EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents

ILO Study on Attitudes to Child Labour and Education in Indonesia

According to government data, some 4 million children in Indonesia between the age of 13-15 are not attending school and 1.5 million out of school children between the ages of 10 and 14 are in the workforce. Some of these children are at risk of becoming involved in exploitative or dangerous work.

Within the framework of an ILO project of support to the Indonesian National Action Plan for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, the ILO is presently working with partners in seven provinces to try to tackle the worst forms of child labour.

To support this work the ILO recently commissioned a major survey on attitudes to child labour and education. The survey was conducted by Taylor Nelson Soffres (TNS), a leading market research company, and looked at 1200 households across six districts/municipalities in five provinces. The target group was poorer households with children of junior secondary school age, as these children are the most likely to become child labourers.

Some of the key findings of the survey were:

• 19% of school age children below 15 were not attending school.
• The average costs of keeping one child in elementary school and one in junior secondary school for one year (including transport and uniforms) can be equal to between two to three months gross salary at the level of the provincial minimum wage.
• 71% of respondents whose children were out of school cited costs of education as the main factor.
• Only 50% of respondents knew that the government’s policy is for all children to complete school for nine years to the age of 15. 39% thought it was six years (completion of elementary education).
• Despite cost factors there is a high commitment to the idea of education. This implies that if cost issues could be addressed then education participation would increase.
• 61% of respondents thought it acceptable for a child below 15 to work 4 hours or more per day, whilst research suggests that such hours reduce school attendance significantly.
• Whilst the vast majority of respondents agreed that children below 18 should not be allowed to work in illicit sectors, the numbers were much smaller when it came to sectors regarded by the law as hazardous.

The ILO plans to use the information gathered from the study to help develop awareness raising campaigns in the key areas of its project activities. Together with other programme interventions the aim will be to reduce child labour and to increase education participation.

At the national level, this study, which has attracted significant media attention, will also be of interest to the broad community of stakeholders concerned with Indonesia’s national development. Government, workers’ and employers’ organisations, international agencies, non governmental bodies and all others concerned with promoting greater access to education and tackling child labour will find the study of interest. We hope that it will contribute to the shared goal of promoting education for all children.

For more information about the study please contact Mr. Patrick Quinn on: quinn@ilojkt.or.id or: ILO Office Jakarta, Menara Thamrin, Level 22, Jalan MH Thamrin Kav.3, Jakarta 10250, Indonesia

EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents