25 Marzo 2014
Human Rights Watch has just published a new report on Senegal's Quranic Schools where children live in unsafe conditions or are exploited by teachers, who force them to beg and inflict severe punishment when the boys fail to return a set quota of money.
The report, Exploitation in the Name of Education: Uneven Progress in Ending Forced Child Begging in Senegal, examines Senegal’s mixed record in addressing the problem in the year since a fire ripped through a Quranic boarding school in Dakar housed in a makeshift shack, killing eight boys. While important legislation has advanced, authorities have taken little concrete action to end this abuse, said Human Rights Watch.
The organisation recommends the Senegal’s government to adopt and enforce the draft legislation to regulate and set minimum standards for Quranic schools. It also recommends to enforce the existing law against forced begging and reach out to allies among religious leaders and other groups to support strong action against forced child begging.
For more information, see:
- Human Rights Watch press release
- Human Rights Watch video, Senegal: Stop Forced Child Begging
- Right to Education Project web page on quality education