Philippines bets on education to fight child labour

Child soldiers on: Two poor boys transporting sacks of rice from a boat in a village on Samar island. — Reuters

SAN MIGUEL: Marnel Arcones’ face lights up with a huge smile when he talks about going back to school after years of toiling as a child worker in factories, on farms and as a domestic helper.

When he was 15 his mother left the family, his father could no longer support his seven children on his meagre wages as a day labourer in the Eastern Visayas, one of the Philippines’ poorest regions, and Arcones had to quit school and work.