Educare Guyana has developed three distinct aspects to address child labour issues, including raising the awareness of matters surrounding child labour by informing all stakeholders of the country’s laws on the topic, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

Coming out of a seminar hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Educare on combating child labour, GINA said that several awareness campaigns are being developed to address the consequences of child labour and will be executed at the national, community, family and personal levels.

The programme also includes working with local welfare officers to help track and engage with out-of-school and working children.

A local database of “at risk” and working children is also being developed.

The Educare Guyana programme, GINA said, is also engaged in the debate between what is positive exposure to the world of work and what is harmful and illegal child labour.

This is being done by providing in-depth research and analysis of the extent, types and motivating factors of child labour in Guyana.

Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir in his address to the workshop noted that to fully tackle the issue there must be a concerted effort by all stakeholders and persons must ensure that they are fully equipped with the necessary information.

The workshop was aimed at identifying the forms of child labour, determining what constitutes child labour, and assisting in the preparation of effective strategies to address the problem by using Guyana’s experiences, GINA said.