ILO in Syria conducts workshop focused on child labour with school principals

The training workshop aims to inform school officials on child labour, ILO conventions, international labour standards as well as the role of educators to combat child labour in Syria.

The ILO is holding a training workshop with school officials at the Ministry of Education of the Syrian Arab Republic as part of a joint collaboration between the World Food Programme (WFP) and the ILO, which aims to raise awareness about child labour concerns in Syria.

Participants at the workshop are school principals and Ministry of Education (including those form the Department of Education) working in the governorates of Damascus, Rural Damascus. The workshop targets officials from schools located in areas with elevated food insecurity, prevalence of child labour, and schools with relatively high concentration of IDPs who receive support from other education sector partners.

The workshop sessions aim to:
  • Raise the awareness of the local government partners and school teachers and principals (about 500 persons from Damascus, Rural Damascus (Eastern Ghouta, Qatana, Qesswe, Douma, Al Tal and Babeela), Daraa, Swaidaa, and Qunaitra on the educational and protection programmes;
  • promote and support the role of educators to address child labour using technical material, and theoretical concepts, as well as practical implementation methodologies;
  • alert the school principals of children who drop out and are at risk of entering the labour market;
  • raise awareness around Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182);and
  • highlight the latest statistics and information on child labour in the across the world.
At the end of the programme, participants are expected to have a solid knowledge on the following subjects:
  • Definition of child labour and the worst forms child labour;
  • knowledge of ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182;
  • definition of the child and child labour in Syrian law; and
  • the role of education and educators in addressing child labour.
This training workshop was developed as a joint activity between WFP and ILO through based on an agreement to achieve both organizations’ educational objectives in Syria and support access to education for all children across Syria. As part of the collaboration, WFP conducts training sessions for school principals and teachers in targeted schools to sensitize the local community on the programme objectives, while the ILO provides the technical and pedagogical material.