Schoolchildren to learn about child labour and fair trade

ALMOST half a million school children are to study controversial issues like child labour in the third world coffee-growing sector as part of a new programme spearheaded by teachers.

In preparation for the programme, due to be launched in 3,200 primary schools next November, primary teachers in Cork, Dublin and Co Westmeath will this summer study the conditions endured by child workers in the coffee-growing industry in Nicaragua, as part of a series of courses run by their union.

The five-day course, “Introducing Fair Trade, Child Labour and the Right To Education into the Classroom”, is the first of its kind organised by the Irish National Teachers Organisation. It runs in Kinsale, itself a Fair Trade Town, from July 2nd-6th next as well as in Dublin and Mullingar.

“This is the first time the INTO has run a course like this. We want to make teachers more aware of the sweatshop conditions and slave labour in Nicaragua, where people get paid very little for products which go on to attract very high prices. The people who do all the work get the least,” said Eamon Kelly, Secretary of the Kinsale branch of the INTO and organiser of the course.

“We will be focusing on Nicaragua where child labour is common, especially in rural areas and in coffee growing areas — while the child is working they don’t have access to education and the low wages mean a life of poverty. It’s a vicious cycle of exploitation and poverty. The Fair Trade initiative supports small farmers by guaranteeing a fair price for their produce.”

Padraig Fitzgerald, Secretary of the Kinsale Fair Trade Committee welcomed the initiative: “Our young children will understand that Fair Trade means the people producing a product will receive a fair price for their labour and enjoy decent working conditions.”

Up to 40 teachers are expected to attend the course in Kinsale, which will be addressed by speakers from Trocaire and the Fair Trade movement. Next winter they will go on to present the education pack to their pupils.

Produced by the INTO, the school information pack, which will be distributed to every primary school in the country next winter, contains real life stories of children in Nicaragua, along with photographs and information.

The programme is aimed at 480,000 primary school pupils at both junior and senior levels. The project, which has received funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Irish Aid, is part of the Education Rights Development Project and is being coordinated by the INTO.

For further information contact Eamon Kelly at 087 9977504