Child Labor in Myanmar
Image by Thomas Pedrazzoli from Pixabay
By Alyssa Augustus
Published Winter 2022
Special thanks to Hannah Pitt for editing and research contributions
Summary+
In Myanmar, there are approximately 1.1 million children between the ages of 5 to 17 involved in child labor.1 Domestic demand, familial poverty, Myanmar’s education system, government laws, and filial piety perpetuate the employment of children. Child laborers suffer from physical health issues, are more likely to drop-out of school, and stall the growth of a skilled labor force in Myanmar. Focusing on educating child workers and re-funding the Myanmar Program on the Elimination of Child Labor can eliminate the number of children involved in the employment sector.
Key Takeaways+
Key Terms+
Child health—The World Health Organization’s definition of “child health” is complete physical, mental, and social well-being of a child and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.2
Child labor—Physical work that causes damage to a child’s physical and mental development. It “deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity.”3 Characterized by ILO as, “performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.”4
Informal economy—“the diversified set of economic activities, enterprises, jobs, and workers that are not regulated or protected by the state.”5
Manual labor—Physical work done for pay. In the context of this paper, manual labor will focus on the unjust physical work a child performs.
Matriculation exam—University entrance exam and part of the Myanmar education system.6
National remittance—When someone, often a close family member, relocates to a different part of the country for work and sends money back to people in their hometown.7
Worst forms of child labor—ILO classifies sex trafficking, working in hazardous conditions, all forms of slavery, and children performing illicit activities as the worst forms of child labor.8
Context
Q: What is child labor?
Image by karl-ferdinand from Pixabay
Child labor can be difficult to define due to difference in opinion and circumstances.9 The most generally agreed upon definition of child labor is workers under the age of 18 who voluntarily or unwillingly engage in work environments that put them at risk physically or mentally, and is socially or morally dangerous. It deprives laborers of their childhood and hinders development.10 By engaging in work at a young age, children are compromising their physical and mental health, as well as other opportunities that are imperative to development. There are many different circumstances under which child labor can occur, with the majority, 68.4%, involved in unpaid family work, 22.5% in paid employment, and 8.1% being self employed.11 Child laborers can be involved in various sectors: agriculture (58.6%), retail and services (25.4%), industry and manufacturing (7.2%), and domestic work (6.9%).12 Globally, almost 1 in 10 children, or 160 million, are involved in child labor. It is more common for boys to be working than girls, and over one third of child workers drop out of school.13
Q: What is child labor like in Myanmar?
In Myanmar, child labor mainly occurs in the agriculture, services, and manufacturing sectors, with 58.3% in the agriculture division, 24.2% in the services division and 17.5% in the industrial division.14, 15 There are gender discrepancies in the type of work with boys mostly working in tea shops while they are young and construction sites when they get older. Girls are often found in restaurants and garment and food factories.16 Private businesses employ 93.9% of child laborers in Myanmar.17 About half of child laborers in these sectors, or 600,000, work in hazardous environments with long hours, dangerous equipment, repetitive motions, and other risks.18 Many children in the services sector work seven days a week typically from 6am to 9pm.19 The International Labor Organization, ILO, estimates that 35.3% of 12–14 year olds and 33.3% of 15–17 year olds work 50–59 hours per week and 25.8% of the 12–14 years olds and 24.3% of the 15–17 years old work 60 hours or more.20 After their shift is over, they will usually sleep in their workspace, on hard tables at tea shops, or live with their colleagues at the owner’s home.21
Q: How do children become involved in labor in Myanmar?
Because of low wages in Myanmar, 14.7% of households in Myanmar rely on another source of income, such as child labor. In Myanmar, 16.6% of households with children have at least one child working. Of these households, 9.9% of them have a child working due to their indebtedness status.22 Usually, families in Myanmar rely on children moving to more populated cities to generate income for their families. In recent years, thousands of children have been sent to Mandalay and Yangon, the largest cities in Myanmar, to live away from their families and seek work opportunities.23 Myanmar’s two largest cities offer a variety of work environments where minors are accepted, such as tea shops, restaurants, car service garages, small and medium-sized factories, and small industries.24 For the child to transition smoothly into the labor force, families turn to brokers to find their child a job. Brokers are paid by employers $10 USD to actively seek children for certain jobs, or they can travel to rural communities advertising their service.25, 26
Q: Who is impacted by child labor?
