For more than 10 years, a campaign sponsored by a Japanese nonprofit organization has worked to combat child labor problems in Nepal by offering educational opportunities, and now boasts of having helped more than 6,600 children.
The Japan International Labor Foundation (JILAF) began its education project in 1996, focusing on eradicating poverty in regions in Nepal that have a high percentage of children with limited access to education because of child labor.
The Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo-based foundation is funded by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) and runs the program in collaboration with the U.N. International Labor Organization (ILO) and under the cooperation of the Nepalese government and the Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC).
The foundation has set up schools under what it calls a nonformal school program, aimed at children aged 8 to 14 that lack access to regular schooling for various reasons, particularly poverty.
Three subjects are taught--Nepalese language, English and arithmetic. The aim is educate children enough to join the upper grades of Nepal's public schools.
According to NTUC, about 2 million children have been forced into child labor at such places as farms, carpet factories and hotels. The figure accounts for about 40 percent of the country's children aged 5 to 17.
Although there is no exact definition of child labor, the ILO says it generally refers to full-time work done by children under 15 that prevents them from going to school or is dangerous to their health.
The ILO estimates that 218 million children worldwide were engaged in child labor as of the end of 2004, not including those working at their homes or working part-time. This means one out of every seven children in the world is a child laborer.
The problem is especially prevalent in developing countries in Asia and Africa, according to the U.N. organization. For instance, a report in 1996 said 75 percent of all soccer balls in the world were made with child labor.
"Constructing school buildings and doing nothing but making pecuniary contributions to the construction work could be done quite easily," said Yukuo Ajima, an adviser to JILAF and former executive director of the organization.
"But such assistance hardly yields long-lasting results," he added.
In light of this, Ajima said, JILAF launched its program to run nonformal schools in tandem with the Nepalese government, local entities and trade unions.
"Although it may sound like a roundabout approach, we're convinced that helping children get an education is of crucial significance to eliminating child labor," Ajima said.
The NTUC, the Nepalese government and JILAF, have worked closely together in implementing the education program.
One of the primary tasks of the NTUC is getting agreement from parents to let their children attend nonformal schools. The trade union organization also is in charge of managing financial and schooling affairs.
Nepal's Education Ministry helps train teaching staff for the schools and aids in other related tasks.
JILAF, meanwhile, helps run the schools by providing the children with textbooks, stationery, uniforms and shoes, while also giving operating funds to the schools.
The foundation also has requested some Japanese living in Nepal to serve as auditors for school accounts. Some schools have had operations suspended over accounting irregularities, JILAF officials said.
In the program's first year, 12 schools were opened, with private houses or public facilities used as classrooms.
The scale of the schools is small, each accommodating about 50 students. School terms range from nine months to a year.
In 2003, a total of 750 students were taught at one of 15 nonformal schools, the biggest year so far.
Since 1996, 6,600, children have gone through the schools, and with this year's classes to end in spring, the total number will pass 7,000, according to the officials.
But the officials also worry that political instability in Nepal could threaten the project.
Two nonformal schools had to be shut down because of security problems, while some teachers were assaulted, allegedly by insurgents. As a result, this year only nine new schools were opened, according to JILAF.
Much to the program organizers' delight, one of their female students who subsequently received regular school education is now in college.
After being admitted to a regular school, she persistently topped the list of honor students, and her tenacity is reportedly lasting through college.
Akiko Mizuguchi, a member of JILAF's Field Projects Social Development Group, said, "Our assistance to the nonformal school program in Nepal is worth about 500,000 yen a year per school."
"We also have been engaged in a similar nonformal schooling program in India, where we plan to accept a maximum of 240 children from 2004 through 2009," she added.
As analysts put it, the activities of JILAF, though not particularly spectacular, should be rated high as one of a small number of NGO undertakings that are mitigating, bit by bit, the problems of child labor.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/20071206TDY04302.htm |
