The Ministry of Education (MEC), through the Secretariat for Continuing Education, Youth and Adult Literacy, Diversity, and Inclusion (Secadi), published the booklet *Combating Child Labor*, the second volume in the series “Thematic Notebooks on Human Rights Education.”

This publication aims to support educators, administrators, and education professionals in promoting a culture of respect for the rights of children and adolescents and in strengthening efforts to combat child labor throughout the country. 

The material emphasizes that schools are strategic settings for preventing and combating child labor, since it is there that many situations of vulnerability can be identified.

Through teaching practices focused on citizenship, critical thinking, and valuing childhood, educators can help raise awareness about this issue and foster the creation of local care networks, recognizing that schools are part of the protection network of the System for Guaranteeing the Rights of Children and Adolescents (SGDCA).  

The guide proposes educational and training activities designed to stimulate classroom discussion on the topic, integrating the fight against child labor into human rights education policies. It also encourages continuing professional development for teachers, the creation of context-specific teaching materials, and the strengthening of democratic governance in schools as strategies for social transformation.  

Taking a formative and reflective approach to child labor—its structural causes and the social, economic, and psychological impacts on the development of children and adolescents—the publication emphasizes that addressing this violation of rights requires coordinated action among schools, families, communities, and government authorities to ensure compliance with Brazilian law and the right to a quality education. 

The topics covered are based on the legal frameworks that guide the fight against child labor, such as the Federal Constitution (CF); the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA); the Law on Guidelines and Foundations of National Education (LDB); the National Plan for Human Rights Education (PNEDH); and the National Guidelines for Human Rights Education (DNEDH).  

The initiative was led by Secadi’s General Coordination Office for Educational Policies on Human Rights (CGDH) and carried out in partnership with the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU). It also received support from the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science, and Culture (OEI).   

Numbers

According to the 2023 Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua), Brazil had 1.6 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 engaged in child labor, the lowest number since the survey’s historical data series began in 2016. Compared to 2022 (1.8 million), there was a 14.6% decrease, and compared to 2016 (2.1 million), the reduction was 23.9%. Child labor directly impacts school attendance: while 97.5% of children aged 5 to 17 overall were in school, among those who work, that figure dropped to 88.4%.  

Article originally published by the Ministry of Education (MEC).

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