In Mexico Over 650,000 Kids Forced to Work Instead of Attending School teleSUR
go to original February 1, 2015

"I work because… we need money to eat things" (LATimes/CIWvideo)

At least 21 percent of all Mexican youth between the ages of 7 and 14 - what amounts to 651,000 kids - give up school because they are forced to work, according to a new study released by UNESCO.

The figures mean that Mexico has one of the largest child labor forces in all of Latin America, second only to Colombia where 25 percent of youth are forced to work.

Worldwide, the number is also higher than other countries such as Indonesia (19 percent) and Sri Lanka (10 percent) and comparable to Cambodia (23 percent), Zambia (20 percent) and Nigeria (25 percent).

Child labor around the world. (UNESCO)

The UNESCO report also highlights the disparities between rich and poor in the country, where children from poor families in rural areas tend to have little chance of entering school at any point in their life, while wealthy urban families have more access to education.

According to state numbers, 3.1 million kids across the country do not attend school, but only 651,000 children substitute classroom learning specifically for work, usually because families are in need of extra income.

Read the rest at teleSUR

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