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IV. The Relationship between Education and Child Labor

Children should go to school and not work. . . . The dropout number is high in villages because it costs money.  They should be given free education.  Children are the future of the nation.
—Lili, domestic worker who started working when she was fifteen, Yogyakarta, December 4, 2004.

Indonesia recognizes the right to education and supports universal access to basic education, comprised of six years of primary education and three years of lower secondary education, for Indonesian citizens.¹⁸¹  In 2003, the government passed a new education law codifying this policy and guaranteeing the right to “basic education” for citizens aged seven through fifteen.¹⁸²  However, neither primary education nor lower secondary education is free.  Instead, the education law codifies funding for education as a “shared responsibility” of the national and regional governments, and the “community.”¹⁸³  Child domestic workers told Human Rights Watch that costs associated with schooling forced them to drop out prior to completing nine years of education. 

School Fees and Related Costs

Direct and indirect school costs often force children to drop out of elementary and lower secondary school and is a contributing factor to children being pushed into the labor force.  When asked why she started working as a domestic at age thirteen, Rukhmana replied, “I had completed primary school and my family could no longer afford to pay for school.”¹⁸⁴  Human Rights Watch interviewed twelve girls who had completed only primary school, but could not pursue further education at the lower secondary school level because of school fees and other costs associated with education.  Four girls dropped out before completing primary school for similar reasons.  Eleven girls had completed lower secondary school, whereas eleven dropped out while in lower secondary school due to costs associated with attending school.  One girl was in lower secondary school at the time of the interview.  All the girls we interviewed became domestic workers soon after dropping out of school.  Entry into domestic work is easy for girls who drop out of school due to the demand for girls for such work, as discussed in the Background section, and because domestic work does not require a high school degree.

Ami, who began working as a domestic worker when she was thirteen, explained that a government school turned her away because she could not pay fees:

I finished elementary school.  I said to my father that I want to continue, but my father said, “I’m sorry, I cannot afford the cost”. . . .  I went to junior school for one week, but I was expected to pay a down payment.  I went to school and asked if it was okay that I enroll.  The teacher said okay but you have to pay after some days.  After a week, the school asked me to pay and my parents couldn’t pay the money.  It was for tuition, books, [and] uniform.  It was a government school.  The down payment was about Rp.100,000 [U.S.$11.11] and the total was maybe Rp.200,000 [U.S.$22.22].  So I left the school.  I wanted to go and when I had to leave I was so sad.  I would like to go back to school.  . . .  In the village there are a lot of children who cannot go to school because of money.  Some have jobs so they can go to school.  There are a lot of girls in my village who have left school.  Rarely can girls go to high school.¹⁸⁵

In addition to school fees, costs associated with uniforms, shoes, books, and transportation fees are obstacles to children’s education.  NGOs and university professors told us that textbooks change yearly, requiring families to purchase new books for each child.¹⁸⁶  Hartini told us that her family paid Rp.20,000 (U.S.$2.22) per month in school fees, but uniforms, books, and supplies cost them an additional Rp.200,000 (U.S.$22.22) a year.¹⁸⁷  Transportation costs can also be a significant factor deterring children from continuing with lower or higher secondary school education.  “Parents feel burdened by transportation costs,” a university professor explained to us.¹⁸⁸  A local government official acknowledged that “free education will not resolve child labor problems because even if tuition is free, they have to pay for uniforms, transportation fees, and books.”¹⁸⁹

Many girls we met repeatedly told us that school fees and related costs such as uniforms, transportation, and books pushed them to drop out of school and become domestic workers.  For instance:

• Hasana, who started working as a domestic at age twelve told us, “When I was twelve my parents took me out of school because we had no money to pay for school fees. I was very upset.  I studied very hard and had good grades.  I remember crying a lot.” ¹⁹⁰  

• Rani, who began working as a domestic when she was twelve told us, “I finished elementary school.  I couldn’t go to junior high school because of financial problems.  The costs of junior high school include the monthly tuition fee, books, [and] uniform.”¹⁹¹

• Kadi, fifteen, who was looking for a job as a domestic when we met her told us, “I attended a government school.  I had a scholarship in elementary school, but had to pay fees for junior school.  It was Rp.120,000 [U.S.$13.33] a year.  The costs for shoes, uniforms, books and transportation was Rp. 300,000 [U.S.$33.33].  We could not pay for it so I dropped out in junior school.”¹⁹²  

Parents of domestic workers we spoke with similarly explained that school fees and related costs were a contributing factor in their decision to pull their daughters out of school.  Wida, the mother of Kadi, told us, “I am a poor farmer.  I cannot pay for all the fees the schools charge.  I want my daughter to go to junior school and high school, but cannot afford it.”¹⁹³  Similarly, Wasim, the father of fifteen-year-old Lastri told us, “I cannot afford the education fee.  The schools charge infrastructure fee, uniforms, [and] books.  Lastri could no longer continue junior school, so she became a domestic worker.”¹⁹⁴

