• Burmese
Monday, July 14, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
28 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

From Factories to Teashops, Child Labor a ‘Tradition’ in Burma

Nyein Nyein by Nyein Nyein
June 14, 2013
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
From Factories to Teashops

A child sells brooms in Rangoon. (Photo: Aung Thet Wine / The Irrawaddy)

8.9k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Child servers are a common sight at the average teashop or restaurant in Burma, where often the underage employees are working at the expense of schooling.

Burmese children have long been exploited as part of labor pools both at home and abroad, working for a pittance and receiving few social protections, labor activists and community leaders say.

“It is a serious issue to take into consideration,” said Thet Thet Aung, a leading labor activist from the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society.

RelatedPosts

Govt ‘Blacklist’ Practices Highlight Lack of Transparency

Govt ‘Blacklist’ Practices Highlight Lack of Transparency, Activists Say

August 4, 2016
4.5k
Advocacy Group Calls for Release of Arrested Arakan Activist

Advocacy Group Calls for Release of Arrested Arakan Activist

August 4, 2016
4.3k
Women Continue to Suffer Due to Land Grabs and Militarization

Women Continue to Suffer Due to Land Grabs and Militarization

August 3, 2016
13.2k

“We have seen that many young employees from the age of 15 to 18 in the industrial sector are being forced to work like adult employees,” she added.

Since last year, Thet Thet Aung said she and the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society have provided support to labor protests at factories where more than 90 percent of the workers are women, with young girls representing the highest number.

“However, our efforts have not yet reached children who are working at worksites other than factories.”

Protection for child laborers at smaller-scale local businesses is sorely lacking, the activist said.

The Rangoon office of Save the Children, an international NGO focused on the issue of childlabor, employs a “community-based child protection system” to address the issue in Burma, according to the organization’s senior protection advisor Ma Thanda Kyaw. That includes encouraging parents to keep their children in school and providing assistance, in the form of school supplies and uniforms, to those families that cannot afford them.

In cities and villages across Burma, child workers at local commercial enterprises such as teashops or restaurants are often preferred by owners.

“The shop will only pick the younger one if a 10-year-old boy and a 20-year-old male apply for a job at the teashops,” said Hsu Hnget, a writer in Mandalay, adding that children were particularly vulnerable to exploitation as cheap labor.

Hsu Hnget said the practice had become so deeply rooted in society that it had become a “tradition.”

Children of both sexes are often sent to Burma’s big cities to work, sometimes forced by their own parents.

From Rangoon to Mandalay to Myitkyina, “in order to support my family” is a common refrain from these sons and daughters when asked why they are working instead of studying.

“I have been working here for a couple of years to support my mom, as my parents are divorced,” a skinny 11-year-old girl working at a local restaurant in Myitkyina told The Irrawaddy when asked why she wasn’t in school.

A 13-year-old boy from Shwebo Township, who works at a teashop in Mandalay, said he had only completed his studies through the fourth grade and started working at the teashop a year ago.

“It’s sad to see that some of the children working at those shops are wearing their school uniform,” Hsu Hnget said.

And then there are underage domestic workers, who toil out of public sight and away from the sweatshops that often get most of the public attention.

On Wednesday, the International Labor Organization (ILO) marked World Day Against ChildLabor by reporting that an estimated 10.5 million children worldwide under the age of 15 are being forced to work as domestic laborers, where they receive little or no pay.

In Burma, laws regulating childlabor exist, but few underage workers benefit from protections stipulated in the legislation. It is illegal to employ children less than 15 of age, and under the colonial-era Factory Act, employees from 15 to 18 years old are allowed to work no more than four hours a day, but youth laborers are routinely forced to work more than the statutorily mandated limit.

“Children who are forced to work as cheap labor is the result of unequally developed social and economic sectors,” Hsu Hnget said.

To eliminate the scourge of childlabor, Save the Children recommends focusing on making education more accessible and affordable for Burma’s poorest. It also urges the government to better monitor compliance to labor laws, and aggressively prosecute employers who violate them.

Without such efforts, deeply entrenched poverty will continue to force children out of the classroom and into the workforce, Thet Thet Aung said, casting a shadow over Burma’s much-praised reforms of the last two years.

“It is because the grassroots community is not benefiting from the current political changes made by the government,” she said.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: More
Nyein Nyein

Nyein Nyein

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

ABSDF Report Finds Torture
Burma

ABSDF Report Finds Torture, Leaves Questions in Killing of Its Own

by Nyein Nyein
March 16, 2015
6.2k

A report into the killing of 35 members of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front by its own leadership documents...

Read moreDetails
‘Twilight Over Burma’ Tells Tragic Tale of Austrian Shan Princess
Burma

‘Twilight Over Burma’ Tells Tragic Tale of Austrian Shan Princess

by Nyein Nyein
May 30, 2016
11.2k

Movie about Inge Sargent, an Austrian who became a Shan princess, is screened in Thailand, shedding light on human rights...

Read moreDetails
A Story of Modern Slavery in Thailand
Burma

A Story of Modern Slavery in Thailand

by Saw Yan Naing
August 21, 2015
6k

Hoping for a brighter future, Maung Htay left Burma when he was just a teenager. He is now 42, but...

Read moreDetails
Migrants’ Hopes and Fears in Little Burma
Asia

Migrants’ Hopes and Fears in Little Burma

by Nyein Nyein
July 16, 2016
10.3k

Known locally as Mahachai, and by foreigners as ‘Little Burma,’ Thailand’s Samut Sakhon hosts up to 400,000 Burmese migrants working...

Read moreDetails
Girl Who Accused Employer of Rape Faces Charges of Theft
Burma

Girl Who Accused Employer of Rape Faces Charges of Theft

by The Irrawaddy
February 26, 2013
13.1k

A 15-year-old girl who says her employer repeatedly raped her is taken into custody after the wife of her alleged...

Read moreDetails
Did a Golden Triangle Leader Fall for a UN Peace Prize Hoax?
Burma

Did a Golden Triangle Leader Fall for a UN Peace Prize Hoax?

by Patrick Boehler and Echo Hui
January 4, 2013
4.7k

Serious doubts have been raised about the awarding of a dubious United Nations peace prize to Kokang Chairman Pai Sou...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
UN Aid Convoy Reaches Kachin IDPs in Humanitarian Breakthrough

UN Aid Convoy Reaches Kachin IDPs in Humanitarian Breakthrough

Born into Conflict

Born into Conflict

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

5 days ago
1.2k
China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

6 days ago
1.1k

Most Read

  • ‘Las Vegas in Laos’: the Riverside City Awash With Crime

    ‘Las Vegas in Laos’: the Riverside City Awash With Crime

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Chief Thanks Trump for Shutting Down VOA and RFA

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta’s ‘Living Fence’ on Thai Border Falls to Karen Resistance

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • KIA Denies Rumor Chief Under House Arrest in China

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • TNLA Invites Investment in Ruby and Mineral Towns Amid Myanmar Junta Onslaught

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.