School dropout among minors due to forced labor is becoming a growing concern for authorities, schools, and community leaders in Niassa Province. An increasing number of children and teenagers are leaving classrooms to engage in strenuous work on farms, charcoal production, street vending, or domestic labor in exchange for little or no pay.
According to information shared by school principals in the city, many students between the ages of 10 and 16 are absent for weeks at a time and eventually drop out of school. They say they need to help support their families because some have been abandoned by their parents, while others were never acknowledged by their fathers, leaving their unemployed mothers without the resources to raise them. As a result, many believe that leaving school at an early age to work is the best way to help at home. With no time to study and little protection, these children are exposed to exploitation, explained the headteacher of a primary school in Nzinje, Lichinga.
The main factors identified include extreme poverty, promises of quick money, parental abandonment and neglect by guardians, exploitation by adults, and a lack of effective oversight. In some cases, children from rural areas are taken to the city with promises of education or light work, only to end up performing excessive labor without receiving any wages.
(Ermelinda João)
.jpg)
0 Comments