Book Review

Child Work and Education: Five case studies from Latin America Edited by M.C. Salazar and W. Alarcn Glasinovich Great Britain, 1998

Kimberly Boekhoudt 24-05-2011 International Development Studies University of Amsterdam

Introduction
The book Child Work and Education: Five case studies from Latin America by M.C. Salazar and W. Alarcn Glasinovich discusses the relationship between child work and education in five Latin American countries: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru. Child work is very common in these Latin American countries and as seen through these five case studies it can have a negative effect on the education of the children. Most of them work instead of going to school or work and go to school at the same time for various reasons. Child work is mostly seen as the result of the existing poverty in these countries. But besides it being a reason why children work, there are also other reasons to be taken into account why children work, such as the inefficiency of the education system and the way child work is viewed by their parents. The topic discussed in this book relates to the academic debate about whether or not all forms of child work should and could be abolished. On the one hand child work is viewed as standing in the way of children having a childhood, but on the other hand it can also be crucial to the family income (Cunningham, 2001:16). Regarding education, the book relates to the academic debate about how we can approach education differently in order to make it more efficient and more attractive for these children. An alternative could be focusing more on the rights in education, such as education quality and opportunities, instead of only the rights to education (Spreen and Vally, 2006: 353). The authors refer in great extend to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the issues of child work and education. Some of the articles of the CRC are also incorporated in the policies of these countries, but theres poor or no implementation of these policies. As mentioned above this book has been edited by M. C. Salazar and W. Alarcn Glasinovich. Mara Cristina Salazar was a Colombian sociologist and a professor of Faculty of Social Science at the National University of Colombia. She was president of the Colombian chapter of Defense for Children International and a member of its International Executive Council. She also was a consultant for the ILO and a research consultant for UNICEF. Her field of expertise was mainly on education, child labour, street children and childrens rights in Latin America on which she published various articles and books. Walter Alarcn Glasinovich is a Peruvian political sociologist and who worked as a sociologist at the National University Mayor de San Marcos. He was a consultant for UNICEF. He has conducted specialized research into the problem of child labour in Latin America, and also his homeland Peru, and has published various books and articles on this topic. The aim of this book is to show the link between child work and education. But most importantly the aim is to argue that implementing compulsory primary education alone is not the answer to abolishing child work. Instead the focus should be on improving the education system and the school environment and helping families to overcome poverty. The problem statement is that the lack of policies or implementation of the existing policies on child work and education and the ineffectiveness of the educational system are hindering the improvement of the situation in the respective countries. The book has 7 chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction to the topic and chapter 7 the conclusion with conclusions and policies recommendations regarding the case studies that were discussed. The chapters 2 to 6 are each written by different authors, including W. Alarcn Glasinovich. Each chapter is divided into paragraphs on working children, the education system, and the relationship between these two and finally recommendations on how to improve the situation. I chose this book because as a student of Latin American Studies I always had an interest in the education systems in Latin America. Through this course, Children and International Development, Ive become very interested in the relation between working children and education. I decided to choose this book to learn some more about this relationship.

