IT IS not surprising that several parents in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, should have claimed ignorance, as reported in yesterday's Gleaner, of breaching the Child Care and Protection Act by having their school-age children working as vendors when they should be attending classes.
This practice has been so commonplace for so long that many people, especially in rural Jamaica, see this almost as natural a part of their children's development as sending them on errands or to the grocery shop. As far as these parents are concerned, their economic circumstances do not allow them the 'luxury' of sending their children to school every day of the week. This is a sad reflection on the short-sightedness of these parents who fail to appreciate the extent to which they are sabotaging their children's future prospects.
Children's Advocate Mary Clarke and The Child Development Agency who have been focusing on that area of Jamaica amid reports of children between six and 17 years old working as vendors in the Savanna-la-Mar market, are now turning their attention to implementing more targeted public education programmes to persons in similar circumstances. We would suggest that these programmes should also indicate to parents, not only their duty to their children, and the penalties for failing to comply with the law, but also the help that is available through various state agencies to subsidise their children's education.
Children need to be given early lessons in responsible behaviour and discipline. But this should not be at the expense of their education in the formal school system. No amount of help which a parent thinks he or she needs should have them keeping their children, especially those as young as six years old, out of school competing as vendors with adults many times their age.
Of equal concern is the extent to which children are popping up at traffic lights either as beggars or as vendors selling items, from chamois rags to air fresheners. The society seems hardly scandalised and we are becoming more and more accommodating of the growing phenomenon.
Child labour in its various forms is a complex social and economic problem. But the interests of the children should be paramount. Some countries, like Brazil and Mexico, have implemented programmes of compensating poor families with cash or kind as an incentive to send their children to school. While we may baulk at doing anything similar, we should consider the figurative carrots we can offer rather than relying mainly on the stick of enforcing the law. Investing in our children's future is imperative for national development.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
