A time for play

By Mariz Tadros

The IPEC, according to Blenk, focuses on removing children under the age of 10 from their place of work and putting them through an educational programme, either on a formal or informal basis. The programmes are monitored closely to try to limit the number of drop-outs. Once the children reach the age of 12 they are given the option of pursuing more skills-based courses. But the question needs to be asked: What if a child doesn't want to wait until he or she is 12 before learning a trade? Blenk's position is uncompromising: "There is a time in life when you need to play, there is a time in life when you need to go to school and there is a time in life when you need to undergo skills training. I don't believe early childhood is the right time for passing on professional skills. A child needs to get an education first."

Although the children's education and training are free, the IPEC is unable to compensate families for loss of income. There are indirect subsidies, however, such as free school meals.

Blenk argues that poverty is not the only reason why parents choose not to send their children to school. He says that in many cases, the quality of education is so bad, parents can't see the point in putting the child through a system that offers little in the way of work opportunities.

According to Blenk, the IPEC is working with the countries participating in the programme to improve the quality of education and tailor it to the needs of the market.

ILO research indicates that a vast majority of child workers are unpaid and are employed in small production units in the informal urban sector and traditional rural sector. Although child labour is increasing in urban areas, surveys conducted in Ghana, Indonesia and Senegal found that more than 75 per cent of the child labour force works in rural areas.

Blenk spoke extensively about the importance of involving the various sectors in combating child labour, such as the government, trade unions, employers and NGOs, but declined to tackle the international economic issues associated with it. Structural adjustment packages and International Monetary Fund-backed economic reform programmes have been widely criticised for increasing child labour.

Protests in the South are becoming increasingly louder against what it terms protectionism policies in the North, where powerful lobbies have succeeded in banning imports produced by children.

"Our programme is designed to address the problems of child labour, full stop," said Blenk. "Our mission is social justice and we are trying to fulfil that as best we can. Many of the incidents of child labour occur in areas that are not relevant for exports, such as the agricultural sector and in workshops that primarily serve internal markets," said Blenk. However, among the 50 countries the IMF works with are Thailand and Indonesia, both of which have export-oriented economies.

Osman Mohamed Ahmed, former director of the ILO area office in Cairo, criticised the West's emphasis on banning products made by children. "This is only depriving developing countries from badly needed income," he said. "The likely impact of this policy on children is to take them out of the workshops, put them onto the street and possibly into work that pays less and is more dangerous."

Ahmed also questioned the viability of taking children out of work and putting them into education programmes, which in many countries are no longer free. "Structural adjustment means cost recovery which means that you can no longer get your children into school for free," he said. "How are impoverished families supposed to do that?"

He said that it is only in exceptional cases that families rely significantly on a child's earning for their basic survival but "the majority of parents may not be so against their children going to school, if only it did not mean an extra burden on the family income".