‘Child labour rampant in Thyolo’
Thyolo district labour officer Ryson Kaduya says child labour is rampant in the district despite that tea estates no longer employ children.
He said this on Saturday during a Cream Anti-Child Labour Open Day organised by Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) at Thunga Primary School.
Said Kaduya: “The child labour situation in Thyolo is not different from other districts. It is high and prevalent in most workplaces. It is in formal and informal sectors, much being in the domestic work.
“Households mostly like to employ young children to do domestic work and sell things for them such as fritters [mandasi], freezes and other snacks.”
He said the tea sector does not employ children, but their parents working or involved in tea production mostly instruct their children to sell snacks or drinks where tea pluckers are working.
TUM programmes coordinator Pilirani Kamaliza said his organisation, with support from the International Labour Organisation, was implementing a one-year programme in Mulanje, Ntchisi, Mzimba North, Chitipa and Thyolo districts to fight child labour.
He said: “Our role as TUM is to champion the education component where we are providing education support to children withdrawn from child labour and brought back to school.
“They include children combining work and education, children from child-headed families, teen mothers and those poor households.”
During the open day, 170 vulnerable children received uniforms, best performing schools got awards while outstanding pupils were given learning materials.
