During the Pandemic, 17.7% of Children Aged 10-17 in West Nusa Tenggara Became Child Laborers

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reports that the majority of activities of children aged 10-17 in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) are attending school, namely 70.31%. However, this figure is down 12.84 percentage points from the previous year, which reached 83.15%.

The decrease in the number of children attending school in 2020 was due to the pandemic; children had to study at home, leading them to have many activities besides school. The percentage of children attending school in urban areas is higher than in rural areas, namely 76.09% compared to 64.73%.

Next, 17.72% of children aged 10-17 in NTB had work as their main activity during the last week. This condition may also be influenced by the pandemic, where more children helped their parents with work.

The employment status of children in the household is as family workers or unpaid workers.

Children also helped their parents with housework, as seen from the percentage of children managing the household at 4.42%.

The percentage of girls managing the household is greater than that of boys (6.34% compared to 2.46%). Conversely, the percentage of boys working is greater than that of girls (18.76% compared to 16.71%).