Many poor children are working, during the New Year holiday’s, to pay their school fees. The story of Yuke, forced to risk her life in a fire-works factory, in order to have a better future.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – 11 year-old Tan Yuke, works ten hours a day during school holidays and on weekends in a fire-works factory in order to pay her school fees. But this year her home city in Yizhang county (Hunan) was submerged by snow during the New Year.

Yuke, just like hundreds of other children, was unable to work in the factory, because of the freezing temperatures which crippled their hands.  Child labour in factories is forbidden, but children are in high demand for fireworks, because of their tiny and agile fingers which are able to joining the fuse to the explosive.  On April 6, 2004, 41 students from primary schools died in a fireworks factory in Wanzai (Jianxi), where they too worked in order to pay for schooling.   Yuke has been working since the tender age of 7 and her parents too are employed in the industry: from 7 to 18, earning 20 Yuan a day (2 Euro) preparing circa 32 thousand fuses.  Fireworks are one of the main industries in the area.  In February at least 4 workers were injured when 15 thousand boxes exploded, provoking a tremor equal to 1.1 on the Richter scale.

With the end of the holidays, the period of greatest demand for fireworks has passed.  The children were only able to work a for a few days and did not earn enough. Schools have refused to increase their credit.  Thus this young girl is not able to join her classmates in school for the new year.  Neither were her brothers able to go back to their school.

 “I will probably have to wait until September –she tells the South China Morning Post – but I am afraid that I won’t be able to catch up on the work.  I would love to earn lots of money and buy a big house for my parents.  But without an education this is impossible”.

 

• china
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• labour
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• fireworks
• pverty
• education
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• year