According to a 2015 survey, about 9.3% of the children in Myanmar between the ages of 5–17 are involved in the labor force.27 An estimated 55.3% of these child laborers are boys and 44.7% are girls. Typically, boys begin working at a younger age than girls, below 13, but this demographic does not reflect the many girls working domestically.28 Domestic work often includes a child living with their host family, cleaning, cooking, and caring for children and the elderly. It is difficult to count and manage this type of work because it is considered a “private” matter but it is estimated that 9.9% (11.5 million) of girls in Myanmar are domestically employed.29
The children most at risk for becoming involved in child labor live in Myanmar’s poor, rural communities. A census conducted by ILO shows that 79.5% of children from rural areas participate in work, while 20.5% of children from urban areas work.30
Additionally, children who have a parent who has passed away are two times more likely to become involved in labor, suggesting that a lower familial income resorts to children working.31 The parents’ education level, employment status, and level of income can also affect the likelihood of a child engaging in work.32
Q: How long has child labor existed in Myanmar?
Since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, Myanmar has adapted child labor into the country’s economy.33 During this time, Myanmar was under British rule and it is theorized that child labor could have been carried from industrial countries like Britain to their colonies.34 While exact quantitative data is limited with respect to child labor in the 19th century, researchers have concluded that the situation has progressively worsened, especially due to children's involvement in Myanmar’s military. Although this brief won't focus on military service as child labor in the world today, it's important to understand that child labor has occurred in the form of military services since 1948.35 When Myanmar became an independent nation, it became more common for children to work by becoming child soldiers.36 High recruitment requirements encouraged military leaders to coax children to these positions.37 Due to these events, discrimination of children became implanted in Myanmar’s culture, economy, and political system.38
Q: How does child labor in Myanmar compare to other countries?
Myanmar has a higher rate of children aged between 5–17 that are involved in labor than the average Asian/Pacific region (7.4%).39 Myanmar ranked in the top ten of 197 countries for child labor risk with a rate of 9.3%.40, 41 This country is also the seventh-poorest country in Asia, which makes it a target for manufacturing companies that are attracted to low wage workers (children make up a large share of these low wage workers).42 A research and risk analytic company, Verisk Maplecroft, ranked Myanmar as one of the five top countries in the world for low-cost labor.43 This entices many corporations to create manufacturing industries in Myanmar despite the risk of children becoming involved in the work.44
Contributing Factors
Domestic Demand for Child Labor
There is a high domestic demand for child labor because of recent economic expansions. When the Myanmar government shifted from military rule to a democracy in 2011, the economy grew and there was a push for more industrial, agricultural, and retail services. In an agriculture-dominated economy, child workers were quickly hired because more laborers were needed to perform these simple, redundant tasks and children can work for a long duration of time for a low cost.45, 46 Most parents in Myanmar are already working, with Myanmar’s unemployment rate of those fifteen and older at 0.8%.47 Not enough income is generated from the jobs parents are already working, and there are plentiful work opportunities available, so children take these jobs to support their families and supply the demand for workers.
Underage working children are also paid less by the employer which creates a more cost-effective business.48 In the food production sector, children are paid $0.30 per hour while adults are paid $0.43 per hour.49 Businesses would also rather hire children because they are less likely to understand their rights and are less likely to resist when their rights are violated.50, 51 According to research performed by ILO, young children have been grouped by employers as docile, easy to manage, and expendable.52 Children cannot complain to higher authorities about the treatment they are receiving in the workplace because they are working illegally. Any child labor laws that Myanmar has in place are vague and poorly enforced.53 Employers take advantage of this by overworking and underpaying their laborers, creating a hazardous work environment. Because of possible lawsuits about child labor, small enterprises are more common in Myanmar.54 There are also many families willing to have their children work, which makes a replacement employee readily available. This reinforces the working child’s motive to be obedient in the workplace to keep their job.55 The economic benefits and easy-to-manage situations keep child labor in high demand in Myanmar.
