Govt.keen to eradicate child labour—Kapuya
 
2005-05-22 08:24:42
By Nasser Kigwangallah

	The Minister for Labour, Youth Development and Sports, Juma Kapuya.

The Minister for Labour, Youth Development and Sports, Juma Kapuya, has said that the government continues to take appropriate measures towards achieving universal and compulsory basic education for all children as one of the means of stamping out child labour.

The minister made the remarks in his opening speech to delegates of the National Workshop on the Time Bound Programme on the Worst Forms of Child Labour held recently in Dar es Salaam.

The workshop, which was convened by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in collaboration with his ministry, brought together a broad spectrum of partner institutions and stakeholders to review and deliberate on collective efforts to address the problem of child labour and particularly its worst forms.

He said the importance of education as a strategy for combating child labour has been emphasized time and time again.

Kapuya noted that primary school fees have been abolished, through transitional education programmes, notably the Complementary Basic Education for Tanzania (COBET), to ensure that all children get access to school.

The minister expressed the government’s appreciation for the support the ILO and that of the US Department of Labour as well as other partners who have contributed to Tanzania’s efforts to eliminate child labour in total.

He said the workshop was yet another important milestone in Tanzania’s efforts to address the problem of child labour and its worst forms in our society.

\'Today’s workshop focuses on four years of the implementation of the action program and is therefore timely for a review of the progress made so far, which I understand is one of its objectives,\' he said.

Minister Kapuya added that in 2001, Tanzania, like many other developing countries, had inadequate infrastructure and resources to embark immediately on the task of withdrawal and rehabilitation programmes for all working children, and ease the plight of people afflicted by abject poverty.

It was recognized then, that the support of development partners was needed in tackling the problem of child labour, given its complexity and multi-dimensions, he pointed out.

Kapuya stressed that there was a need for the government to put in place necessary legal and policy framework, along with ensuring the provision of supportive social services including educational opportunities and poverty reduction programmes.

He mentioned them as reforming of labour laws, including legislation on child labour and its worst forms, which would provide an essential tool to combat child labour, in keeping with international labour standards which Tanzania has ratified.

Kapuya said the child Labour Survey carried out as part of the National Labour Force Survey of 2002 has shed some light on the magnitude of the problem of child labour in the country and strengthened the statistical and information basis for policy decisions and other interventions.

The implementation of the National Time Bound Programme is by and large a reflection of the government’s commitment to deal with the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency, as stipulated in the ILO Convention No. 182 which we have ratified in 2001, he said.

He observed that the problem of child labour and its worst forms has been given due recognition in the various consultations leading to the formulation of the final version of the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) and that it is appropriately highlighted in the relevant clusters and broad outcomes of MKUKUTA.

• SOURCE: Sunday Observer