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Educational assistance eyed for child laborers in Camarines Norte
by LV Lagatuz
DAET, CAMARINES NORTE (29 June 2005) —- The World Vision Development Foundation (WVDF) and its partner organizations had distributed backpacks, white T-shirts and school supplies to 613 child laborers engaged in mining who are currently enrolled in public schools in this province.

According to Jay Velasco, WVDF project education officer for Camarines Norte the children recipients came from gold-producing towns of Labo, Paracale and Jose Panganiban.

Velasco said the activity is a component of the Pag-Aaral ng Bata para sa Kinabukasan project, or the ABK Initiative. “It was launched to raise awareness on the negative effects of child labor and the importance of education.”

He said the initiators of this project saw the need to improve the quality of education and create an alternative system of learning suited to the working children and give them a wider chance to be educated.

Velasco said through the ABK Initiative, WBDF successfully draws support from various government agencies, private sector and institutions in upholding children’s rights and programs to combat child labor. “Some of our partners are the Christian Children’s Fund (CCF), Educational Research and Development Assistance Foundation, Inc. (ERDA), Plan Philippines (Plan), International Labor Organization-International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), local government units, non-government partners, people’s organizations and other program stakeholders.”

In 2001, of the estimated four million children aged 5-17 years old who were working about 2.4 million of them were engaged in hazardous work.

At present, 10,491 children throughout the country assisted by ABK Initiative are enrolled in various public schools in the provinces of Bulacan, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Davao, Compostela Valley, National Capital Region and here in Camarines Norte.

Velasco said in this province alone, the project is providing assistance to some 2,975 children engaged in mining, quarrying and commercial sexual prostitution in the towns of Daet, Labo, Jose Panganiban and Paracale. (PIA Cams. Norte)

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