Child Labor in the Philippines And The Right To Play

There are certain rights that children have that in theory are inviolable. These rights include the right to be loved and cared for, the right to be secure in their own selves, the right to proper nutrition and health care, the right to proper education, and the right to play and be at leisure. These are rights that every child must have. Unfortunately, in the Philippines, poverty most of the time robs a child of these rights as child labor is prevalent in the country.

Here are some statistics about child labor in the Philippines, as gleaned from a study released by the country's National Statistics Office in 2001.

News And Society

* Child laborers are in the 5-17 age group of the population, and they comprise 4.1 million in this age group. That is 16.2% of the age group's population.

Child Labor in the Philippines And The Right To Play

* Of these, 2.6 million are boys while 1.5 million are girls.

* 12 out of 100 of these child laborers are aged 5 to 9 years old.

* 23% suffer from work-related injuries, mostly sustained from hazardous types of jobs.

* While most of them do try to balance work with formal schooling, their inability to focus on their studies result in low grades. Eventually, around 34% of them drop out of school.

* At that time, there are 1.4 million families with children helping to earn money to survive.

* 18% of these families belong to the lowest tiers of Philippine society, in the lower 40% of the income bracket, giving clear proof of the connection between child labor and poverty in the Philippines.

What kinds of jobs do these children usually take on? There are kids who work in small shops and help make furniture, fireworks and the like. Some go out and sell newspapers, candies, cigarettes and other such items in the streets. The older ones get employed as waiters or janitors or maids. Some find themselves exploited and end up being sex workers.

Why do these children choose to work rather than stay in school? Most of the time, it is not a matter of choice for these children. Poverty drives them to work so their families could have more food on the table and survive for another day. It is this subsistence existence which makes these children give up the right to play to which they are entitled. Poverty is the driving force behind the prevalence of child labor in the Philippines.

Child Labor in the Philippines And The Right To Play

Thesa is an experienced writer and publicist. She has 12 years experience in writing well-researched articles of various topics, SEO web content, marketing and sales content, press releases, sales scripts, academic essays, E-books and news bits.

mobile phone watches Order Moorea Butler Faucet Kit With Aluminum Under