[18 July 2008]

SANA'A, July 18 (Saba) – A well-informed source said on Friday 2334 children aged 7-13 years had been sent to schools over the last four years after they pulled out of school and sent into the labor market in three provinces of Yemen.

Director of the Alternatives to Combat Child Labor through Education and Sustainable Services (ACCESS-MENA) Jamal al-Hadi said that the children returned to schools were in the provinces of Ibb, Abyan and Hajjah as they were working in different professions, most of them working to support their families.

"The ACCESS-MENA financed by the US Labour Ministry prepared education programs for the returning children to be implemented during the summer holiday, including programs of improving their educational skills in addition to providing psychosocial courses and some needs of schools, such as toilets, which is one of the causes that force female children to pull out of school in particular", said al-Hadi.

He added that the ACCESS-MENA supported 4101 male and female children who are vulnerable to pull out of schools and rolled 200 working girls aged 14-16 years in literacy programs and 326 male and female children in vocational education programs.

According to al-Hadi, 200 children who were smuggled to neighboring countries have been scrolled in schools as well as more than 1000 children who were actively engaged in smuggling.

The Yemeni official pointed out that the reasons of this phenomenon include the economic and social situations of their families.

YA

Saba