Familial Poverty
Due to the economic status of the country, one in five households rely on small incomes from agricultural work, and must find other ways to generate revenue.56, 57 High poverty rates in Myanmar also contribute to child labor because many families do not earn enough money to provide for their basic needs and rely on children to generate additional income. About 13.3% of rural households rely on national remittance incomes while other families depend on debt bondage by requiring their children to work to repay debts and provide income.58, 59 In 2017, 57.4% of households were estimated to engage in farming as their source of income.60 Roughly 61% of these workers report working multiple jobs or other means (employing their children) to generate additional income. Despite working multiple jobs, wages are insufficient to cover the cost of living in Myanmar, thus requiring multiple household families to work simultaneously. Wages remain low at about $2 less a day compared to neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia.61 The average monthly salary of $25–$30 is insufficient for the cost of living in Myanmar.62 For one family of five, a $20 sack of rice, which can feed them for a month, consumes a large amount of the average monthly wage at 177,900 kyats, or about $99 USD.63, 64
The Education System
Cost of Education
Due to the high cost of education, many children are unable to attend school, and thus they are funneled into Myanmar’s labor force. In 2009, 30% of Myanmar school aged children reported that they did not attend secondary school because of the expensive cost, which can be as much as triple the cost of primary education.65, 66 As children age and their schooling becomes more expensive, they are more likely to drop out of school and join the labor force. There is a staggering decrease of students enrolled in school when they transition to secondary school: 88.9% of children aged 5–11 attend school and 79.8% of 12–14 year-old children remain enrolled. The rate continues to decline as 47.7% of 15–17 year-olds continue to be enrolled in school.67 As the enrollment percentage declines, the rate of working children significantly increases with 1.7% of 5–11 year-olds working, 22.7% of 12–14 year-olds working, and 75.6% of 15–17 year olds working.68 The high cost of an education in Myanmar dissuades many families from keeping their children in school and promotes children to begin contributing to their families’ income.69
The cost of traveling to school, uniforms, stationary equipment, and tutoring builds a financial burden for the family.70 Indirect school fees can total to about K89,000 ($50) per month, which is about 75% of a family’s monthly income when they are working 30 days a month and earning about K4,000 ($2.25) a day.71
Only those in the elite or mercantile class can afford to support their children through Myanmar’s secondary school and university programs.72 For a majority of the population living off minimum wage, K144,000 ($79.77) a month, the indirect fees the Myanmar education system requires inhibits many students from attending school.73 Due to increased financial restraints as students move on to secondary school, many children work to begin providing for the family rather than building debt for the family by staying in school.74
Social Value Placed on Education
A widespread belief that education is unimportant makes it easy for children in Myanmar to drop out of school and transition to the workforce before they are eighteen. The Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey (IHLCS) 2009–2010, conducted in the Dala Township of Myanmar, concluded that school expenses and lack of interest were the two major reasons for dropping out of school and becoming child laborers in 5–15 year-olds.75 The students acquire a lack of interest in school because the benefits of completing school are meager in Myanmar and do not outweigh the financial loss and loss of time required to graduate.76 Parent’s and guardian’s education level also influences how they perceive education. In Dala Township, the poorest part of Yangon, the average years of school for the head of household is 5.1 years.77 As a result, adult workers believe that educational institutes did not provide them with the amount of knowledge or skill-level needed for them to execute their jobs, with more than 80% of employers agreeing to this claim.78 Parents and children do not see clear benefits from receiving an education and prefer to have their children contribute to the family financially by working.
Disclaimer: there are other educational factors that contribute to why children drop out of school and enter the labor force, but this brief will only focus on the above mentioned factors.
Government Laws and Policies
Domestic laws and policies support the continued use of child labor. International intolerance for child labor has pushed Myanmar to create regulations for working children. But, instead of protecting child rights, legal systems perpetuate child labor.
