Thousands missing school to work, official says

At least 8,800 children in Tanzania's semiautonomous island of Zanzibar are missing school and wasting away their childhood as they engage in various forms of child labour, a government minister said on Monday. "We have identified children currently living in hardship in all districts of Unguja and Pemba. This is a challenge to us; we should work hard to save these children," Asha Abdallah Juma, the Zanzibar minister of labour, youth, children and women development said. Unguja and Pemba are the two islands that make up Zanzibar. The findings are contained in a survey conducted in these islands that found 8,881 children living in difficult circumstances. "Although we have improved most of our laws - aimed at eradicating forms of harassment and torture against children including child labour - we still have many cases of child abuse in the labour market," Juma added. She said child labour was rampant in Chwaka, Uroa, Matemwe, and Mkokotoni villages in Unguja Island, and in Nanguji, Mwambe, Msuka, Tumbe, Mzambarauni and Wete in Pemba Island. Most parents have their children engage in activities such as fishing and picking cloves and consider this as part of the child's education. Linking child labour to poverty, Juma said the government was collaborating with development partners to reduce the levels of poverty, especially by providing soft loans to women for income generating activities; reducing endemic diseases, and encouraging parents to take children to school. The penalty for an offence relating to child labour in Zanzibar includes six months' imprisonment and a fine of US $400. For extreme forms of child labour the fine is $3,000 and two years imprisonment. Children make up about 4 percent of the estimated one million Zanzibar population.