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IV.  THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION

 

Many children who cut cane do not attend school at all, and those who do attempt to balance work and school may find that their work interferes with their education.  The IPEC study found, for example, that one of every three child sugarcane workers interviewed was not in school.  Among those interviewed for the study, the principal reason for leaving school was that economic necessity forced them to work.  And of those who attended school, 45 percent reported having difficulties with their studies because they had missed days of class and found it hard to catch up or because they were tired after working in the cane fields in the morning.181

In addition, the direct and indirect costs of education drive some children into sugarcane cultivation.  Under Salvadoran law, children are entitled to a basic education, grades one through nine, at no charge.182  “Education is supposedly free,” said Manuel Ortega of the Committee for Community Reconstruction and Socioeconomic Development in Suchitoto.  “The pure truth is things are much more expensive.”183  Many schools charge matriculation fees or “voluntary” monthly assessments.  Most also require students to wear uniforms.  School supplies such as notebooks and pencils and the cost of transport to and from classes are additional expenses.  As a result, the average cost of schooling is approximately $275 per student per year, a considerable sum for most Salvadoran families.  “A lot of times it’s the difference between eating and not eating,” said Benjamin Smith, a technical advisor with the ILO in El Salvador.  “It’s a big sacrifice to send a child to school.”184

In a welcome step in late 2003, the Ministry of Education began an initiative to eliminate school fees.  The program allocates $40 million for distribution to schools based on their enrollment, funds that are intended to replace school fees.185

With support from UNICEF and USAID, El Salvador is providing some students with school supplies free of charge.  In Cuscatlán, for example, a program of the National Secretariat of the Family and the Ministry of Education plans to distribute school supplies, food, and beverages to students.186  Fundazucar, the “social arm of the Salvadoran Sugar Association,” also distributes school packets to a limited number of schools.187  As the result of these and similar programs, Italo Cardona, the IPEC national coordinator, said, “We have achieved an increase in matriculation in areas that cultivate sugarcane.”188  Benjamin Smith, chief technical advisor with IPEC, added, “In 2003, there was an increase in matriculation of 12 percent in the schools that received this support.”  Nationally, he said, matriculation increased by only 3 percent in 2003, suggesting that the programs to provide free school supplies have made an “important difference” in school enrollment.189  If our interviews are any indication, however, most students in El Salvador do not yet benefit from these efforts.

The Effect of Work on Education

Children who work during the sugarcane harvest often miss the first several weeks or months of school.  North of San Salvador, for example, most youths cut cane throughout the harvest season, which extends from November to March or April.  At the start of the school year, “many are missing” from class, said Elba Ganira Martinez, a teacher in El Chaparral.  “In this locality, at the beginning of the school year few come [to class] because of the zafra.  Afterward they attend with more regularity.  In prior years, some haven’t come until the zafra ends, until about now.”  She estimated that about 20 percent of her class did not attend school during the sugarcane harvest.190

For some, working means a temporary or permanent interruption in education.  Nelson R., twenty-two, was in ninth grade when we interviewed him.  “I began school when I was seven,” he said, ‘But then I left it.  Work affects you.  Work interferes a lot with education.”191  Ernesto S., an eighteen-year-old now in the eighth grade, told us that he left school for four years starting in 1996.  “I needed money, and I couldn’t go to school,” he said.  He told us that the school in his community only offered classes in the morning, a time when he was normally still working in the fields.192

Those who remain in school while they work must keep up with classes after putting in a full day’s work.  Nelson R., the twenty-two-year-old who returned to school after dropping out several years ago, described his day:  “I work in the morning.  In the afternoon I come here [to school] to study,” he said.  “There are many who do this—work in the morning and study in the afternoon.”193

Addressing all of the factors that push children out of classrooms and into hazardous labor is complicated, but we heard some practical suggestions.  “It’s difficult to combat poverty,” said Elba Ganira Martínez, the teacher.  “But it’s not impossible to combat parental attitudes. . . .  It would be possible to give talks to parents” to explain the advantages of schooling.194

State-run school buses would readily resolve the transport issues, but if such a system is not feasible, small grants for shoes or bicycles would also help.  When Ms. Martínez went to a particularly poor community in her school district to enroll children in school, she found that many youths and adults understood the advantages of an education.  “The children want to study.  The parents want them to study.  But they don’t have bicycles, and they have no other way of getting here.  The community is very far away.”  Another of the communities served by her school district is eight kilometers away, and students walk along a poorly maintained road and cross a river to reach the school.  “In winter the river swells.  When it rises, the children can’t cross.  These children could come if there were transport for them.”  Alternatively, she suggested that a teacher could travel to their community to provide classes.195

The Cost of Education

Some children cut cane because it is the only way that they can afford the expense of schooling.  For example, a woman in Cuscatlán told us that her children work “to put them into school.  It’s necessary for them to study.  We all sacrifice so that they can get ahead a little.”  She told us that her children’s wages go toward the cost of uniforms, shoes, and notebooks.  The matriculation fee is ¢10 ($1.14) per year for each child, plus a monthly contribution of ¢5 ($0.57) for the food they receive at school.  In addition, she pays for transportation for her children to go to and from school.  “It’s ¢2 [$0.23] each way.  That’s ¢4 [$0.46] daily for each one.  There are three that go.”  Some days, she told us, she does not have the money to send them.  Other days, they cannot go because transportation is unavailable.196

The expenses associated with schooling push others out of the classroom.  Thirteen-year-old Gilbert C. has not attended school for three years.  “We don’t have any way to send him,” his mother said.  She told us that the cost was more than she could afford, listing off the school supplies, the shoes, the rest of the uniform, and the matriculation fee of ¢40 ($4.57).197

State schools must by law provide basic education, first through ninth grade, free of charge.198  Nevertheless, many schools charge matriculation fees or “voluntary” monthly assessments.  “Most schools are free in theory, but school fees can be prohibitive,” said Karla Hananía de Varela, a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) program officer.199  “The fees are ¢200 [$22.86] to ¢400 [$45.71] yearly, plus monthly fees in some places,” said Luis Salazar, associate ombudsman for children and adolescents’ issues for the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman.  “Then they have to buy school materials, plus a little bit for what they call ‘healthy education’ [educación saludable], meaning that they receive a meal at school.”200  Taking into account all costs associated with education—matriculation fees, “voluntary” contributions to school events, and the cost of uniforms, school supplies, and transportation to and from school—IPEC has estimated that the annual cost of schooling in El Salvador is ¢2,405 ($274.86) per student.201

When we asked youths whether they paid matriculation fees at their schools, we heard amounts that ranged from nothing to just under $10 per pupil:

  • In Sonsonate, fourteen-year-old Ronaldo L. told us that he paid ¢85 ($9.71) at the beginning of the school year, with no additional monthly fees.202
  • Pedro M., age twelve, paid a matriculation fee of ¢40 ($4.57) in Sonsonate.  We asked if his school charged monthly fees in addition to the matriculation fee.  “I don’t know,” he replied.  “Just that sometimes they have events and ask for a contribution.  The contribution is ¢10 [$1.14], nothing more.”203  Fourteen-year-old Ignacio S. also pays ¢40 in matriculation fees.204
  • Jimmy D., fifteen, told Human Rights Watch that he paid a total of ¢20 ($2.29) in school fees per year.205
  • “The matriculation fee is $2 for the family, it doesn’t matter how many there are,” said Pablo N., age seventeen.206
  • Seventeen-year-old Tony V. told us that each student at his school in the Department of San Salvador paid a matriculation fee of ¢10 ($1.14) per year.207

Most schools also require students to wear uniforms, meaning that they face an additional expense.  For example, Pedro M. told us that his school required him to wear a uniform.  “The shirt costs $3.  Pants are $6.  Black shoes—it depends what one buys.  On average they are ¢150 [$17.14] or maybe ¢100 [$11.43].”208

Some schools do not permit students to attend if they do not wear a uniform.  “We know of extreme cases, such as one case in Santa Ana where the boy didn’t have socks and the school didn’t let him enter, extreme cases like that,” Yolanda Barrientos of the Olof Palme Foundation told Human Rights Watch.209  In particular, the requirement that students wear black shoes caused worry among many of the children we interviewed, probably because shoes are the most expensive part of the school uniform.  “We need black shoes,” Ignacio S., age fourteen, told Human Rights Watch.  “I need to save money to buy them.  They’ll throw me out of school because I have these,” he said, pointing to his shoes.  “They’ll throw me out of school because they want black ones and I have white ones.”  He clarified that he had been attending classes for ten days without black shoes, but the principal had recently told him that he could not continue to come to school without black shoes:

They haven’t thrown me out yet, but I’m waiting.  I have to get the money together to buy them.  Tomorrow I’m going to go to school, but I’m wearing white shoes.  I don’t think they’ll let me in.  The director said that boys who aren’t wearing the uniform, they’ll throw them out; they won’t give them classes.  I’ve been going since February 3, but I think they’ll throw me out if they catch me.210

But not all schools turn away students if they are not wearing uniforms.  For instance, a teacher in San Miguel told Human Rights Watch that his school does not enforce the requirement that students wear a uniform.  “The uniform is not obligatory,” he said.  “The school demands it, but children are not kept out of classes because of this.”211  Youths in other schools told us that they were permitted to attend class even if they did not have a uniform.

