Latest update April 6th, 2025 11:06 AM
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- High Court bars GRA from seizing Team Mohamed’s luxury vehicles
- Oil spill will hit Guyana’s shores before capping stack arrives to plug leak
- UN says 100 children killed or injured in Gaza every day since war resumed
- Guyana received US$605M oil money in first quarter of 2025
- ‘Tariff war’ spells grave danger for the Region – CARICOM Chair Mottley
Cases of Child Labour underreported
– Labour Ministry re-affirms commitment to combat the problem
Statistics show a decline in child labour. However, there are still 168 million children worldwide who are being forced to work; 85 million of them are in hazardous work.
In Latin America and the Caribbean there are approximately 13 million children who fuel the labour force.
Under the theme ‘Extend Social Protection: Combat Child Labour’, World Day Against Child Labour was observed on Thursday last and the Guyana government acknowledged that there were unreported cases of child labour.
According to Minister of Labour, Dr. Nanda K. Gopaul, “everyone has a duty to report cases of child labour. We need to expose these atrocities. At the level of Government, we remain vigilant to guard against it and will continue to strive to improve the social protection that is necessary to prevent this scourge. The Government of Guyana is committed to ensuring that every child completes secondary education and move to even higher academic qualifications.”
Minister of Labour, Dr. Nanda K. Gopaul
The Labour Minister noted that social protection of children is a human right and makes sound economic and social sense. It enables children access to education, health care and nutrition, and plays a critical role in the fight against child labour.
“Giving social protection to our children helps to prevent the scourge of child labour by reducing economic vulnerability of families, enabling children to go to school, and protecting them from exploitation. The Ministry of Labour re-affirms its commitment to combat all forms of child labour thus ensuring our children are given the opportunity to live healthy, happy and productive lives.”
Minister Gopaul underscored that “The Government has continued to put social programmes in place aimed at supporting families to meet basic needs.”
Among these is the school feeding programme, which provides a hot meal for children in many areas in our interior location. The government also provides each child in the public school system with a uniform voucher to aid in the provision of school materials, including text books.
“An additional grant of $10,000 per child will be given to ensure that parents acquire other necessities for their children to attend and remain in school. In addition, transportation for children, especially in remote areas, is being provided and parents, especially single parents, are being empowered with requisite skills to better meet the needs of their families.”
Minister Gopaul noted that the Ministry of Labour, through its Labour Officers, continuously sensitizes students, parents, teachers, employees and employers on the negative impact of child labour. The Ministry also monitors and investigates reports of under-aged children who are engaged in any form of employment.
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