Disregard of International Policies
Myanmar’s current laws and policies involved with child labor are not compliant with international labor standards. International policies from ILO about minimum age requirement, the most hazardous forms of child labor, and domestic work regulations are not managed in Myanmar. Unlike most countries, there is also no law that explicitly prohibits child labor. Domestic laws attempt to implement international standards but are not adequately implemented.79
Insufficient Regulatory Policies in Myanmar
Accordingly, labor regulations are vague and provisions are fragmented in different areas of legislation, making it difficult to find what policies exist.80 Policies may even facilitate child labor, like the law stating that school attendance is only mandatory until the age of ten.81 At the age of ten, children in Myanmar transition from primary school to secondary school, making it a convenient time for children to discontinue their education and begin working.82
The most recent adjustment to child labor policies in Myanmar is the Child Rights Law of 2019. This states that a person must be 14 years of age to begin working and 14–16 year-olds can work a maximum of four hours each day.83, 84 This law only applies to factories, shops, or establishments, and does not include the informal economy, where nearly 60% of child laborers work.85 Children working in fishing, forestry, animal husbandry, and domestic sectors are not covered by any protective laws.86 Further, the Ministry of Labor is not permitted to investigate farms and other settings in the informal district, increasing the risk of unfair treatment to child workers.87
The Child Rights Law in Myanmar also prohibits children from participating in hazardous forms of labor, but has not completed a specified list of hazardous jobs.88 ILO has created a hazardous work list, but Myanmar has not integrated this into their system because the Ministry of Labor, Immigration, and Population needs to finalize the list.89 Without this stated list, it is difficult to press legal charges in unsafe work situations/conditions.
Insufficient Enforcement of National Policies
Employers and workers in Myanmar are not fully aware of the national and international labor regulations.90 Although the law states that there will be consequences to employers who break this law, such as six months in prison and fines, the government fails to implement these penalties.91 Enforcing this law is difficult to do when the participants (children) are not informed of such laws. Lack of accessibility to labor laws cause both employee and employer to be unaware of violations. Even township officials may not fully understand labor laws because of the lack of involvement from the government and fragmentation of legislations.92, 93 Labor laws are not properly implemented until they are easily accessible and there is an equal understanding of the laws from employers and workers to prevent misinterpretations.94 Furthermore, if a law is knowingly broken in Myanmar, little is done to enforce consequences. Workers participate in public protests rather than attempt to navigate through the legal system to fight for their rights because of perceived institutional limits. The workers recognize that although there have been reforms to the legislative framework, enforcement is yet to be integrated.95
Challenges to enforcement are also expressed when inspectors are called to investigate a work environment. Although the Child Rights Law of 2019 guarantees that every child born in Myanmar will be registered at birth, in 2015 it was estimated that 21% of the country does not contain a birth certificate.96, 97 Without a legal birth certificate, identifying a worker’s age is very challenging and discourages inspectors from investigating these issues.98, 99 In one report, children were informed not to come to work or to lie about their age when inspectors or buyers came to the work settings.100 Negligence to enforce child labor laws only incentivises employers to continue hiring minors.101
Culture: Filial Piety
A cultural emphasis on filial piety in Myanmar increases the expectation of children to engage in working at a young age. While this cultural aspect does not directly lead to child labor, it does partially explain the desire many children have to work to support their families.102 Following the hierarchical structure of the family, there is an expectation for the younger members to care for the elder members of their families. Child labor is viewed as an opportunity for children to contribute to the family unit and care for the family as a whole, rather than oneself. A 2014 Myanmar census and reports from ILO and Woman and Child Rights Project in Mon State demonstrate qualitative evidence that there is a traditional expectation in Myanmar for children to assist in the home and, when necessary, financially.103, 104 Working children play an important role in the household economy with most adults reporting that they believed children should work when necessary to help the family. Parents also view working as a character building opportunity that benefits the child in many ways, rather than a negative experience.105 They can learn mathematical skills and grow in confidence by fulfilling the obligation to the family to work.106
For this reason, children desire to work at a young age to support the family and uphold traditional family structures.107 According to a study by ILO, 77% of child laborers in Myanmar reported that they made the decision to work.108 Children report initial feelings of excitement and pride when they begin working.109 They are proud to be contributing to the family and economy, with 80% of boys and 83% of girls claiming they like their job.110 According to interviews with child laborers in Yangon, moving away for work into large cities in Myanmar can be seen as an “integral part of growing up and living life.”111 Myanmar culture encourages children to uphold their responsibility to their family, and working to financially support them is part of that responsibility.