The Ministry of Education has taken some steps to address the barriers created both by school fees and uniforms.  “The minister issued a guideline saying that there should not be a matriculation fee and that no student should be turned away for not having a uniform.  That’s an achievement,” said Luis Salazar of the ombudsman’s office.212  “It’s hoped that no school will impede access for economic reasons, but the parents get together in an assembly and decide that a school will request [contributions],” said Iris de Reyes, an official in the Ministry of Education.  Such actions are illegal, she said.  “The Ministry of Education has always declared that they should not do that.”  She told us that the ministry had issued a directive to that effect.  “The norm has the force of law,” she said.  “It’s what is in the Constitution: Basic education is free if it’s a state school.  Basic education is considered to be education up to ninth grade 213  Human Rights Watch was unable to determine what steps the ministry has taken to enforce the directive.

Even when they do not have to pay school fees or purchase uniforms, families must buy notebooks, pencils, and other materials.  Pedro M. estimated that school supplies cost ¢300 [$34.29] per year.214  Tony V. told us that each student at his school in the Department of San Salvador spent approximately ¢100 ($11.43) annually on school supplies.215

The Right to Education

The right to education is proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and guaranteed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Protocol of San Salvador.  Primary education must be “compulsory and available free to all.”  Secondary education, including vocational education, must be “available and accessible to every child,” with the progressive introduction of free secondary education.216  In addition, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees each child the right to “such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor,” a provision that the Human Rights Committee has interpreted to include education sufficient to enable each child to develop his or her capacities and enjoy civil and political rights.217  With regard to the interplay between child labor and education, the Convention on the Rights of the Child explicitly guarantees children the right “to be protected from performing any work that is likely . . . to interfere with the child’s education.”218

These treaties do not define the term “primary education.”  The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights looks to the the World Declaration on Education for All for guidance in interpreting the term.219  The declaration observes:

The main delivery system for the basic education of children outside the family is primary schooling. Primary education must be universal, ensure that the basic learning needs of all children are satisfied, and take into account the culture, needs and opportunities of the community.220

Salvadoran law guarantees children a “basic education,” by which it means grades one through nine, at no charge.221  This guarantee is probably broader than the international right to free primary education.  As the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights notes, primary education and basic education are not synonymous; “the Committee endorses the position taken by UNICEF:  ‘Primary education is the most important component of basic education.’”222

The right to education is a right of progressive implementation, meaning that implementation may take place over a period of time, subject to limits on available resources.  A state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights agrees “to take steps . . . to the maximum of its available resources” to the full realization of the right to education.223  Nevertheless, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights observes:

The realization of the right to education over time, that is “progressively,” should not be interpreted as depriving States parties’ obligations of all meaningful content.  Progressive realization means that States parties have a specific and continuing obligation ‘to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible’ towards the full realization of [the right to education].224

Education is often presented as a solution to child labor.  For example, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs suggests that “schooling almost always leads to better outcomes, both socially and economically, than working for children.”225  International instruments also adopt this view.  The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention highlights “the importance of education in eliminating child labour” and calls on states to ensure access to free basic education for all children removed from the worst forms of child labor.226  In fact, international law linked education and child labor long before the adoption of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, observes Katarina Tomasevski, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to education:  the linkage “constitutes one of the oldest parts of international human rights law and emerged therein because of its sound economic rationale.”227

As a first step toward securing the right to an education and achieving the elimination of the worst forms of child labor, El Salvador should ensure that child labor does not interfere with schooling.  It should continue its efforts to eliminate school fees and similar state-imposed barriers to education, and it should identify and implement strategies to reduce other costs associated with attending school.



[181] ILO, p. 25.

[182] Ley General de Educación, art. 20. The school year starts in mid-January or early February; classes are in session for 200 days per year. Students attend for five hours each day, usually in either the morning or the afternoon.  San Salvador and Santa Ana also offer night schools for youths who are unable to attend classes during the day.  See ibid., art. 107; Reglamento de Educación Primaria, Decreto No. 40 of February 22, 1965, art. 129, Diario Oficial No. 40, tomo 206, February 26, 1965 (as amended by Decreto No. 39 of December 19, 1967, Diario Oficial No. 235, tomo 217, December 21, 1967).

[183] Human Rights Watch interview with Manuel Armando Ortega, Comité de Reconstrucción y Desarrollo Económico-Social de Comunidades de Suchitoto, Suchitoto, Cuscatlán, February 17, 2003.

[184] Human Rights Watch interview with Benjamin Smith, February 6, 2003.

[185] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Italo Cardona, national coordinator, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, International Labour Organization, San Salvador, May 6, 2004.

[186] See Mayrene Zamora, “45 mil niños recibirán paquetes escolares,” La Prensa Gráfica (San Salvador),February 13, 2003, p. 71.

