I. Legal Framework

Child Labor Laws

In Bolivia, children less than 14 years of age may not legally work except as apprentices. Children less than 18 years of age are prohibited from work that could retard their physical growth, that requires great strength, or that is dangerous (Ley General del Trabajo, del 8 de diciembre de 1942, Decreto Supremo del 4 de agosto de 1940).

Education Laws and Structure

As part of the education reform of 1994, compulsory education was defined as eight years and was divided into three cycles: three years of basic learning, three years of essential skills, and two years of applied learning. These cycles are for children of approximately 6 to 14 years of age. Pre-school education is not yet obligatory because the government is not in a position to offer it nationally. Among other things, the Law of Education Reform calls for the introduction of an intercultural focus at all levels of education and the application of a bilingual component. The reform has survived through three different administrations and is the first experience of continuity of any social policy in Bolivia. (For a more extensive review of the education reform, please see link to UNESCO: Education For All Country Reports in Appendix E).

The education system is decentralized and overseen by the following institutions:

• The Prefectura (Prefecture), as the representative of the central government, is responsible for hiring personnel at the district level.

• The Servicio Departamental de Educación (SEDUCA) is under the control of the Prefectura and is responsible for the administration of public education and the supervision of private education at the departmental level. The Director of SEDUCA is responsible for formulating the Departmental education plan, for supervising and evaluating district education directors, and for the completion of annual goals and objectives.

• The Direcciones Distritales de los Municipios (Municipal District Offices) are responsible for buildings and equipment.

• The alcaldes (mayors), supported by the consejos municipales (municipal councils), administer education at the local level.

• The Direcciones de Núcleos Escolares (Offices of School Networks) administer groups or networks of schools, organized according to geographic, cultural, and linguistic criteria, that include at least one school with all educational levels and are supported by one asesor pedagógico.

• The Direcciones de Unidades Escolares (Individual School Offices) administer individual schools.

For more information on the Bolivian education system, see Ministry of Education link in Appendix E.

II. Extent and Nature of Child Labor

Statistics

• In the most recent national census (1992), it was estimated that 32 percent of Bolivian children/adolescents between seven and 19 years of age were in the workforce. Twenty-nine percent of this group is located in cities and 71 percent in rural areas (Plan Nacional de Acción por la Niñez y Adolescencia en situación de Riesgo en Bolivia 2001-2005).

• More recently, the World Bank (World Development Indicators 2000 CD Rom, the World Bank, Washington DC, 2000) reported that 12.6 percent of Bolivian children ages 10-14 are working (although it is likely that the above figures underestimate the number of child laborers since most child labor takes place in the informal sector).

• For child/adolescent workers who work during the day, night schools have become one of the only educational alternatives. In 1997 there were 523 night schools in Bolivia, the majority of them (62.72 percent) concentrated in the country’s three largest cities of La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz.

Type of work in which children are engaged

The worst forms of child labor in Bolivia have been identified as mining, commercial sexual exploitation, sugar cane harvest, Brazil nut harvest, and domestic work (in houses other than one’s own) by children less than 14 years old.

III. Efforts

Government

Rural education has been designated a priority area in the education reform, and the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes’s (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports’) Plan Huascaran has promised to put computers and parabolic disks for Internet connection in 5,000 rural communities to help improve rural education in the most isolated areas.

The Viceministro de Educación Alternativa (Viceministry for Alternative Education), established by the reform (Law 1565), develops programs to benefit children and adolescents whose needs are not met by the formal education system. Educación Juvenil Alternativa (EJA) is in the process of developing a curriculum for educación nocturna (night school) that will respond to the needs and interests of the night school population, estimated to be 80 percent working and street children (Gottret, et al., La Escuela: Educación para niños y adolescentes trabajadores en Bolivia).

The Ministry of Labor (MOL) has expressed interest in working with other ministries to implement existing laws in the Labor Code in 2002 regarding adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17, including working with Bolivia’s main technical training program (INFOCAL) and also including working children/adolescents in its departmental scope.

