TNAG-0783-FCO40-987-Employment-of-children-In-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 32

Compulsory Education

National legislation on child labour is closely linked to legislation on compulsory education. Where legal minimum age for admission to employment is higher than the age up to which attendance at school is effectively ensured, minimum age regulations can have little practical meaning.

In almost all European countries compulsory education laws control in some way admission to employment, and most legislation explicitly fixes the minimum age for employment at the school leaving age; or the two simply coincide. In the developing countries, on the other hand, the connection scarcely exists. While most Latin American countries stipulate a minimum age of 14, compulsory education rarely lasts more than six years, and can end well before the child is fourteen.

Even though the ideal of universal compulsory education was recognised long ago, and though school enrolments have risen dramatically and some governments are devoting a large part of their resources to education, the percentage of children between 5 and 14 in school is below 50 percent in many countries, and attendance is erratic and drop-out high. These problems are most acute in Africa and Asia. The majority of African countries have relatively advanced minimum age standards but compulsory education is scarcely more than a long-term objective. In all these regions children not at school include particularly those in rural areas, girls, and those between 11 and 14. School attendance is very difficult to regulate. Dull, uninspiring, and apparently useless teaching encourages children to drop out of school and look for work, which given the high rate of unemployment must seem more important to them. They also like the feeling of independence.

Exemptions

National laws and regulations on minimum age are fre- quently qualified by exceptions of various kinds. Many of these are permitted by the international legislation.

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