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Family & Children

Child Labour — Minor Forced to Work Instead of Attending School

A family member or employer puts a child to work in conditions that deprive them of education and expose them to harm

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The Situation

What They Said

“The child is not going to school today — we need the money. He can work in the market with me. He is old enough and this family needs to eat.”
Child labour — putting children to work in ways that deprive them of education and childhood — remains a serious problem in the Philippines, particularly in agriculture, domestic service, fishing, and informal market work. Republic Act 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act) and the Labor Code prohibit the employment of children below 15 years in most circumstances, and strictly limit work for children aged 15-17 to non-hazardous activities that do not interfere with schooling. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) enforce child labour laws. Exploitative child labour constitutes child abuse under RA 7610.
The Fallacy

Family Economic Necessity Overrides Child Protection Law Fallacy

The parent frames child labour as a necessary response to family poverty, implying that the law cannot be applied to families genuinely in need. RA 7610 does not ignore economic necessity — it recognises that exploitative child labour causes harm regardless of the reason, and that the State has an obligation to protect children from this harm. The response to family poverty is government assistance (4Ps/Pantawid Pamilya Programme, DSWD support) — not child labour that robs children of education and childhood.

What the Law Says

Your Legal Foundation

Republic Act No. 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act)
Section 12 — Employment of Children — Prohibition on Harmful Child Labour
“No child below fifteen years of age shall be employed, except when he works directly under the sole responsibility of his parents or legal guardian and where only members of the employer's family are employed: Provided, however, That his employment neither endangers his life, safety, health, and morals, nor impairs his normal development: Provided, further, That the parent or legal guardian shall provide the child with the prescribed primary and/or secondary education. Any person who violates this provision shall be punished by a fine of not less than One thousand pesos but not more than Ten thousand pesos, or imprisonment of not less than three months but not more than three years, or both.”
A child below 15 may only work under family supervision if the work does not endanger their health or development AND their education is fully provided. If the child is being kept from school to work in the market — even under family supervision — this violates RA 7610 because it impairs the child's normal development and education.
1987 Philippine Constitution
Article XV, Section 3; Article XIV, Section 2 — Constitutional Rights of Children to Education and Protection
“The State shall defend the right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to their development. Elementary education is free and compulsory. The State shall establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education.”
Every child has a constitutional right to compulsory free elementary education. Keeping a child from school to work is a deprivation of this constitutional right. Report to the DepEd School Division Superintendent and to the DSWD if a child is being prevented from accessing education.
What Scripture Says

God's Word on This

Matthew 18:5 (NIV)
“And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
Jesus identified himself with children — their dignity, their protection, and their welcome into the community are expressions of receiving Jesus himself. A child robbed of school to labour in adult work has been robbed of something irreplaceable: the years of formation that shape the rest of their life. God's protective concern for children is not abstract — it demands that we act when we see a child's development being sacrificed for economic convenience. The law agrees: the child's future is worth protecting even against the immediate pressures of poverty.
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What They'll Say Next

Common Counter-Arguments

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