining the EFA target by 2015".
The minister added that, "the inclusion of these groups of people will be an integral part of strategies to achieve the EFA by 2015.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804250605.html
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ASIA
Government urged to increase education budget
By Bureau report
4/26/2008
PESHAWAR: Global March National Coordinator the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) Friday called upon the government to increase budgetary allocation for education from 2.5 per cent to seven per cent, as around 2.5 million children in Pakistan are not enrolled in schools.
SPARC Regional Manager Jehanzeb Khan made the demand while briefing reporters on the Global Campaign for Education Week (from April 23-27). He said that his organization celebrated GCE week every year in April to highlight the importance of education and press the government for taking measures to protect children’s right to education.
“The greatest challenge facing Pakistan today is how to create an environment, enabling every child to attend school,” he said, adding that the campaign was an international movement celebrated throughout the world to bring education on the top of governments’ agendas.
The SPARC, Peshawar, is focusing on the GCE campaign in six districts of NWFP through its Child Rights Committees (CRCs). The theme of the Week for this year is, “Quality Education to End Exclusion.”
Jehanzeb said during the week they would interact with the legislators at the federal, provincial and district levels on how to keep their promises of providing education facilities to all children.
He said under the SPARC agenda, all of its provincial offices would meet their respective education ministers with a single point agenda that the government should open schools in prisons to educate juveniles.
Besides, the SPARC child rights committees working in different districts would hold consultations and meetings with district government to establish school or literacy centres inside jail through EDO literacy office.
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Global Action Week in Nepal
Kathmandu, 25 April 2007 - In Nepal different activities were carried out to pressurize the government and the education stakeholders for the right to education.
1. Big Chain: Symbolic Solidarity for Education Rights
The right activists have said that one of the most important Loktantrik (Pro-democratic) Rights is Education Right. The view was expressed in the program "Big chain for Rights to Education" that was organized in Mandala, Maitighar by Global Campaign for Education (GCE - Nepal). In the program a BIG CHAIN was formed by children, different local networks and organizations related to education, I/NGOs, departments of government, Teacher's Association, UN agencies, journalists and representatives of different organizations.
The chief guest of the program was Hon. Mr. Mohan Singh Rathore, the Education State Minister, Ministry of Education and Sports. He said "Our education policy is still incomplete for which we should bring progressive policies." He also added that the donor agencies have supported with resources for education in Nepal but there is no proper management.
Mr. Gauri Pradhan, SA Regional Coordinator, Global March added, "No children should be deprived from education in coming days and everyone should commit for this and development of new Nepal is not possible until all children have the right to education".
Similarly, Ms. Gillian Melsop, Country Representative, UNICEF said, "The reason why we are making a human chain is to signify our solidarity for a holistic and all encompassing education system. She added, "We want this human chain send the message to the leaders in Nepal and throughout the world that they should not let another generation of children and adults go without an education."
Another speaker at the program Mr. Chij Kumar Shrestha, Country Representative, World Education said, "All the children of Nepal are not able to go to school despite some changes in education system.
Bhagwati Thapa, Ramila Banskota and Saroj Guragain representing many children who are out of school said that because of various social, economic reasons they are not able to go to school. They asked the leaders to pledge for the education rights to all.
2. Television Interaction Program on "Education as a Human Right"
Two television interaction programs were organized with the participation of Mr. Laba Prasad Tripathi, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson, Ministry of Education and Sports; Educationist, Prof. Dr. Mana Prasad Wagle and Prof., Education Specialist, Dr. Sumon Kamal Tuladhar, UNICEF; Program Manager Education - VSO and AIN Education Taskforce Member, Mr. Purna Kumar Shrestha.
The interaction focused on the progress and challenges in the education sector. According to Mr. Laba Prasad Tripathi, "There has been significant achievement in the enrolment rate in the primary education from 60% to 87.4%; in every VDC, there is at least one primary school; and the awareness level has been remarkably increased".
Prof. Dr. Mana Prasad Wagle said, "Despite of the increment in the enrolment rate, we still need to work more to ensure Rights to Education as the Child Right which has to be taken as the ultimate responsibility of the state."
Dr. Sumon Kamal Tuladhar stated "In regard to the worldwide assessment of the EFA goals achievement, Nepal still has to increase by 2.5%."
The participants of the interaction prodded that to meet the EFA goals in the context of Nepal there should be: holistic approach in the education system; micro level planning; commitment from the political parties, commitment of all the education stakeholders for quality education, and making inclusive education system more effective.
