When a country's debt pushes out kids from school

WSF-2004

Liberia, all of eleven and living in Aruna in north-western Uganda, is paying a heavy price "" she will not be able to attend school from next term.

This is because the government has introduced school fees as a means to repay the debt that the country owes multilateral agencies.

Going to school is a means for children to escape poverty since through education, they will be able to get better jobs and lead a better life than that of their parents.

However, Liberia may not be able to attend school as her parents cannot afford 1,000 shillings demanded as school fees.

The situation in India is no better. Says Shanta Sinha from India in one of the 1,200 conferences during the five-day World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai, "Today kids are not drop-outs, but push-outs as their parents cannot afford to educate their children. Things should change so that children of poor parents can get proper jobs and ensure that children enjoy their rights."

The changing economic model favouring free-market, liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation have not produced progress and prosperity as promised.

Far from it, WSF activists cried out that children today are paying the highest price, as just a few nations have benefited, thereby accentuating disparities between people and nations. India has seen a growth rate of 6.5 per cent as a fall-out of globalisation.

However, the number of poor people in the region as in the case of South Asia has increased, states the Human Development Report for South Asia. "Expenditure on social services including health and education in post-globalisation era has remained stagnant," stated officials.

According to Karl Flecker from Polaris Institute, eight years of North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) have seen eight million Mexicans go from middle class into poverty. Child labour has increased dramatically, with over 19 million children now working in horrible conditions. Post acceptance of 'free market', Mexico has a poverty rate higher than it was in 1980 and the buying power of Latin American workers is 27 per cent lower, he adds.

Activist supporting the rights of children, Vittorio Agnoletto from Italy, points out that with the impositions made by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) on various national governments, the children are ones who have suffered the most.

Globalisation has resulted in an increase in market-oriented housing policies, causing a rise in land and habitat prices. Commercialisation of the housing sector and reduction or elimination of subsidies on low-cost housing have made housing unaffordable for the poor, worsening their already difficult living conditions, were some of key points stated by participants.

"The clearance of the settlements of the urban poor for commercial use or high-income housing has resulted in displacement and homelessness, as experienced by thousands of pavement-dwelling children in cities like Mumbai, Phnom Penh and Manila," pointed out the group on Children's Rights for the WSF.