INSPIRATIONAL ....What adults can learn from kids

TED Talks - on Poverty

What Causes Earth's Seasons?

The Millenium Development Goals

Students of grade 7 & 8 are completing a short research task on the Millenium Development Goals.

The link below a brilliant website that was the main source of information for all students. Check it out for more information on the goals.

http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/mdgs/index.asp

ILO Reports on Child Labour Globally

Child labour rises on poverty in Jordan - 19 July 09

Video Transcript

Below is a full transcript of the video. Read it carefully. Content in this video is important for your understanding of Child Labor and you will be expected to have a full understanding of it.
Reporter:
12 year old Maysara polishes and paints cars in the steering heat to support his family. For the last three years, he has worked at this car body-shop in his hometown of Jerash, 60 km North of Amman.

Maysara:
“ I get paid 21 dollars a week, 7$ for myself and 14$ for my family. I have 3 brothers. We all work to support the family. We give our mother the money to cover household expenses because my dad doesn’t give her any money. We’re used to helping our parents.”

Reporter:
Child labor is on the increase in Jordan as poverty levels rise. 18 is the legal working age, but harsh circumstances and customs are pushing children out of school and into work.
12 year old Qusai works 13 hours a day in the summer.

Qusai:
“ I have been working for 6 years in the summer and during the school year, so I can feed my family and keep them alive.

Reporter:
There are some efforts to fight the trend funded by the ministry of labor. The social support center for working children rescues child laborers and provides them with education, rehabilitation and psycho-social support.
The girls here were homebound and illiterate. The boys are school dropouts.

Nihayat Dabdub – The Hashemite Fund for Human Development
“They are provided with specialized counseling because they are aggressive, basically they have very low self esteem and they are victimized. We work with their parents themselves because they are the main cause behind any abuse that may have affected those children.”

Reporter:
Laws here stipulate that children who drop out of school for more than three years cannot enroll again. For these children this center gives them their only opportunity for a decent education.
95% of the children at this center were illiterate when they were first pulled out of the work force. 75% of them were the main providers for the destitute families.
But the aim of this center is not only to put an end to child labor but also to break the vicious cycle of illiteracy and the knock on effect of poverty carried through many generations here in Jordan.
The parents of working children are reluctant to take them out of work because their families desperately need their income. The center gets around that by offering a small scale income generating program or a microfinance loan.
But although there is some guilt in Issa’s voice for dodging his financial responsibilities towards his widowed mother and his siblings, he is beginning to understand how leaving work to learn can secure a better future.

Issa:
The center gives me a certificate and is like my family. I used to make 7$ a day hauling vegetables from a truck, but when I get a certificate, I can open my own shop and even one for my brother. Our lives will improve and maybe we can even buy a home.

Reporter:
The one and only center in the country is saving 350 working children in Amman and is struggling for funding to accommodate a larger number.
The government has yet to reach out to other working children in other governorates like Jerash.
A UNICEF study showed that 1 in 3 children are working below the legal age in Jordan. That means child labor here has become a matter of necessity, a matter of survival but is so far not a priority to the authorities.

Nisreen Al Shamayleh
Al Jazeera – Amman