[187] Human Rights Watch interview with Rossy de Calderón, executive director, FUNDAZUCAR, San Salvador, February 7, 2003.

[188] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Italo Cardona, May 6, 2004.

[189] Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Benjamin Smith, May 6, 2004.

[190] Human Rights Watch interview with Elba Ganira Martínez, February 13, 2003.

[191] Human Rights Watch interview with Nelson R., Department of San Salvador, February 13, 2003.

[192] Human Rights Watch interview with Ernesto S., Department of San Salvador, February 13, 2003.

[193] Human Rights Watch interview with Nelson R., Department of San Salvador, February 13, 2003.

[194] Human Rights Watch interview with Elba Ganira Martínez, February 13, 2003.

[195] Ibid.

[196] Human Rights Watch interview, Department of Cuscatlán, February 17, 2003.  The cost of education may push children into other forms of potentially hazardous work as well.  For example, Human Rights Watch interviewed girls who reported that they worked as domestics in order to pay school fees and related costs.  See Human Rights Watch, No Rest, pp. 21-25.

[197] Human Rights Watch interview with Gilbert C., Department of Sonsonate, February 16, 2003.

[198] Ley General de Educación, art. 20.

[199] Human Rights Watch interview with Karla Hananía de Varela, program officer, UNICEF, San Salvador, February 19, 2003.

[200] Human Rights Watch interview with Luis Enrique Salazar Flores, associate ombudsman for children and adolescents, Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman (Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos), San Salvador, February 10, 2003.

[201] Oscar Godoy, El Salvador: Trabajo infantil doméstico: Una evaluación rápida (Geneva: International Labour Organization, International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour, 2002), p. 23. 

[202] Human Rights Watch interview with Ronaldo L., Department of Sonsonate, February 16, 2003.

[203] Human Rights Watch interview with Pedro M., Department of Sonsonate, February 16, 2003.

[204] Human Rights Watch interview with Ignacio S., Department of Sonsonate, February 16, 2003.

[205] Human Rights Watch interview with Jimmy D., Department of La Libertad, February 19, 2003.

[206] Human Rights Watch interview with Pablo N., Department of La Libertad, February 19, 2003.

[207] Human Rights Watch interview with Tony V., Department of San Salvador, February 13, 2003.

[208] Human Rights Watch interview with Pedro M., Department of Sonsonate, February 16, 2003.

[209] Human Rights Watch interview with Yolanda Barrientos, Fundación Olof Palme, San Salvador, February 20, 2003.

[210] Human Rights Watch interview with Ignacio S., Department of Sonsonate, February 16, 2003.

[211] Human Rights Watch interview with teacher, Department of San Miguel, February 12, 2003.

[212] Human Rights Watch interview with Luis Enrique Salazar Flores, February 10, 2003.

[213] Human Rights Watch interview with Iris de Reyes, Ministry of Education, San Salvador, February 19, 2003.

[214] Human Rights Watch interview with Pedro M., Department of Sonsonate, February 16, 2003.

[215] Human Rights Watch interview with Tony V., Department of San Salvador, February 13, 2003.

[216] The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides that primary education “shall be available to all” and that secondary education “shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means.”  International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 13.  Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes “the right of the child to education”; states parties undertake to make secondary education “available and accessible to every child.”  The Protocol of San Salvador contains similar provisions.  See Protocol of San Salvador, art. 13(3).

[217] See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 24, opened for signature December 19, 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force March 23, 1976); Human Rights Committee, General Comment 17, para. 3.

[218] Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 32(1).

[219] Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 13:  The Right to Education, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1999/10 (1999), para. 9.

[220] World Declaration on Education for All, proclaimed at the World Conference on Education for All, Jomtien, Thailand, March 5-9, 1990, art. 5, available at http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/ed_for_all/ background/ jomtien_declaration.shtml (viewed December 12, 2003).  The declaration identifies “basic learning needs” as “both essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and problem solving) and the basic learning content (such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes) required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions, and to continue learning.”  Ibid., art. 1.

[221] Ley General de Educación, art. 20.

[222] Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 13:  The Right to Education, para. 9 (quoting UNICEF, Advocacy Kit, Basic Education (1999), section 1, p. 1).

[223] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 2(1).  See also Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 28.

[224] Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 13: The Right to Education, para. 44.

[225] U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, By the Sweat and Toil of Children, Volume VI:  An Economic Consideration of Child Labor (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2000), p. i.

[226] Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, art. 7(2)(c).

[227] Katarina Tomasevski, Education Denied: Costs and Remedies (London and New York: Zed Books, 2003), p. 24.  See also chapter III, “International Prohibition on Harmful or Hazardous Labor” section.


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