by T. Villavert

Iloilo City (13 February) -- A four-year project geared towards providing child workers with educational opportunities will be implemented through a grant from the US Department of Labor.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) press report disclosed that the project dubbed ABK2 (Pag-aaral ng mga Bata Para sa Kinabukasan) or Teach Take Every Action for Children Now was launched February 7.

Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo D. Brion said that the project is a welcome development in the national efforts to reduce if not totally eliminate the problem on child labor especially the worst forms.

The DOLE press report further disclosed that the project will be implemented through a grant from the US Labor Department to the World Vision Development Foundation in association with the Christian Children's Fund and Educational Research and Development Assistance Foundation, Inc. or ERDA.

Brion said the ABK2 initiative would support the national program against child labor particularly in assisting child workers engaged in hazardous occupations in sugarcane plantations, commercial agriculture, domestic work, commercial sexual exploitation, mining and quarrying, garbage scavenging, and pyrotechnics.

The initiative will be a big boost to the national anti-child labor drive, the DOLE Chief said as he looked forward to the mainstreaming of its objectives to the country's program against child labor particularly in facilitating the child workers' access to quality education and entrepreneurship assistance for the child workers' families and communities.

ABK2 will be implemented in the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Camarines Norte, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Leyte, Davao del Sur, and Compostela Valley.