Consequences
Disclaimer: There are positive consequences as a result of this social issue, such as developing life skills, generating a stable income, learning work skills, and growing as an individual.112 The following discussion only explains the negative consequences of child labor in Myanmar.
Health Issues
Physical Health Issues
Children working for long hours in harsh working conditions lead to many short and long-term health issues. Of the 1.2 million child workers in Myanmar, about half of them work in a hazardous environment, or a setting that contains anything with the potential of causing harm.113, 114 The most hazardous sector for all laborers to participate in is agriculture, with half of all fatal workplace accidents worldwide occurring in this sector.115, 116 The majority of Myanmar child laborers, 58.3%, work in the agriculture sector, which is where the most long-term health issues among youth occur.117 Although the Myanmar government does not record work-related injuries for children, injuries from adult workers have been recorded from 2011–2015.118 The most common injury reported each year was abrasions with a high of 2,830 recorded in 2013.119 Most injuries were caused by limbs striking against objects, with 39% of injuries damaging the hand and fingers, 21.4% damaging the feet and toes, and 9.1% damaging the head and neck.120
While adults suffer from these common workplace injuries, children are significantly more at risk in hazardous situations because of their stage in development. Because children work in the same environments as adults, with the majority of laborers from both age groups involved in agriculture, assumptions can be made that children are exposed to the same injuries. Occupational hazards can disrupt this critical stage and provoke health issues that cause more harm to children than adults and can affect children for the rest of their lives.
Short-Term Physical Health Issues
The demand for children to work excessive hours and usage of heavy, sharp equipment causes many short-term problems. Children are more prone to cuts and burns attributing to 49.6% of child workers reporting cuts worldwide and one third of all burn injuries for children being work-related.121, 122 In Myanmar, working with sharp machinery, knives, and welding equipment puts child laborers at risk to these injuries.123 Without having time to properly eat meals and take breaks, they are also more vulnerable to illness, exhaustion, and backaches.124
Long-Term Physical Health Issues
There are also many long-term health consequences that children are more susceptible to in the work environment. Children require 9.5 hours of sleep each night to develop properly, which they usually cannot obtain with a rigorous working schedule, which is often the same as adults, of an average of 60 working hours a week.125 Children are also more at risk in developing bone deformities and disabilities due to the heavy loads and repetitive movements workspaces require. This can cause ligament and muscle damage which creates permanent disabilities.126
In Myanmar, children are exposed to chemicals and toxins, such as benzene, cleaning solutions, and mercury, which are easily inhaled and absorbed.127 Children working in the agriculture sector are more at risk of being exposed to these dangerous chemicals that affect the brain and nervous system.128 While there is no quantitative data available, common consequences of exposure include: impaired brain maturation and damaged nervous system growth and function.129 Allergic respiratory diseases can also affect children for the rest of their life and stems from inhaling organic dust or silica in the workplace.130
In a cross-country study, it was concluded that there is a positive correlation between child labor and the presence of infectious disease and adolescent mortality. The data comes from a number of countries, including Myanmar and other developing countries that depend on agriculture to support the economy. In all regions tested, the occupational mortality rate for children was the same as the adult occupational mortality rate.131 This means that the situations children work in are equally as dangerous, and more likely, more dangerous than it is for adults due to their early development.
