YANGON - Decades of economic mismanagement in Myanmar have driven nearly a
third of the country's population below the poverty line, while the mechanisms
necessary to alleviate poverty and promote development remain under-funded and
in many cases ignored.
As the nation braces for its first national election in more than 20 years, on
November 7, it is Myanmar's most vulnerable citizens - its children - who stand
to lose if the country's new leaders fail to reverse the trend towards further
fiscal collapse, squandered
natural resources and an educational system that lags behind every other
Southeast Asian nation.
Lin Htet Aung is 12 years old, scrappy but small for his age. He came to Yangon
from Sagaing division north of Mandalay, more than a day's journey from the
rest of his family. He works all day every day in one of the former capital's
ubiquitous teashops, slinging cups of thick sweet tea and plates of pastries
for 10,000 kyats per month (about US$10), low by many standards about more than
most of Myanmar's child laborers.
"I sleep right here in the shop," Lin Htet Aung says, pointing to a small table
in a filthy corner of the smoky shop. The long hours aren't the worst part of
his job, which he's held for nearly two years.
"I don't like working here because they beat me sometimes, but I'm not a bad
kid," he said. I'll be going back home in a few months, so I'm very happy. I
probably won't go back to school when I go home, but I don't mind."
Lin Htet Aung's story is hardly unique. Similar tea shops can be found on
nearly every corner of Yangon, staffed largely by teams of young boys who have
given up their education, willingly or not, to join the workforce.
The exact number of children aged 10 to 14 in Myanmar's workforce is unknown.
An estimate by the Global March Against Child Labor from 2005 puts the figure
at 1,152,000, citing statistics from the International Labor Organization
(ILO). The report further notes that the number of children in the informal
urban sector, including teashops, food processing, street vending, refuse
collecting, and light manufacturing, is just over one million.
This is to say nothing of the children reportedly conscripted into forced labor
by the Myanmar military. The ILO has been working on the issue of child labor
in Myanmar since 2002, but their mandate is limited to child soldiers.
Recent interviews with underage deserters from the Myanmar army conducted by
the Karen Human Rights Group in 2009 found that minors were still among those
civilians forced to carry military equipment for the army and allied armed
groups, or forced to march in front of troops to clear the path of
antipersonnel mines.
Whether working in tea shops, in the manufacturing sector or dodging aging
buses and automobiles on Yangon's crowded streets to sell flower garlands,
Myanmar children living outside the reach of the support networks provided by
families or guardians are vulnerable to exploitation, particularly given
prevailing working conditions, aid workers say.
"The biggest problem children come to talk to us about is being beaten," said
Lamia Rashid, a former Save the Children representative working in Myanmar.
"Young children in the workplace are often beaten, humiliated, or exploited,
although few talk about it openly - this depends largely on the character of
the employer, and some are luckier than others."
Few good choices
How do so many of Myanmar's children end up in the workforce instead of the
classroom?
Reasons for the prevalence of child labor in Myanmar vary, but most experts
agree that crushing poverty and inadequate educational facilities create a
vicious cycle. Children are prohibited financially from learning the skills
that would ultimately allow them to transcend poverty.
As well, families unable to make ends meet often place the burden of a family
income on the narrow shoulder of their children. Save the Children's Rashid
said this often thrusts children into the grasp of employment brokers who trade
in child workers, often passing them on to other brokers and relocating them
further from their families.
"Education provides the surest route everywhere for people to transcend their
circumstances, but it's a route that is unavailable to so many in Burma and
depreciates the nation's human capital," said Sean Turnell, associate professor
of economics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. "A more sincere and
telling indicator of the country and society in economic distress would be
difficult to find."
Children in Myanmar are only required to complete primary school under Myanmar
law, but more than half drop out before they graduate, according to data from
the United Nations Children's Fund. A UNICEF country report further notes that
the costs associated with compulsory education, which is supposed to be free,
add to the burden of families legally required to send their children to
school.
"Many school expenses must be borne by students' families, presenting an
insurmountable financial obstacle for many impoverished households," the report
said. "Classroom facilities are often poor and under-equipped, and attrition
rates among teachers are high due to low pay, poor working conditions, and long
separations from their families."
Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) frequently
champions its efforts in the educational sector, arguing that under its
guidance the country is being equipped to compete in the 21st century's
knowledge age. But independent researchers have found that the government's
rhetoric doesn't match realities on the ground, particularly in ethnic minority
areas.
A United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization report
released earlier this year titled "Education under Attack" notes that the
Myanmar military has "occupied educational facilities for military purposes,
recruited teachers and students for forced labor, and planted landmines close
to or on the paths to schools".
Even under the best of circumstances, the challenges facing Myanmar's
school-aged children remain daunting. Students whose families have the
resources to pay for secondary school and university studies face a host of
additional challenges, the report says.
University students played a central role during the 1988 democracy uprising
the military eventually quashed with lethal force. "Since then, [students] have
been a source of fear for the [State Peace and Development Council] generals,
who have done everything in their power to prevent civil universities from
functioning normally."
This includes removing most higher education institutions to the outskirts of
Yangon, making daily commutes difficult and costly. That leads many students to
enroll in distance programs that offer less intensive courses of study, and
thus make prospective employers lose confidence in the abilities of university
graduates.
As one recent graduate from Bago interviewed for the report said, a degree is
no guarantee of anything. "I have a degree in history, but there are no jobs
available in my field, so I am a waiter in a small restaurant, and I earn
15,000 kyats per month."
Skewed priorities
Reliable statistics about Myanmar's national expenditures are notoriously
difficult to come by, but recent estimates offer some explanation for the
challenges facing students and educators alike - and for the swelling ranks of
school-age children in the workforce.
A 2007 study by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies
found that spending on education amounted to only 0.9% of the national budget.
By contrast, the country spends between 40% and 60% on national defense, the
study found.
Children separated from family and prone to leaving abusive workplaces
contribute to a growing population of street children, some of whom resort to
crime, eke out a living by begging, or are arrested by police for vagrancy.
Government mechanisms to deal with street children are limited and often
contribute further to child delinquency and neglect.
Myanmar's Ministry of Social Affairs has established Training School Centers
that operate essentially as juvenile detention centers for street kids, orphans
and children in conflict with the law who have been detained by police officers
in downtown areas.
"Children are often picked up on the streets by police officers for vagrancy
and end up in these institutions. They're rarely allowed to leave, receive
essentially no education, and only the very basic services in terms of health
care," said Dario Devale, a representative of Enfants du Monde Droits de
l'Homme (EMDH), who has run education and family reintegration programs in 10
centers around Yangon.
"The children, some as young as six, can end up institutionalized for several
years, either because they're awaiting trial or because they have nowhere else
to go. Many who are released often end up back on the streets."
Among the programs implemented by EMDH was a shared home for institutionalized
youth who had reached the age of 18 that taught household management and
budgeting.
"What we found troubling, especially when trying to trace the families of
institutionalized children, is that there is a pervasive and developed network
of brokers who often refer children on two or three times, and they then simply
lose touch with their homes and families," Devale said.
A draft law on child labor in Myanmar has yet to be passed, and the legal
working age varies among sectors, leaving many employers unsure about legal
restrictions, according to the ILO.
On Sunday, Myanmar will hold national elections to induct a new "civilian"
administration in a process largely dismissed as undemocratic and aimed at
consolidating further military control. It remains unclear how big a priority
educational reform and poverty reduction will be for the new government.
In the meantime, Lin Htet Aung and the hundreds of thousands of children like
him will have few prospects to break the cycle of poverty, lack of education
and abuse. And those who employ them will have few incentives to refuse child
laborers.
Kyaw Htike Oo, 57, has employed children at his downtown teashop for five
years.
"Sure it makes me sad to see that there are young children working in teashops
instead of going to school, but if their families have problems, then this is a
good way for them to make money," he said. "All teashops employ young waiters
like this, but I try to treat them like my own children."
But he adds: "I have a two-year-old daughter myself. Of course, I would never
want my child to work at my teashop. I want to save money so that my daughter
can study and become an educated person." Without a change in government policy
and priority, it's a hope that remains well out of reach for most of Myanmar's
fathers.
Danielle Bernstein, a pseudonym, is a journalist.
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