• Apart from child labour, some youngsters are sexually exploited for commercial purposes.
• Schools provide critical social protection resources for children and their families and their closure raises many concerns around vulnerability.
Image: /WILFRED NYANGARESI
A United Nations agency has warned of increased child labour as schools remain shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The United Nations Children's Fund says in Covid-19 and Child Labour report that households are looking for new ways to allocate children’s time as they await school reopening.
“Schools provide critical social protection resources for children and their families. Closure thus raises many concerns around vulnerability,” Unicef says in its latest report.
Schools were closed in mid-March and are expected to reopen in January next year. Universities and tertiary institutions, which were also closed, are scheduled to reopen in phases in September.
Child labour is prevalent in the informal sector where children are used as unskilled workers. There had been a significant fall in child labour in the country since 2000.
“Many children are at risk of being pushed into child labour as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. That would mean a rise in child labour for the first time since 2000,” the UN agency says.
It quotes a rural Kenya child saying that “since school closures, many parents in my neighbourhood have taken advantage of the ‘holiday’ to send children to town to sell fruits and vegetables.”
Apart from child labour, some youngsters are sexually exploited for commercial purposes as the global lockdown continues.
Four in any 10 children in the age group 5-14 in Kenya are engaged in child labour. This translates into about 3,736,000 children.
Most of those children, according to 2019 data of UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's Institute of statistics, most of the children work in the agriculture sector - tea, coffee and miraa.
Others work in the service industry as domestic workers and scrap material scavengers.
“The worst forms of child labour in Kenya are commercial sexual exploitation (sometimes as a result of human trafficking), begging and street vending,” the International Labour Organisations says.
The UN agencies say the protection of children from hazardous and exploitative labour should not be compromised by the coronavirus pandemic and economic lockdowns.
“Where children are exploited, upholding the rule of law is essential in guaranteeing their right to justice,” the Unicef report says.
Currently, some schools are engaging their pupils/students through e-Learning. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development is offering lessons on television, radio and online.
However, this form of learning leaves out those without access to electronic equipment.
Unesco wants funds to be provided for social service workers who engage children to prevent them from being engaged in child labour. Such workers should also be treated as providers of essential service.
“Both short-term mobility restrictions and the diversion of human and financial resources to other urgent needs have constrained the vital work of social workers,” Unesco notes.
- mwaniki fm