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Bollywood Demands Quality Education for Child Laborers in Rising India
23 April 2008, New Delhi: Hundreds of former child laborers and school children participated in the world's biggest lesson on education. Children themselves imparted a lesson to the noted Bollywood personalities Actress Mahima Chaudhry, Producer Tanuja Chandra, Jasbeer Jassi, the singer and Amit Shyal; Members of Parliament and social activists here today at the FICCI auditorium as part of the Global Action Week led by the President of Global Campaign for Education a worldwide movement demanding universal basic full time quality education for all. The Action Week in India is being jointly organised by National Coalition for Education (NCE), led by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), Global March Against Child Labor (GMACL), CARE, OXFAM, World Vision and Save the Children Fund.
Children led a slate pencil march to the Parliament carrying empty slates in their tiny hands questioning the law makers and the government as to why more than 1/3 rd of India 's population was illiterate. At least 60-70 million children are still out of school. The child laborers constitute the largest group of children excluded from education in the country. The children demanded that right to education must be immediately enacted to
ensure slates, pencils and books in the hands of children instead of work tools.
“India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Yet, it accounts for 34% of world's illiterate population. Right to Education has been enshrined since 2001 but it is neither supported by any law nor is it substantiated with adequate budget. Though India does well in school enrollment rate with primary school enrollment of 82%, the drop-out rate is also very high at 39.8%. Quality of education is low. School fee is still charged in many states. A lot of money is also spent in the non-tuition fee like uniform, syllabus, books, building cost etc.” alleged the protestors.
President of Global Campaign for Education (GCE), Kailash Satyarthi said-“Today at least 6 million children across 110 countries are going to set a world record of the world's largest lesson on any issue in the history. This would definitely be added to the Guinness Book of World Records under the slogan – Quality education to end exclusion.”
Children from BBA and its partners, Amarlal and Sonia, imparted the world's biggest lesson to the other children and the celebrities at the FICCI Auditorium. The children also enacted a play- “ladki padhke kya karegi?” (Why should a girl be educated?”), depicting the need for girls' education.
Bollywood star Mahima Chaudhry said- “I think nobody should ignore the voice of these children. If their voice goes unheard, I am willing to be their voice. Education should be not just a fundamental right but should be made into a law.”
The children sang along with Jassi to his popular tunes. Notel film Producer Tanuja Chandra said “Education is our right that can possibly ease problems especially in India . Children are the most precious gifts and their education should be country's obsession.”
R.C. Dabas of the AIPTF said – Teacher's unions play an important role in education for all. Our main focus has always been quality education and we will make concerted efforts to ensure this to all children so that all children can earn an education that equips them to get proper employment.”
The Indian chapter of GCE, National Coalition for Education (NCE) is a conglomeration of Parliamentary Forum on education, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), All India Primary Teachers Federation (AIPTF) and All India Federation of Teacher's Organisations (AIFTO) Deepalya.
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Children Rally to Enforce Child Labor Laws
Patna: April 30, 2008
School children in Patna numbering several hundreds took out a 'Pencil Rally' under the banner of 'Bachapan Bachao Andolan' and 'Azaad Bachpan' to mark the Child Labor Abolition Day on Wednesday.
Bihar State Child Labor Commission chairperson Ramdeo Prasad flagged off the children's rally from Patna Junction roundabout to the Dak Bungalow crossing to press for complete eradication of child labor in Bihar and tough measures against those who continued to exploit the children.
Carrying slates, chalks, and placards, the children quietly marched to their destination led by the organizing officials who said child labor was one of the biggest curses of the nation and a national shame for all.
'Bachpan Bachao' general secretary Ajay Kumar Singh said that in spite of adequate laws concerning child labor laws put in place by the past government, most people were either woefully unaware of it or were purposely ignoring them knowing the court could not follow up on each and every case of violation of child labor laws.
"All we are asking is to give the children what they rightly deserve like healthy food, a loving homer, good education, and plenty of play time to live they childhood,” said Singh.
http://www.patnadaily.com/news2008/apr/043008/children_rally.html
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Child Labor in Cambodia
25 April 2008
According to the latest estimates, fifty-two percent of children aged seven to fourteen-years, or more than one-million-four hundred thousand Cambodian children work. On average, they spend more than twenty hours a week working, mostly in agriculture.
“Excessive and inappropriate work not only stunts the normal development of individual children, it has significant consequences for society as a whole,” said U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli. “Children who have to work to support their families rather than attend school," he said, "don’t acquire the knowledge and skills they need to obtain quality employment in the future, contributing to a cycle of poverty in their own families, and holding back economic growth in the entire country,” he said.
