In Mexico, there are 3.7 million girls and boys in child labor, which represents a rate of 13.1%. This figure is 1.7 percentage points more than in 2019, according to the National Child Labor Survey (ENTI) 2022.
The fact that a girl or boy works can sometimes lead to school dropouts or their performance being considerably affected. Likewise, it imposes responsibilities on them that are not appropriate for their age, limits their coexistence with other girls and boys, and puts their health and physical integrity at risk. Furthermore, it perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
The AccioNNAr project implemented by the Office of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for Mexico and Cuba carries out various actions to combat and prevent child labor, specifically in three states: Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Yucatán.
Every June 12, World Day Against Child Labor is commemorated with the aim of raising awareness about this problem. This year, the theme focuses on the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Convention No. 182 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor, which in 2020 became the first universally ratified ILO Convention.
For this reason, our ILO colleagues in Mexico, Aremy Alcocer González, Xixili Fernández and Gabriela Ramírez have interviewed several itinerant tutors of the program to address educational backwardness from the Secretariat of Public Education of Yucatán, who tell how they identify girls and boys who have fallen into child labor and the consequences on their development and performance.
Child labor is normalized
Úrsula Sánchez Rocha is an itinerant tutor in Tixcocob, at a primary school. Of her group of 12 girls and boys, seven are in child labor.
“There are bricklayer assistants, others who work in an automotive workshop, others herding cattle and others who clean pigsties. They are between 12 and 14 years old. They work to support the family economy. Let’s say it is normalized,” he explains.
Úrsula explains that the fact that these children work means that lose interest in school and that this decision is reinforced by his family situation.
“I had a child who worked on a farm cleaning pigsties and he came to class and fell asleep and came home without eating, he was completely malnourished. I had the opportunity to locate her mother, talk to her, raise awareness and she took him to Quintana Roo and right now he is entering second year of high school and no longer works.”
For Úrsula, access to information and holding talks with mothers, fathers and caregivers can be a good way to combat and prevent child labor.
They no longer consider the study necessary
Marlene Isabel Díaz Ojeda, also an itinerant tutor, has seen some cases of girls and boys doing domestic work.
“They suddenly miss class to take care of their little brothers, because mom works and they are the only ones. They are left with the responsibility of taking care of babies, cooking, and caring for their siblings.because they are the oldest.”
Now he has some cases of children working in a salon. One sells Chiapas blouses and lives alone with his sister in Yucatán and sends the money to his parents in the mountains in Chiapas. Another who works with his father as a bricklayer and gardener.
Marlene explains that, although There are children who make an extraordinary effortlike this last one who is a bricklayer and gardener who has insisted on studying and is the first to read and write in his family, there are others who simply decide to leave school.
“Children get used to having an income and once they have money at an early age and see that they can survive or support themselves, in quotes, they no longer consider studying necessary,” he adds.
Children in adult worlds
María Ceballos Cuevas is also an itinerant tutor. In her group there is a boy who is a mechanic after school and at night he helps his mother with the sale of food; They sell hot dogs. She is 13 years old.
“He arrives at class reluctantly, sits down at the table and falls asleep.. But he explains to me that he has two jobs because he has to pay for his things and he has to give money to the house for his food and clothes.”.
Due to this situation, this child has not progressed much in his studies, but he has maintained the minimum 6 or 7 to be able to finish primary school.
Furthermore, due to the nature of his work, is exposed to situations that children should not experience. “This child told me: “Oh teacher, if you would listen to everything the mechanics say. “They talk about women as objects” and he told me that she heard insults, disrespect, definitely situations that a girl or boy should not be exposed to.
For María, scholarships for children and support for the family are necessaryjob opportunities to prevent and eliminate child labor.
They are sad children
Blanca Cecilia Moguel Ramírez works to address educational lag in four schools in the interior of the state; in Motul, Uman, Progreso and in Mérida.
She explains that children who work In addition to not paying attention due to fatigue, they are absent for long periods of timethey disappear from school for work.
“I have students who work as bricklayers’ assistants, who go away to do construction work and return after a long time. There are also girls who work as street vendors, selling food. I also have students who work in stores. They are boys who apart they are unmotivated and at school they are super tired and they no longer want to play with their classmates, they don’t want to leave the classroom. They are also emotionally affected, since he is a sad child who can do nothing but work.”
For Blanca, the fact provide support to families and ensuring that fathers and mothers can also have higher academic degrees, that is, finishing middle school or high school, will give them the opportunity to get better jobs and thus prevent their daughters and sons from working.
It is important to make the situation visible
Aremy Alcocer González is the coordinator of the program to address backwardness in basic education. She explains that they provide care to girls and boys of various ages, but mostly those of 11 or 12 years old who do not yet know how to read and write.
“I am sure that, inside the houses, they are doing child labor, but we often cannot know that, because we find out about those who are in the construction, with the mechanic, in the bakery, but sometimes they don’t share with us what they do inside the house who are mostly responsible for the siblings’ daily chores because they grow up alone, dad is not there, mom is not there.”
For Aremy, it is important to be more aware of how important it is to make visible the situation experienced by working girls and boys. “We are a society that believes that children are not starving.“We are a society that thinks our children are fine in their homes and we are not seeing what is really happening.”
Education is one of the fundamental tools to combat child labor and that is where you place your hope.
“We have been able to verify that when these girls and boys enter the school dynamic again and are motivated and supported, they have participated in many knowledge and public speaking competitions. That is to say, there is a capacity for resilience in these children and they develop many skills that even in learning to read and write, they do it very quickly.”
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