The Comisión Interinstitucional para la Erradicación del Trabajo Infantil (Interinstitutional Comisión for the Eradication of Child Labor), headed by the MOL, is composed of representatives from government institutions, civil society, and international organizations and is the author of a 10-year (2000 - 2010) plan for the progressive eradication of child labor. There is also a mining sub-committee made up of 15 institutions, eight of which participate regularly.

Preliminary national studies have been completed in three of the sectors considered to be worst forms: mining, sugar cane, and Brazil nuts. Studies of two other worst forms, child sexual exploitation and domestic workers, are underway.

International Donors

The education reform is financed by World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank credit, and by donations and technical assistance from European donors. ILO/IPEC is implementing the USDOL Eradication of Child Labor in Artisan Gold Mining Project described in the context of the solicitation. UNICEF has conducted various child labor studies and has implemented awareness raising workshops in all departments. UNICEF also works in both basic and alternative education and has trained teachers in basic bilingual education.

International NGOs

CARE has worked in recent years on girls’ education, developing a curriculum to make education more targeted to girls. They have also sponsored a Saturday program covering topics such as human rights, children’s rights, and alternative math courses for working girls. They are working in eight evening schools in La Paz and El Alto.

Fe y Algería (Faith and Happiness) is working nation-wide in Bolivia, including in 14 schools in the Department of Potosí. Fe y Alegría teachers are employed by the Ministry of Education, but Fe y Alegría provides the administration of the schools and teacher training.

Save the Children has a basic education program called Primary Education Now! in Oruro. The program works to improve the quality of education in peri-urban schools by training teachers and renovating and constructing classrooms, bathrooms or kitchens and providing computers, audio-visual equipment, children’s literature and didactic material. The program also provides health and nutrition services to children and strengthens parent associations and school boards.

Non-governmental organizations

Centro Boliviano de Investigación y Acción Educativas (CEBIAE - Bolivian Center for Research and Education Action) has been addressing education issues for over 26 years, and for the past three years has been working on education quality at the school level, and incorporating greater social participation in public education.

CEBIAE is currently working with local education officials to train teachers in reform methods in Potosi within the framework of the institutional plan "Education for Local Development in Municipal Districts, 2001-2004." See Appendix E for more information on CEBIAE.

Confederacion de Trabajadores de Educacion Urbana (Confederation of Urban Education Workers). According to a union representative, Bolivian teachers make about 600 Bolivianos (a little less than $100) per month. Teachers prefer to work for private schools because the remuneration is better than in the public system. According to the Confederation, the Ministry of Education is not willing to negotiate with teachers, so there will likely be strikes within the lifetime of the project. Night school teachers are members of the Association of Adult Education, a network of the Confederation.

Cruz Roja (The Red Cross) in Potosí is providing a vocational training program for 60 adolescents. The program is structured in three modules of three months each, one theoretical, one practical, and one a combination of theory and practice. Thirty of the 60 participants have been placed in jobs.

El Centro de Investigación y Apoyo Campesino (CIAC - The Center for Research and Rural Aid), located in the southern Andean region (Potosí and Tarija) of Bolivia, was founded to design and execute programs in support of rural communities. In the field of education, CIAC provides teacher training and training for juntas escolares in rural schools. CIAC and three other NGOs (Caritas, ACLO, and Causnanchispaj) are running rural boarding schools for children whose community schools include only the first three grades.

Programa Alternativo de Prevención Integral de la Marginalidad en la Población Urbana Infanto-Juvenil de y en la Calle (ENDA - Alternative Social Program to Prevent Marginality in Urban Youth and Street Children). ENDA’s goals are: reducing risk to working and street children, improving their socialization, and supporting their re-integration into the family and community. To accomplish these goals the organization provides safe houses, training/job placement, health services, and performs research.

Fundación de la Primera Dama. The Foundation of the First Lady of the Republic of Bolivia’s mission is to develop support programs for high-risk social groups. The First Lady’s Office has developed programs and projects for street children, rural and marginal urban students, people with disabilities, and the elderly. See Appendix E for more information.

Qharuru has 13 years of experience providing education, health, and other basic services, as well as vocational training, to working children in a center owned by the organization in La Paz. In addition to the center, Qharuru implements other projects that have included research, a program with shoeshine children, development of night school curricula, and a theater program to prevent drug use.