Ambassador Mussomeli spoke at ceremonies inaugurating the launch of a new U.S.-funded effort to help Cambodia battle child labor, the Children’s Empowerment through Education Services project. Since 2001, the U.S. government has been working together with the Cambodian government to combat child labor through education. In that year, the U.S. Department of Labor funded the International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor to provide education and other services to children engaged in exploitive labor, or at-risk of doing so.
Since then, the U.S. has continued to support other committed organizations, such as World Education and Winrock International, with a total investment of nearly thirteen million dollars to stop child labor. More than thirty-five thousand Cambodian children have been saved from dangerous and exploitive labor.
The four-million dollar U.S.-funded Children’s Empowerment project will withdraw and prevent more than eight-thousand children in four Cambodian provinces from exploitive labor in agriculture. It will also support schooling for the children and provide income generating activities for their parents.
“The Cambodian government has taken many positive steps to reduce child labor since our partnership began, and we applaud these efforts,” said Ambassador Mussomeli. “We all understand," he said, "the importance of taking care of young people and investing in their development."
http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2008-04-25-voa4.cfm
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MIDDLE EAST
Yemen to open five new centers for child workers
SANA'A, April 29 (Saba)- Social Affairs and Labour Minister Amatal-Razzaq Humad said that Yemen seeks to open new centers of caring child workers in five provinces.
The minister added that the new centers would provide care, rehabilitation and training for the child workers in order to lift children from hazardous works and the train them new skills which will provide them safe works.
Humad pointed out that there are three centers currently work in the capital Sana'a, Aden and Sayoun.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news152903.htm
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Activities of Education for All week launched
SANA'A, April 28 (Saba) - A week of education for all was launched on Monday which is organized by national committee of education for all in cooperation with UNICEF under slogan "quality of education and ending prevention of girls from education".
Deputy Minister of Education Abdul-Aziz bin Habtor said that such activities are like a reminder for all countries over their commitment towards education and to enhance efforts of illiteracy eradication in order to reach goal of education for all by 2015.
A coordinator of the committee Ansaf Qasim introduced the history of the committee and its activities, pointing out to the decree of the cabinet of setting up the committee in 2001.
She pointed out to that goals which have been adopted in 2000 in a meeting for world education forum such as expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news152857.htm
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YEMEN: Government unveils new plan to combat child trafficking
Experts say poverty pushes families to send their children to work in Saudi Arabia
SANAA, 13 April 2008 (IRIN) - The Yemeni government has announced a new and comprehensive initiative to combat child smuggling and trafficking. The first of its kind in the country, officials say they expect the plan to tackle the problem through detailed research and targeted programs.
Prepared by the Higher Council for Motherhood and Childhood (HCMC), a government body, and funded by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the 'national childhood plan to combat child trafficking and smuggling' was discussed in a workshop on 7 April and will soon be presented to the Cabinet for approval.
Abdullah al-Khamisi, coordinator of HCMC's Technical Committee for Combating Child Smuggling, told IRIN that the government is committed to ending child smuggling and trafficking. "The challenge will start after the plan is approved by the Cabinet. The challenge also lies in attracting the attention of concerned government bodies and civil society organisations to this problem," he said.
The plan defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”.
According to the plan, human trafficking, particularly of children, will be considered a security threat at the national, regional and international levels.
No accurate data
While there is no accurate data on the number of children trafficked in Yemen, officials acknowledge that it is a serious problem. Colonel Ali Awadh Farwa, general manager of the General Administration of Women and Juvenile Affairs at the interior ministry, told IRIN on 9 April that since the beginning of 2008, security officials had stopped 49 children from being smuggled into Saudi Arabia, which shares a long and porous border with Yemen.
Officials at Yemen’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour say the Saudi authorities arrest an average of 10 Yemeni children a day as they attempt to cross into Saudi border illegally.
The first step of the new initiative will be to conduct a thorough assessment of the issue in order to produce reliable statistics to work with. To this effect, a joint study will be undertaken by Yemen and its richer neighbor Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the two countries are expected to sign a bilateral agreement on trafficked children based on international treaties.
Tackling the root of the problem
The plan will also study the socio-economic conditions of families that are most prone to allow their children to be trafficked, so that the problem can be tackled at its root.
Once enough reliable information on child trafficking is gathered, the plan is to provide a framework for government efforts to combat child trafficking by detailing the appropriate measures necessary to stop the abduction, sale or trade of children for any purpose.
The plan will also review laws and their amendments to ensure human traffickers are penalized and trafficked children are compensated.
The plan's programs and activities will be funded from the national budget, though it is not yet known how much they will cost.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77737
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