The Committee on the Rights of the Child, the authoritative body which monitors state compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 2004 in its concluding observations on Indonesia, expressed concern that “education is not free, even at the primary level, and that higher education is not affordable for many families.”¹⁹⁵  The Committee recommended that Indonesia “strengthen measures to achieve universal and free primary education;” to “progressively ensure that girls and boys, from urban, rural and least developed areas have equal access to educational opportunities, without any financial obstacles;” and to “adopt effective measures to decrease the drop-out rate.”¹⁹⁶

The Effect of Domestic Work on Schooling

Domestic service by children often interferes with their right to education in violation of Indonesian and international law.  In addition to costs, domestic workers who are permitted to attend school face significant challenges:  long hours of work and less sleep interfere with scholastic performance as a child may be tardy, absent, or unable to complete school assignments.  Wardina, fourteen, who was attending school and working as a live-in domestic worker when we interviewed her, told us:

Everyday I wake up at 5:00 a.m.  I clean the house, wash clothes, and water the plants.  At 12:00 p.m. I go to school.  School ends at 5:30 p.m. and I go back to work, prepare dinner, clean the table, and wash the dishes.  Before I go to sleep, I do some homework, but I am very tired by then and not able to study.  The employer also has a small business.  When she receives an order to bake cookies, I have to help her.  This delays me going to school.

Wardini was the only girl we met who was working and attending formal school at the same time.  Other girls we interviewed were participating in vocational programs sponsored by ILO-IPEC and UNICEF and were given permission by their employers, although as discussed below, some had difficulty getting the time off to attend such classes.¹⁹⁷  A Ministry of Education official told us that working children who wish to study may participate in non-formal education equivalent to nine years of basic education.  However, he told us, there are no “government-administered” non-formal education programs specifically targeting child domestic workers.¹⁹⁸ 

Limiting the working hours of children above the legal working age of fifteen would be an important step towards fulfilling their right to education.  An ILO-IPEC official told Human Rights Watch, “Education after working hours is torture.  How can [working children] go to school after working ten hours?”¹⁹⁹  He explained that ILO-IPEC studies in Bandung, Medan, and Suluwesi on effects of work on education found that “a child is able to combine only three hours of work per day in order to effectively study at the same time.”²⁰⁰

Obtaining education beyond nine years of compulsory education, including vocational training, is critical to reduce poverty and open up economic opportunities for the poor.²⁰¹  Girls who had completed junior school told us that they had no option but to work as domestic workers because they had not obtained a high school diploma needed to work in a factory, where the wages are typically higher.  Consequently, girls with limited access to higher secondary education continue to work in devalued and low paying jobs, such as domestic work.  A lawyer for a domestic worker supplier agency told us, “If they have junior [education], it’s okay for boys—-they can become carpenters, drivers.  But for ladies, there are no opportunities.  If there are educated girls, I believe they don’t come here [domestic worker supplier agency].  What for? … if they can get $20 here and in the factory they can get $70.”²⁰² 

All of the girls whom Human Rights Watch interviewed expressed an interest in returning to formal school or having an opportunity to acquire vocational skills that would enhance their prospects of getting a better paying job.  But most child domestic workers are unable to pursue formal or non-formal education because employers do not allow it.  Indonesian law does not require employers to allow working children to attend school.  A Ministry of Education official acknowledged:  “Getting [child domestic workers] to go to school needs the understanding of the employer. . . .  Employers don’t allow them to go out.  They are scared of the level of awareness and empowerment, which can make child domestics more demanding.  We have to show employers that education is beneficial to kids.”²⁰³  He continued, “We, however, can’t say that if anyone prevents a child from going to school, it violates Indonesia’s policy on education because currently the government is unable to provide education for all.  We lack the resources to educate three million.”²⁰⁴

The Convention on the Rights of the Child explicitly guarantees children the right to be protected from “performing any work that is likely . . . to interfere with the child’s education.”²⁰⁵  The Worst Form of Child Labor Convention highlights “the importance of education in eliminating child labour” and calls on states to “ensure access to free basic education, and, wherever possible and appropriate, vocational training, for all children removed from the worst forms of child labour.”²⁰⁶  Indonesia should enact regulations to limit the working hours of children, aged fifteen and older, to enable them to attend school, and should identify and implement strategies to remove financial barriers associated with schooling.

The Right to Education

Under international law, the right to education is guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (not ratified by Indonesia).  These instruments dictate that primary education must be “compulsory and available free to all.”²⁰⁷  Secondary education, including vocational education, must be “available and accessible to every child,” and state parties must “take appropriate measures, such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need.”²⁰⁸  In addition, the Convention on the Rights of the Child obligates state parties “to take measures to encourage regular attendance at school and the reduction of drop-out rates.”²⁰⁹  State parties to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women are obligated to end discrimination against girls in education, including access to schooling, reduction of female student dropout rates, and programs for girls who have left school prematurely.²¹⁰

Both primary and secondary education must include elements of “availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability.”²¹¹  The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights defines availability to mean “functioning educational institutions and programmes . . . to be available in sufficient quantity within the jurisdiction.”²¹²  Educational institutions must be accessible to all without discrimination, to be “within safe physical reach either by attendance at some reasonably convenient geographic location,” and to be “affordable to all.”²¹³  The Committee elaborated that although primary education should be “free to all,” state parties are “required to progressively introduce free secondary and higher education.”²¹⁴