BASIC EDUCATION FOR HARD TO REACH URBAN CHILDREN'S PROJECT: AN OVERVIEW

UNICEF - Bangladesh

A presentation during the symposium

"Child Labor & the Globalizing Economy: Lessons from Asia/Pacific Countries"

Stanford University, California

February 7 – 9, 2001

The BEHTRUC Project was developed against the backdrop of the mounting child1 labour debate in the country - triggered by the threat of enforcement of
Harkin Bill. The lessons from the much talked-about project for child1
garment workers in Bangladesh - which started in 1995, the year of the conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding between UNICEF, ILO and BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) – were used to develop this project.
Some of those lessons learned were:

Giving stipends to children was not a sustainable strategy to attract children to schools
- Pulling out children from work without providing them with viable options can prove counter-productive
- Actively listening to and involving children and their families is critical for proper understanding of the socio-economic context and for developing effective programmes for them
- The assumption that children released from exploitative work will return to study and/or play proved contrary to reality

The BEHTRUC Project focuses on an "earn and learn" strategy. It is trying to build on the strengths that the working children already possess. That is to say, that there are a lot of things children can learn through working that are not taught within the confines of a classroom. To disregard the knowledge that a child1 gains from work and to assume that s/he knows nothing for not being in school, is to further undermine that child1's self-esteem and self-confidence. It aims to ensure access, equity and quality education to these working children. Quality non-formal education can help prepare working children for broader options available to them so that they can make their choices regarding their future - to access further education, to gain access to appropriate skill training and work or to negotiate for better conditions in their present work. It is also trying to provide a child-friendly environment where interactive learning takes place. By coming to these learning centers, children get an opportunity to mix with their peers and get peer support, and meet teachers who are not punitive in their ways. These interactions help children to gain self-confidence.

The main features of this project in brief are:

- To create learning opportunities for 351,000 children engaged in hazardous and exploitative occupations in major urban areas;
- To provide a safe and supportive environment for the children to facilitate their movement out of hazardous jobs (if they desire)
- To strengthen the capacity of Government, NGOs and civil society to deliver quality education to working children
- To motivate civil society to undertake initiatives to enable working children access to protection and development opportunities

Other:

• It covers 351,000 working children, who are between the ages of 8-14 years, in 6 major cities of Bangladesh;
  - It is a two-year course, two hours a day, six days a week. At the end of the course children achieve an equivalency of grade 3 and can be admitted to mainstream education. During the two hours, the child1 stays away from (hazardous) work and instead spends it in an enjoyable environment where they gain knowledge of life skills; health care; their rights; ways of identifying and coping with hazardous work situations; as well as other relevant issues. This two hour period is regarded as a first step in discouraging them from engaging full-time in hazardous and exploitative occupations and seeking safer alternatives;
  - Timing is flexible and is set according to the convenience of the learners;
  - Learning centers are located close to their homes or workplaces;
  - Learning is center-based, since they have no time for homework;
  - The curriculum is designed in a manner that would assist working children to seek better alternatives to hazardous work, develop self-esteem and confidence;
  - Teachers are trained to be child-friendly, sensitive to the needs of working children and to be more of facilitators than lecturers; they are oriented toward multiple ways of teaching and learning, and the different learning needs of children;
  - The project is implemented by more than 150 NGOs
  - Centers are administered by center management committees, comprised of guardians and employers of learners, community leaders and other influential persons in the community, ward commissioners or their representatives, and teachers of the learning centers. The committee meets at least once a month;
  - Regular meetings with the parents/guardians of learners;
  - One teacher for every center and one supervisor for every 15 centers;
  - Periodic feedback from learners about their views of the centers and what they want out of it as well as from teachers and supervisors about the challenges they face in their work
  - All learning materials are provided free of cost through the NGOs to the learners;
  - It is the largest working children's project of UNICEF in the world;
  - Cost per learner for two years is about $35.

The Government is providing a stipend on a pilot basis to about 500 working children to continue their education in primary schools. Initiatives are also being taken on a small scale this year to provide vocational skills to 500 learners who have graduated from BEHTRUC learning centers.

While there are a lot of lessons to be learned from a project of this scale for working children, some of the positive aspects of the project are:

- The government is now committed to provide working children access to education and considers it to be a major tool to reduce child1 labor;
- For the first time a curriculum designed to meet the needs of working children has been developed;
- Views of working children are incorporated wherever possible to improve the performance of the project. These working children, who have been carrying out adult responsibilities and making important decisions everyday of their lives also have an idea of what is good for them. Many times what children express might reconfirm some
of our adult convictions about child1 work and other times they give us new ideas.
- 50% of the learners are girls (the job opportunities for girls are very poor. Only the worst type of work -- such as waste picking, domestic help, brick chipping, sex work, etc. -- are available. Many girls who work and attend school, end up working more hours than boys of their age. Girls are expected to do household chores as well, which leave them no time for rest or recreation) who are also given scope for recreation and play.

The present education system does not take into consideration the needs of working children, realities of thier work schedules, etc. Both children and their parents do not see any economic or social value of attending such schools and gradually drop out. Some of the jobs these children do offer more realistic security than the present formal schools. Majority of the children consulted would like to combine work and school. Even if their
economic situations improve, many of them would prefer to continue working. As a porter boy nicely put it: "Even a king's food finishes one day. So it is important to continue working a little."

The lessons learned from this project will help us in developing a more effective model for future intervention:

- Too many NGO partners can cause problems.. An effective monitoring mechanism is needed to track performance of NGOs;
- It is most difficult to reach and retain children who are in wage employment. Hence, active mobilization of employers is critical;
- Modular teaching and learning helps in creating equivalencies;
- There is a need to develop options for age appropriate post-literacy skills, so that they have better life options when graduating from the learning centers;
- There is a need to broaden partnerships to bring on board the health & social welfare ministries; city corporation; along with employers, NGOs, parents and working children;
- It is difficult to work pro-actively through the government mechanism; there is a need to further strengthen their management capacity.

While UNICEF too, would like to immediately withdraw children from hazardous occupations like sex work, work on lathes in machine factories, etc., it is aware that such actions are more likely to harm than benefit those very children for whom the action might be taken. And as an advocate of a rights-based approach, it recognizes that children, within the context of their evolving capacities, can participate in the processes and decisions that concern them and that affect their lives. That is why it values
children's opinion on the need to combine both work and education.

I think all of us around this table have our hearts in the right place where child1 labor is concerned. We all want to see children having access to quality education and living under unexploitative conditions. But how we go about it will depend in what context we are working. Since there is no single strategy to address this problem let us try and make the best use of our different approaches.