Summary
As mentioned in the introduction this book discusses the relationship between child work and education by means of five case studies from Latin America. In the introduction M. C. Salazar argues that modernization and economic growth have had great impacts on these countries. But rather than positive, these impacts have been negative for the majority of the people, especially those living in rural areas. Wealth has always been highly concentrated leaving others aside. This is the reason why a great deal of the population lives in poverty, even extreme poverty. Poverty is seen as being the main reason why children work. But according to the authors of the book this is a misconception. The main statement throughout this book is that poverty definitely is a big part why children work, but the causes of child and adolescent labour go far beyond family poverty. There are others reasons that should also be taken into account. Work is both the problem and a response to other problems of production and social relations (Salazar and Glasinovich, 1998: 67). There are some main conclusions that can be drawn, according to the analysis of the five case studies, on the situation of working children. First of all, there are great differences between children and adolescent from different age groups, depending on the country and the sort of work. Most children who work are between the ages of 10 and 17. There are also differences between children living in rural areas and those living in urban areas, regarding the kind of job they do and the kind of salary they get paid (if they get paid). Children in rural areas work more often, especially boys in agriculture. Girls mainly work domestic jobs. Most of them work at home, taking care of the household, or work domestic jobs outside of their home. Working girls doing domestic work are underestimated because domestic work is not considered as work but more as help and they are not included in the statistics because its not paid work. There are a high number of female domestic workers in the urban area. This kind of job makes it difficult for these girls to keep up with their studies or can prevent them from going to school. They have to study, do domestic at home and outside. This is primarily the case with household ran by a female household. Another issue that can hinder children who work and go to school at the same time is the amount of hours they work in a day. Children work approximately the same amount of hours as an adult, 8 hours a day or more depending on the kind of work they do. This makes it difficult for these children to remain in school. Children who dont go to school have more hours free and tend to work longer. But at the downside working more hours does not mean that the get paid more money. Besides long hours children also work in hazardous conditions with no protection and no rights. One major problem in these countries is that work is competing with education instead of facilitating it. The majority of children who work dont go to school. Work is seen as an alternative to school. Primary education is compulsory and free in all five countries. Despite that the educational system in these countries in some way contributes to children working. Some of the reasons are for example: poor quality of education; inadequate school supplies; poor infrastructure; unequal access to schools; high costs; lack of teacher and those available are underpaid; and discrimination of the lower socioeconomic groups. These are some of the reason that contributes to children repeating years and/or dropping out of school to work. In rural areas this situation is even worse. In primary education the amount of children going to school is bigger than in secondary education and up. Secondary education and up is viewed as more classed based and exclusive. The cultural ideas of child work also play a role in the reason why children work. Some families think that children are better off doing honest days work if the only alternative is the road to trouble (Salazar and Glasinovich, 1998: 20). Others see child work as socialization process where children can build their identities and learned skills that are relative for them that are not taught in schools. The shortcomings of the educational system have parents questioning school as a priority. The traditional education system is seen as not effective or not relevant for the future of the child.

The lack of political will to change the situation and the tolerance for working children on the part of the society also help to sustain child work. These countries have included the parts of the CRC into their policies, but they are poorly implemented or not implemented at all. Coming back on the topic of poverty and work, we find that in some cases childrens contribution to the family budget is necessary, especially in poor households, in order for these families to survive. The available opportunities in education dont really meet the urgent needs that these families, thus work is seen as the way to satisfy these needs. But children working and not having an education only reproduces the poverty of their families. Unemployment and illnesses or death of a family member are also reasons why children work. At the end the authors give some recommendations in order to improve the situation and eliminate child work. Some of the recommendations are educational reform; making education more affordable; implementing the laws and making them more effective by enforcing measures to prevent child work; more involvement of the Ministries of Education; eradication of hazardous child work; and last but not least increasing the participation of children and parents in the decisions about education (Salazar and Glasinovich, 1998: 148-154). And most importantly the fight against child work must also be accompanied by the fight against poverty and social injustice.

Analysis
After summarizing the main statements, arguments and conclusions given by the authors in this book, we can conclude that the main thing that the authors are trying to get across is illustrating the relationship between child work and education. This is done by giving examples that illustrate both the effects of child work on education and the effects of poor quality education on child work, keeping in mind the situation in the respective countries. I think that in the end the authors are successful at getting this point across with the analysis of the five case studies. The examples given clearly show that when addressing child work it is necessary to take look at the educational system in a country and the role it has in child work, and vice versa when addressing education we must take in account the role that child work plays in education. The arguments that the authors used to illustrate the relationship between child work and education are based on several visions with respect to education, childhood and child labour. With respect to childhood, the authors state that there isnt one kind of universal childhood, but that there are different kinds of childhoods. Most importantly the authors affirm that all children should have a right to a childhood as is stipulated in the CRC. Regarding education the authors state that every child should have a right to an education. But that only a right to an education isnt enough to improve the situation of the children. The authors view on education can be compared to the rights in education as suggested in the article Education rights, education policies and inequality in South Africa (Spreen and Vally, 2006: 353). In which education quality and opportunities are also important. Education is also perceived as the tool to improve the situation of the children, giving them a better life in the future. Child labour is viewed by the authors as something that has to be abolished, especially hazardous child labour. At the same time they also recognize that in some cases child labour is crucial for the survival of a family. And thus without the improvement of the economic situation of the family as a whole it will be difficult to abolish child labour, because children will continue to work to help their families. This view can be compared to that of Cunningham in the article The rights of the child and the wrongs of child labour (Cunningham, 2001: 16). The line of arguments that the authors used to show the relationship between child work and education, I think, is pretty consistent. You can follow the arguments very clearly without one overlapping the other. The story behind each argument automatically flows into the next argument, thus you can see in which direction the author is going and which makes it easy to read. I also find the line of the arguments presented to be logical, starting first with those related to child work, then those related to education, while simultaneously relating them, and at the end giving conclusions

