At least 30 percent of schoolchildren from 1st to 11th grade combine work and learning in Kyrgyzstan. JIA Business Association reports.
Together with the International Labor Organization, JIA conducted a study of child labor in the republic. The review covers three main export-oriented products: walnuts, cotton and beans. Child labor is actively used in these areas.
In Kyrgyzstan, children can be engaged in light types of work from 14 years. It is forbidden to combine work and learning.
Cotton picking is monotonous work that negatively affects the psyche of even an adult. Children from the age of seven are involved in weeding of cotton fields, and picking of cotton — from four years old. During a shift, a child can carry 19 kilograms of cotton. A similar situation is with the nutting. About 20,000 children are involved in picking and processing of nuts, 95 percent of them are unpaid workers. Children start working on bean fields from 10-11 years old.
