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[9 July 2007] - Up to 90 per cent of 15 to 17 year olds are being exposed to hazardous work in Guyana, according to raw data from a new report. Educare Guyana found that the biggest problem for working children came from legal work settings where poor conditions were affecting health, safety or morals. The research is currently being analysed overseas and it is expected that the analysis with recommendation will be completed and handed over to the Guyana Government by September. In an interview, Educare Guyana Project Director, Edward Dunham told Stabroek News that from the preliminary findings, he "suspects" that Guyana has a major issue with the worst forms of child labour in such circumstances. However, Dunham was quick to point out that according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) there were other types of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, of which only isolated cases were found. There were cases of children, mainly teenagers, being pulled into commercial sex activities, trafficked, and dragged into gangs involved in the narcotics trade. "The biggest problem is that too many children are working and the work is getting in the way of their attendance at school, with attendance an average 40 per cent to 50 per cent in most cases," he said. The challenge that Educare Guyana faces with the 11 to 14 group not in school, is that NGOs cannot provide intervention programmes because the law stipulates they should be in formal school at that age. The research also found that there are many children who do not want to pursue academic studies and who prefer training in mechanics, but also that the needs of children without reading skills were not being addressed by teachers. He noted that newspapers' front pages are filled with news of children who have been successful at Grade Six examinations, while there are thousands of children who cannot read such stories. Work for children included caring for siblings and jobs entailing more than two or three hours of work each day. In some cases children undertook chores after school for including selling in markets or at stalls which affected their homework, rest and play and ultimately their school attendance and performance. In the 15 to 17 age group, 90 percent of labourers were working in and exposed to hazardous types of work that would negatively affect their health, safety or morals. This included working in sawmills, exposure to chemicals, heavy duty machinery and equipment, and vending at the market where they are exposed to dangerous adult behaviour models. Research Dunham noted that some 6,000 children of school age were targeted in the research. They were school children, drop-outs and out-of-school children. Children were targeted in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Georgetown, Linden and Bartica. The children all recorded less than 75 percent attendance at school. Interviews were conducted in the presence of adult family members or guardians. The interviews sought to find out the reasons for low attendance, the challenges of work that the child was engaged in and whether the work and house chores (paid or unpaid) affected school attendance. They were conducted during the day and night. Of the 6,000 interviewed, 1,500 were on the school record but some had never attended school. They were between the ages of seven to 16. One hundred and sixty people were involved in the research and they included teachers, school welfare officers, interested persons within communities and some who were trained in research from a UNICEF programme. The findings of the research are now being analysed in the USA by consultants working in collaboration with Partners of the Americas and the United States Department of Labour. Further information
pdf: http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56524175