Increase in School-Dropout Rates
Working a demanding job while enduring work-related health conditions makes frequent school attendance difficult for children in Myanmar.132 The transition from primary to secondary school is a common time for children to drop out and begin working in Myanmar due to increased costs and lack of perceived benefits.133 UNICEF estimates that “more than half of Myanmar children stop attending school before age 11” and 50–75% drop out before the fifth grade.134 Another study concludes that 90% of unemployed children attend school while a mere 10% of working children are able to stay in school.135
Children can work more than 60 hours a week and are paid a low wage that makes it impractical for a child to return to school after participating in the labor force.136 While many children have expressed the desire to return to school, low wages prevent them from doing so. A ten-year-old working at a tea shop in Yangon earns 60,000 kyats, about $32 USD, a month. This is enough to sustain her family, but not nearly enough to support her ensured success in Myanmar’s rigged education system.137 If children are capable of working and attending school, the monetary cost to pursue a secondary education is unattainable on a child worker’s income. For this reason, children begin working and drop out of school shortly after. High dropout rates, over generations of working children, have affected literacy rates in Myanmar with a decrease of adult literacy by 14.39% from 2000–2016.138, 139 It is expected that this number will continue to drop as nearly half a million children aged 7–15 have never attended school and more than half a million children cannot read or write.140 Demanding hours and low wages make attending school impossible for child workers and leads to a dramatic decrease in school attendance which can affect the whole country.
Stalled Economic Growth of Highly-Skilled Labor Force
Image by Olivia Marié from Pixabay
It is theorized that Myanmar’s widespread utilization of unskilled labor (child and adult) has the potential to stall economic growth and development in the future due to the increasing demand for skilled labor.141, 142 Children that participate in manual labor enter the workforce uneducated and unable to advance in employment. Skill deficits have been ranked as the most serious business constraint in Myanmar by enterprises.143 This shortage of skilled labor stems in part from young workers not attaining a high level of education and lack of specific skill training for employees in high atrophy skills, including washing dishes, harvesting crops, manufacturing bricks, and collecting trash.144
In Myanmar, little time and money is invested in training for employees to develop skills and progress from entry-level positions.145 Particularly, training in information and communications technology, craftsmanship, and language competency is needed to create opportunities for child laborers to become reliable, skilled workers.146 Only 13% of the workforce in Myanmar is part of the highest paid sector, while 2 out of every 3 workers participate in low-skilled (38%) or subsistence agriculture (29%).147 While there is a high demand for such skilled labor, Myanmar lacks educated and skilled workers to fulfill the demand. As a result, agriculture relies heavily on low-skilled child labor. Compared to workers without formal schooling, those with a middle school education earn 20% more, a high school education results in a 26% increase, and post-secondary education grants 65% more income.148 Stalled growth of Myanmar’s highly-skilled labor force affects economic productivity rates, making them 50–75% lower than neighboring countries like China, Thailand, and Vietnam.149 Child labor perpetuates this lack of skilled employees by promoting uneducated children to enter the workforce. As a result, this limits an individual’s economic mobility to pursue a higher paying occupation.
Best Practices
myME
Myanmar Mobile Education Project (myME) is the first social benefit organization designed to bring non-formal education to child laborers. It was founded by Tim Aye Hardy who was raised in Myanmar and escaped to the United States in 1989. He finished his education at California Polytechnic University, Pomona and San Diego State University before returning to Myanmar in 2014 and beginning this organization. The remainder of the team is stationed in Yangon and New York City.
Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay
MyME is founded on the principles that every child has the right to receive an education. Due to the financial circumstance of child laborers’ families, many are unable to attend school because of their long work hours. MyME brings the classroom to these kids by utilizing a bus complete with books, desks, and chairs for young workers to meet in after their shops close. The program has expanded to utilize tea shops that children work in as the teaching environment. Locations are strategically planned in Yangon, Mandalay, Mawlamying, Myingyan, Kyauk-Se, Dala, East Dagon, and Hlaing Thar to allow for the maximum number of children to attend.150 Shop owners are compensated for the child’s time away from work and children are fed each class period. MyME provides child workers the free opportunity to learn literacy, numeracy, computer skills, and life-skills for two-hour sessions, three times a week. Tablets are provided to enhance the learning situation along with full-time teachers and other volunteers. There are four levels that students can be placed in with each level lasting a duration of six months. After completing level four, students are given the choice to return to full-time school with financial support from myME or the opportunity to attend vocational training.151
MyME was founded with a deep understanding of child labor and the Myanmar education system. It focuses on empowering children to escape damaging work situations and find other opportunities. The program has grown to 60 staff and 5 mobile classroom buses in 2018. Over 10,000 working and out-of-school children have been helped through this program. There is measured to be an 87% attendance rate and over 3,000 kids are helped annually. Completion ceremonies are conducted for students graduating their respective levels. In December 2018, 20 students received their beginner level certificate and 17 students received their Level 1 certificate.
