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In Honduras, 5.93 per cent of 10-13 year olds and 7.58 per cent of 14-17 year olds work and study at the same time, while 6.69 percent of 10-13 year olds and 33.96 per cent of 14-17 year olds work without attending school at all, according to statistics taken from the National Commission for the Gradual and Progressive Eradication of Child Labor’s Survey of Homes. Despite existing policies against child labor in Honduras, the level of education obtained by Honduran children remains low. According to Javier Zelaya, regional coordinator of programs for Central America for Save the Children, the problem specific to Honduras is not the level of enrollment in schools, which is surprisingly high at 90 per cent, but the subsequent drop out rates.

“Honduras has one of the highest school drop out rates in Latin America. The problem is worst in rural areas, where some children only make it to third grade before they start working in the fields with their parents and abandon school completely,” he said. “Children who are working in unregulated sectors, such as agriculture or domestic service, can be expected to work for 14 or 15 hours a day. Impossible for them to study.”

In Honduras, children may legally enter the labor market from the age of 14, but they are also supposed to attend school until they are 18. ‘The truth is that many children don’t carry on with school after 14. These adolescents come from poor families, often single parent families, who pressure them into working to the extent that they can’t study,”

“The older children get, the more they work, and the amount they study decreases. Many complete the first six grades of primary school, then drop out of secondary school with insufficient education to earn a good living and raise themselves out of the poverty trap.”

In Honduras, over 60 per cent of the population live on less than a dollar a day. By sending their child out to work, a parent may increase the family income by an other dollar or so, and consequently, families perceive education to be irrelevant to their needs. In fact, many families believe that sending their children out to work is a solution to their economic difficulties. However, given that children who work to the detriment of their education will eventually earn at least 20 percent less than someone who has studied, child labor only serves to perpetuate poverty in the long term.