Poverty in Nicaragua drives children out of school and into the workplace
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Version 0 of 1. Strolling through the coastal town of Bluefields on a school day, the number of children out and about is striking. Young hustlers sell cold drinks and sweet breads, teenage mums push snoozing infants in prams, while small groups of adolescents idle away hours on shaded park benches listening to the latest dancehall hits. Boredom is one reason these young people give when asked why they are not in school. Among a group of nine- to 15-year olds, others explain: “My family can’t afford the books”, “I prefer to work and earn money” and “I was kicked out when I got pregnant”. None of the children had plans to go back to school. Bluefields is the biggest town in the isolated autonomous provinces on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast – the poorest region of a very poor country where figures for school dropout and child labour remain worryingly high. As leaders meet in South Korea this week for the World Education Forum, Bluefields – and Nicaragua as a whole – offers a snapshot of the huge challenges that still remain to get children into school. The links between leaving school and child labour are multifarious, but poverty plainly drives both. Nicaragua – a country of 6.1 million people – is the second poorest in the Americas after Haiti. It has the largest youth bulge in Latin America with more than 2 million school-aged children, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Unesco. Half of all children and adolescents live in poverty. The UN children’s agency, Unicef, estimates that 500,000 Nicaraguan children aged three to 17 are not in the educational system. Most live in rural areas, or are poor, indigenous or disabled. In a country with such high poverty levels, it is perhaps not surprising that children find themselves out of school and in the workplace. The last national child labour survey, published back in 2005, reported almost 240,000 child workers aged between five and 17. Nicaraguan officials recently told the Inter America Commission of Human Rights that eradication of child labour was a priority for the current government – led by former leftist guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega since 2006. Last year Nicaragua signed up to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) “road map”, which aims to eradicate the worst forms of child labour by 2016, and all child labour by 2020 – the last country in the region to do so. Nicaragua has ratified multiple international treaties and has strong national policies, but government claims that it is reducing child labour are not supported by any published evidence. In fact, business leaders currently estimate that there are between 250,000 and 320,000 child workers, with one in three under 14. Related: Education for All scheme has failed to meet targets, says Unesco The most recent US Department of Labor analysis said: “The [Nicaraguan] government’s enforcement of labour laws is inadequate, and plans to combat child labour and protect children have not been fully implemented.” A recently published study by the La Isla Foundation interviewed 26 children aged 12 to 17 who were working in sugar cane fields in 2013. Nicaraguan law allows children to start working at 14, among the youngest in the region, but not in hazardous environments like sugar cane, mines or quarries. Half the children interviewed were not in school, four could not read or write and virtually all had suffered injuries or illnesses linked to perilous work conditions. Luis Hernandez*, 17, left school almost three years ago, and was contracted to weed sugar cane crops during the most recent harvest. “I hated school, it was so boring, and I was glad to get this job as it means I can help my family and buy new clothes,” he said. “Of course I am scared about the health risks, all the boys in my team are scared, but there are no other jobs.” The sugar company, which said it has a zero tolerance policy to child labour, is investigating. Compulsory education is one of the most effective ways of combating child labour, according to the ILO. In Nicaragua, children are only obliged to attend school until 12. Only 65% of children from the poorest families completed primary school compare to 90% from the richest homes Only 72% of children finished primary school in 2009, the latest year for which data is available. This low figure hides even bigger inequalities as only 65% of children from the poorest 20% of families completed primary school compared to 98% from the richest homes. On the poor Atlantic coastal regions where Bluefields is situated, just 58% completed six years of primary education. The Ortega government has prioritised spending on primary and tertiary education, so secondary school figures are unsurprisingly much worse: 46% finished the first tier (9th grade/year 10), and only 19% completed 11th grade (year 12). In the poorest families, only 6% of children finished secondary school. Manos Antoninis is a senior analyst at Education for All global monitoring report, which has analysed progress on education in 164 countries since 2002. He is in favour of increasing the age at which children can leave education. “While raising the compulsory age of schooling is unlikely to immediately impact on completion rates in Nicaragua, it would send a powerful message that the state believes in the importance of education, which in turn would impact the way families perceive their own responsibility in keeping children in school.” The EFA movement promotes a minimum nine years of free compulsory education. Philippe Barragne-Bigot, Unicef representative in Nicaragua, disagrees with Antoninis. He believes children drop out because of cultural norms driven by the cycle of poverty, poor-quality, lacklustre classes and the chronic lack of economic opportunities that makes school seem pointless. “Quality, flexible education and jobs will keep children in school, not a change in the law,” said Barragne-Bigot. In Incheon, South Korea, this week, leaders will assess progress towards the millennium development goals, which expire this year, and seek to agree a common position on the post-2015 sustainable development goals, which seem likely to include universal free primary and secondary education. Opinion is divided about whether it is wise to include secondary education in the proposed SDG target when one in six children in low and middle income countries does not finish primary school, according to EFA. “Countries that don’t educate their children to second school level don’t stand a chance. But the sudden expansion of secondary education could serve the elite, so policies must target the neediest,” said Antoninis. He added: “The inter-generational effect is chilling. A lack of education not only scuppers a child’s chances, but also the chances of their children. Failing to make an effort in this generation, also fails the next.” * Name has been changed to protect identity |