JPlus Magazine Feature

I wrote an article in Japanese about child labor in Indonesia featured in the Singapore Youth Report Section of J-Plus Magazine.

A raw-material businessman from Japan found a shocking truth during his business trip to a quarry in Indonesia. There he found a lot of underage children working in a harsh and dangerous condition, mining raw material. A lot of children didn't go to school and devoted their time fully to help their parents laboring in the quarry. The businessman offered financial help, and with this, finally the children have found the opportunity for formal education through school. Child labor in Japan is already prohibited by law, but in Indonesia, the sight of children working is not strange even in big cities. According to survey in 2010, there are about 1.7 million working children in Indonesia considered to be under-aged. They are trapped in a vicious cycle since their parents don't have money for them to get the formal education they need- with no choice but to spend all their time helping the family by working. There are those that works 25-35 hours per week. There are even those in the hazardous work period of 40 hours per week. It really is a shame for the children to work under such hazardous circumstances and miss their life chance of getting proper education. The government should support these kinds of poor family financially and provide more opportunity for education. Every children in the world deserves their right equally.