ABK Initiative uses education against child labor

Volume V, Number I, June 2005 Issue

Child labor is still prevalent.  There have been so many reported and unreported cases that different organizations decided to sit down and carefully plan a move toward the reduction, if not eradication, of this malaise.

The Pag-Aaral ng Bata para sa Kinabukasan, better known as ABK Initiative, was the product of this meeting of minds.  This scheme was developed in support of the Philippine government’s thrust to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and in partnership with its Time Bound Program to fight child labor.  It eyes education as a primary and important tool to extricate children from situations or workplaces that continuously expose them to various hazards that take a toll on their general well-being.  Project ABK aims to provide access to formal education which can help answer the needs of child laborers.

The ABK Initiative aims to increase awareness of stakeholders on the importance of education and the negative effects of child labor; increase the quality of and access to formal, transitional, and non-formal educational programs; strengthen national institutions and policies on education and child labor; and establish alternative livelihood or income generating programs for the families of child laborers and for child laborers over 15 years old.

One of the implementing organizations of this project is the Educational Research and Development Assistance (ERDA), a private service-oriented organization that is committed to create and sustain services for socially and economically disadvantaged children, youth, families, and communities.  Other implementing partners are NGOs, Christian Children’s Fund, Plan Philippines, and World Vision Development Foundation.  Each of these organizations was assigned its own territorial responsibilities.  All of them believe and are strong advocates of education as a powerful tool in removing children from the worst forms of child labor.

ERDA is working closely with the International Labor Organization-International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) on this project and is funded by the US-Department of Labor (US-DOL) in coordination and with the support of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-Bureau of Women and Young Workers, DOLE Regional Offices and the Department of Education. 

The Project ABK started in August 2003.  ERDA has a total of 2,977 children beneficiaries for the school year 2004-2005.  The project areas included  Iloilo (876 children working in sugar plantations); Camarines Norte (950 children working in sugar plantations); Negros Occidental (885 children working in sugar cane industry); and Davao (266 children working in mining sites).

ERDA has just finished its municipal consultations on Child Labor and has also conducted children’s workshops in Concepcion, Iloilo; Paracale, Camarines Norte; Himamaylan, Negros Occidential; and Kiblawan, Davao del Sur.

Workshops.  Both the adult (coming from the different local government units, schools, barangays, and the parents of the beneficiaries) and children stakeholders were given an orientation on the ABK Initiative and their roles and responsibilities in this project.  It was also a time for the stakeholders to gather and discuss their plans in coordination with the four goals of the ABK Initiative.

These workshops provided a venue for children to voice out what they were thinking and for adults to understand what they were going through.  During the workshop, the child participants discussed among themselves the problems that they and their fellow children were facing, the proposed solutions, and the people or agencies that could help them in addressing the issues that they mentioned.

It was surprising to note that the participants, young as they were, could actually pinpoint the issues that afflict them like unemployment, parental absenteeism, lack of government assistance like health care, education, and child protection.

They also emphasized the need for a functional family from which they could draw moral strength.  In most cases children  become the financial providers of their families.  Because of this, they regularly miss their classes or drop out from school altogether.  One teacher from Himamaylan, Negros Occidental even reported that her students, instead of carrying bags and books to go to school, are carrying tools to work in sugarcane plantations.

The children feel that there is not much assistance given to them by the local government.  Children get sick and drop out from school.  Some are even abused in their own households and maltreated in school because of inconsiderate and unreasonable teachers.  They feel that they have nobody to turn to except themselves so they work their own way out.

Together with the other stakeholders and their promise of active participation and support in the ABK Initiative, these children can experience another kind of life, a life different from what they have been accustomed to.