During the COVID-19 pandemic and military coup in Myanmar, schools were shut down. MyME Box was created for out-of-school children and youth by creating a Portable Digital Classroom (PDC). Children in remote locations can receive an education by following a similar curriculum as myME without internet access. MyME Box shows how this organization continues to grow and find more effective ways to reach more children.
MyME is supported by the Burma Humanitarian Mission152 and is sponsored by Telenor, Nestle, Max Power Thanketa, and Samsung.153 MyME has also been spotlighted in several articles, although it is not listed on any organization vetting site.154
Updated measurements of outputs, outcomes, and impact would excel myME. Some outputs appear to be measured, but having a randomized control trial could demonstrate the impact of this program. With exact numbers of how many people are affected through MyME and to what degree, myME could attract more funders. Additionally, there is no evidence that myME adjusts the education program according to individual students’ needs. By taking a human-centered approach to learning, more students could understand concepts more thoroughly.
Myanmar Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (My-PEC)
In December 2013, the US Department of Labor, supported by ILO, funded a four-year program to improve the lives of children in the workforce by bringing awareness to the issue in Myanmar. The Myanmar Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, my-PEC, focuses on decreasing child labor in Myanmar by creating multi-stakeholder responses. The program was extended in December 2019 until December 2021.155
My-PEC works in various ways to cease child labor. Three areas were selected to pilot a new approach by focusing on improving childrens’ access to quality education and providing livelihood services. In addition, the project provides technology to collect data on Myanmar’s status of child labor. Campaigns and trainings for labor inspectors have been created to educate citizens on hazardous work environments. Reforms of labor laws to make them compliant with international standards have also been pushed by this program. The Child Labor Monitoring System has been created under this program, but the military coup has seized control over operation. Despite this, my-PEC continues to provide direct services for child laborers and their households in local communities.156
My-PEC has made a number of advancements in the journey to end child labor in Myanmar. Many changes in policy and awareness campaigns will shape how the country views child labor. The first Hazardous Work List for Myanmar, which sets a safe work standard, was created while this program was in place. In 2016, the first Labor Force, Child Labor, and School to Work Transition Survey was conducted to measure Myanmar’s rate of child labor and its effects. The Shops and Establishments Act and Factories Act were amended due to attention brought to the acts by my-PEC. This created 14 as the minimum age for children to work and 18 as the age requirement to work in hazardous environments. In March 2017, the first National Action Plan on the Worst Forms of Child Labor was created at the National Consultation Workshop.
Through continued efforts from my-PEC, in June 2020, the International Labor Organization Minimum Age Convention (C138) was ratified by the government, showing commitment from the government to focus on the child labor issue. In the pilot program, my-PEC provided education services to 3,514 children involved or at risk of being involved in child labor and livelihood services to 1,314 households. Overall, the project has trained 78 labor inspectors and law enforcement officials and 500 teachers about child labor. Many research, policy, and instructional papers have been published and made possible through my-PEC.157
My-PEC has had an instrumental impact on child labor in Myanmar but the program was scheduled to end in December 2021. The project could be extended again to continue supporting an end to child labor in Myanmar, or a permanent structure could be created. Instead of continuing to extend this program, a new organization could be created to oversee the progress this project has instigated. The most beneficial scenario would be if the government was able to support this type of organization, but this is unpredictable with the military currently in power. By continuing to focus on the child labor issue in Myanmar, the changes made during the past eight years can continue to help children.
Preferred Citation: Alyssa Augustus. “Child Labor in Myanmar.” Ballard Brief. March 2022. www.ballardbrief.org.
Viewpoints published by Ballard Brief are not necessarily endorsed by BYU or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