and recommendations on the subjects. Last but not least I find the line up of the arguments presented to also be convincing. The arguments that are presented and the explanations and examples to further illustrate the arguments are quite clear and straight to the point. The arguments are strong and well sustained. So you dont have to wonder what the authors are trying to say, which makes it in my point of view convincing. I do agree with the authors and the arguments they presented on the subject. I think that they linked the relationship between child work and education pretty clearly. The arguments that they used are also quite valid, giving a clear view on what is going on in the countries of the case studies. The problem of child work and education that they stated are still quite the reality at this moment as they were when this book was written in 1998. There has been some improved but these issues are still very important. The amount of children that are working is still high and the educational system in these countries still hasnt reached its potential. The recommendations that they gave at the end to diminish child work and improve the effectiveness of education are also quite good. The authors linked the government, teachers, parents and children all together and showed that every one of them have or can have a role in improving the situation. Parents and children should also participate in discussions and have a say in decisions made in regards to education. The book has made an important contribution to idea that child work and education are related to each other and that its important to take in account this relation when addressing these issues, and not to look at them separately. Further the authors have given good recommendations that can be studied and applied for the bettering the situation. All and all I think that the most important contribution this book has given is to show that poverty is not the only reason why children work. Its a big part of the problem, but there are also other issues concerning education, policies, cultural ideas etcetera that play an important role in keeping child work intact.

Conclusion
Concluding, I can say that the book contributes in great extent to studies concerning child work and education. With the examples of the case studies you get a closer look at what is going on in the respective countries with the issues of child work and education. And more importantly the book shows the relation between child work and education which is very important when studying these issues. As said before the book also contributes to another way of viewing the reasons behind child work and the impacts it has on education and vice versa. Thus the book gives you a variety of angles from which you can look at the problem of child work and the effects it has on education and the effects that education can have on child work. Most importantly the book shows that poverty, what is seen by most people as being the reason behind child work, is not the only reason. It plays an important role, but there are other reasons that also have to be taken into account. And last but not least the book is clearly an inspiration for reflection of debate. The arguments and recommendations given in the book concerning the issues of child work and education and how to improve the situation are surely debatable. I think that you will find people that dont agree with some of the arguments and recommendations given by the authors and some who do, and that could lead to interesting debates. This book is relevant for those who want to study more about child work and education, particularly the situation of these issues in Latin America. But I think that the arguments and recommendations given can surely also be implied to other developing countries. This book can also be a great addition of information for schools and governments for improving policies and the education system. All and al its a great book for anyone who is interest in learning more about child work, education and Latin America. As for some suggestions for further research I think its important that more research be done on the issue of girls working in domestic jobs both at home and outside their home, as the book

suggests, because they are underestimated and not much is known about them. I also think that more research should be done on ways to improve the educational system in order to make it more effective and so prevent children from choosing work instead of education.

Literature List
Ansell, N. (2005), Children, Youth and Development, Great Britain: TJI International, Padstow, Cornwall. (pp. 126-191) Lieten, K. & B. White (2001), Child Labour Policy Options, Amsterdam: Aussant. (13-26) Salazar, M. C. et W. Alarcn Glasinovich (1998), Child Work and Education: Five case studies from Latin America, Great Britain: Ashgate Publishing Ltd Spreen C. A. et S. Vally (2006), Education rights, education policies and inequality in South Africa. International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 26: pp. 352-365. PowerPoint Slides of the Lectures: Sociology of Childhood, Right to Education, and Working Children