Concerned groups send Child port-workers back to school
by Imelda F. Gatinao (DOLE-RO9)

Volume V, Number I, June 2005 Issue

Zamboanga City – Government agencies, non-government organizations, and other groups chipped in to provide for the schooling of four child port workers in Zamboanga City at a formal pledging session held at the Conference Room of the Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office No. IX (DOLE IX) on 14 May 2004.

This is in response to the call of Director Chita G. Cilindro of DOLE-IX to assist child port-workers in their educational needs.  Among those who responded were Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), Metro Zamboanga Kiwanis Club, Katilingban sa Kalambuan Inc., and St. Francis Center.

This project came as an offshoot of the profiling activity conducted by DOLE-IX through its National Program Against Child Labor (NPACL) in partnership with the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO).

The major findings of the profiling activity revealed that majority of the children are Muslims, born in Sulu and Sabah, Malaysia and a large percentage have not gone higher than Grade IV because they started working at the pier at age 8.

Of the 38 child port-workers interviewed, only four expressed their desire to go back to school if resources were made available to help them.  These were Bukug, Itum, Al, and Ras.