UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Diliman,Quezon City
College of Education

MICHELLE

SAN MATEO PUBLIC MARKET HELPER

A Case Study Presented to

Mrs. Mercedes Arzadon, EDFD 121 Course Professor

In partial fulfilment
of the requirements in
Educational Psychology 121

Prepared by,

LYRA GABRIELLE R. PONCE DE LEON

B Secondary Education - Chemistry

October, 2019
 The Philippines is a developing country that is still deeply rooted in poverty which drives

children into labor in order to help support their families. Poverty entices these children to join the

labor force because of “short-term income opportunities” that can help them survive (Fernandez

& Abocejo, 2014). According to the International Labour Organization, Philippines has 2.1 million

child labourers between the age of 5-17 years old and about 95% of them are exposed to hazardous

working environment. There are many Philippine programs like Philippine Program against Child

Labor (PPACL) that aims to eliminate child labor but there are still many children that are being

forced or coerced into labor by poverty and other factors.

Recognizing this as an alarming crisis, our case study aims to understand how early labor

affects the children in regards to their education, family, dreams, and life. We want to know how

they were able to adapt to their situation being workers and how they balance their time between

school, work, and play. Basically, we want to know their whole experience as a child worker and

to also identify the skills or attitudes they were able to acquire from working and how they use it

in school and in their everyday life.

One of the kids we interviewed is Michelle. She is 14 years old and a Grade 8 student at

Wawa National High School in Rodriguez, Rizal. She is the youngest out of her siblings with one

sister also a high school student while the other sister, who is the second oldest, is a college student

in Quezon City that seldom comes home. She lives separate from her mother who is in Brgy.

Puray, Rodriguez, Rizal while she is staying with her aunt, who is a teacher, for three years. Her

father is absent from their lives and we chose not to ask her about this situation since it is very

personal.

She is working in San Mateo Public Market with her sister and cousins. When we saw her,

she is in the middle of repacking charcoal with her cousins. Her aunt, who is renting the stall for
two years, told us that it is not their regular business and that, it is just additional work they took

up to be productive during that time. It is actually Michelle’s first day working there but she is

already expressing interest in helping her family out with their business which is selling

refreshments, candies, and other food items. She told us that it was fun since she is working with

her family and there is free lunch for her when she works there. Also, there is no strict schedule to

follow so it gives her the freedom to choose when she can help out whenever she is free or after

school.

As for her school and social life, she told us that she prefers studying with her friends

because they can help each other out. When asked if she is playing with her friends, she told us

that they do not do that anymore since they can chat with each other through Messenger. She is

also a part of a dancing group in her school and that she likes browsing through her Facebook in

her free time. Her favorite subject is Math because she is always active in the discussion and that

working in the market helps her because of the quick calculations she has to perform when selling

goods. She also shared that when she needs to research, her primary source is the Internet since

she was not able to receive any books because there was a shortage in the supply.

As we were interviewing her, we can really feel that education is very important to her

because we asked her how she was able to adapt with her situation as a worker and a student and

she told us that she always put her studies first. Before going to work or hanging out with her

friends, she will first do her assignments which shows her dedication. If it is urgent that she is

needed to help in the business, she will bring her school works with her and do it while working

in the market. She is flexible in managing her time and adapted to her situation in the best way she

can.
 However, as much as her dedication in studying, she told us that as of that moment, she

has not made any plans for her future education such as what college she wants to attend. Despite

that, she shared that she is aspiring to be a policewoman because that is what her friends wanted

to do in the future but she is not aware of the strands in the K-12 education that can help her pursue

this career. As future teachers, we can take this up as a challenge to further educate the students as

well as their parents and other teachers about the K-12 curriculum.

Based on the information we got from the interview, we deduced that difficult household

situations and absentee parents can push children into work. Since Michelle is from a broken

family with her absentee father, Yusufoglu and Kizmaz (2016) stated that child labor is frequent

with broken families because of the poverty caused by less financial support and no long-term

plans in regards to livelihood strategies. Michelle wanted to help her family’s business because it

is a way for them to survive and according to her aunt, it is also one way for her to get an additional

allowance that she can use in school and for other purposes.

Unlike other child laborers, Michelle is one of the lucky ones because she is working in a

safe environment where she does not experience abuse since it is a family business. She chose to

work for the good of her family and no one forced her to do that. She can still live life as a normal

teenager since she can maintain her relationship with her friends, have a good standing in school

while also balancing it with work in the market. Unfortunately, not all child laborers in the

Philippines are in that situation because most of them are exposed to dangerous work and people

who exploits and abuses them. Some child laborers has no choice but to drop out from school due

to the extreme poverty his/her family is facing. Child labor not only can potentially damage the

physical health of children but according to Aransiola and Justus (2018) can also affect their mental
health because when children start to work early, there is a risk that they might develop depression

in the future.

To avoid this risks, the government should take the issue of child labor seriously and

provide solutions to eradicate this problem. They should support the programs that champions

children so they can be protected and nurtured. They should devise strategies that can help reduce

poverty since it is the main reason that children are forced into labor. More importantly, as future

teachers, we have the power to draw these children from labor because school can serve as a

distraction from the difficult situation that they are facing in their household. Not only that, we can

provide them the tools and the proper education that can help them escaped their poverty-stricken

situation. To conclude, child laborers deserve a chance for a better life and it will take the whole

nation to save them.

References

Aransiola, T., & Justus, M. (2018). Child Labor Hazard on Mental Health: Evidence from Brazil.
The Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics, 49-58. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29961044
Child Labour in the Philippines. (n.d.). Retrieved from International Labour Organization:
https://www.ilo.org/manila/areasofwork/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm
Fernandez, Russell & Abocejo, Ferdinand. (2014). Child Labor, Poverty and School Attendance:
Evidences from the Philippines by Region. CNU Journal of Higher Education. Volume 8.
114-127.
Yusufoglu, O. S., & Kizmaz, Z. (2016). The Aspect of Poverty in Broken Families: A Case of
Elazig. Firat University Journal of Social Science, 209-217. Retrieved from
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/206040