Efforts to reduce school absenteeism pay off

An anti-child labour body's efforts to renovate schools and increase access to water has helped reduce school absenteeism among communities in Malawi's Central region. "We have recorded a 22.1 percent increase in school enrollment in the 100 villages that we work in, and a 36 percent decline in absenteeism," Bobby Maynard, coordinator of the initiative for the NGO, Together Ensuring Children's Security (TECS), told IRIN. The organisation, based in the capital, Lilongwe, has been working in the tobacco-growing region for the past two years. The TECS efforts are partly financed by the Geneva-based Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco-growing (ECLT), which is funded by tobacco multinationals. Malawian children often quit school and work on tobacco farms to supplement family income, in spite of laws prohibiting children younger than 13 from working full time. "Girls have to walk two or three kilometres to the closest water point. We have been negotiating with the villages to install safe water points within the 500 metre radius of the settlement, so the girls have the time to go to school," explained Maynard. Some of the issues TECS tackles are poverty, HIV/AIDS and a lack of educational facilities, all of which drive children away from schools. Food insecurity in these poverty-stricken communities is another critical factor in inducing child labour. With the installation of more accessible water points, villages have been encouraged to grow fruit trees, like bananas, as a source of food. Communities are also working together to repair schools. "Part of our campaign revolves around creating awareness about child labour - that children need to be educated," said Maynard.