DepEd launches anti-child labor training video for teachers, parents

The Department of Education (DepEd) has launched a three-part training video to be used as a coaching tool for teachers, parents and community leaders against child labor.

The training video entitled "Aakayin Kita" is part of the ABK Initiative project of World Vision, an international child focused Christian humanitarian organization, that is designed to support its national program for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor.

The six worst forms of child labor being targeted by the ABK Initiative are: deep-sea fishing, domestic work, mining/quarrying, prostitution, pyrotechnics and sugarcane plantations.

The video will be distributed to educators, parents and community leaders for them to have knowledge on how to combat this perennial problem in the country.

During the launching held at the DepEd central office in Pasig City, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus noted that the DepEd treasures the partnership between the department and World Vision.

"With World Vision’s sponsorship program, our disadvantaged children are enabled to attend school and gain access to free basic education. I would like to commend World Vision because since its creation, it was able to send at least 200,000 poor Filipino children to schools," Lapus said in a statement.

At present, Lapus said around 98,000 Filipino children in 36 provinces were benefiting from World Vision’s programs.

World Vision was founded by Bob Pierce, an American evangelist and reporter who witnessed widespread poverty and hunger while assigned in Asia. World Vision was incorporated on Sept. 22, 1950 and has launched a child sponsorship program.

Training modules included in the video are intended to disseminate key messages on child labor advocacy and to inform and evoke understanding among concerned child advocates on the dangers of the worst forms of child labor.

The ABK Initiative is a $7.8-million project funded by the United States Department of Labor.

Lapus reiterated that as stakeholders in education and child rights, initiatives to pursue and promote an international cause to eliminate all forms of child labor become imperative.

"As signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is our duty to uphold the ideals of the first legally binding international instrument for child protection that incorporates the full range of human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights," said Lapus.