Poverty and its Effects on Nicaragua

by

Peyton Wilhite

English 2H Red 1

Mrs. Cairns

15 March 2017
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253 million children worldwide are engaged in child labor and more than half of those

children are not getting a proper education. With the overwhelming amount of poverty in

Nicaragua, it is difficult for children become educated as well as it is tough to avoid falling into

dangerous work early in their lives. Many tragic events and challenges over the last few decades

have contributed to the level of poverty in Nicaragua which proceeds to drive children out of

schools and into vigorous labor resulting in the loss of knowledge in youth and the destruction of

the economy and the education system.

There are many issues that have contributed to the way Nicaragua is today. In the past 40

years, Nicaragua has suffered from extreme inequality and has had to overcome a cruel

dictatorship, many natural disasters and an intense civil war. The central government has

marginalized the regions with massive populations of the indigenous people. The neglecting of

the indigenous people teemed with the other problems that have occurred and are occurring have

caused and are leading to Nicaragua's destruction as a functioning country. The lack of strong

leadership in government and the geographical location on which many natural disasters take

place have influenced the current challenges that the county of Nicaragua faces. Not only have

the several events affected Nicaraguas government, but they have changed the ways of life in

Nicaragua, especially in the lives of the children. After the civil war in Nicaragua, many jobs

were needed and since children worked hard with little to no pay, they were targeted and given

tremendous amounts of labor to complete. Children were the solution to the problem in the past

and are still being preyed upon and dragged into illegal work in the present day. They are the

easiest victims because they will work day and night for an insignificant amount of money.

Nicaragua quickly became one of the poorest, "most of the poverty in Nicaragua exists rurally
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but there are also very impoverished neighborhoods in the capital of Managua. In fact, 43

percent of the Nicaraguan population lives in rural areas and 68 percent of them are trying to

survive off just over $1 per day " (Kleisner 1). Nearly half of the population of Nicaragua is

struggling to survive everyday with the scarce food, supplies, and money the country has to offer.

It is hard to believe how one can work for hours on end, slaving away in vigorous and exhausting

work only to be paid a single dollar for their efforts. With minimal income being made in

families, parents are pressured to remove their children from school and place them into various

forms of labor, which could provide the money a family needs to stay alive. Over 68 percent of

Nicaragua is immersed in extreme poverty, which is almost three quarters of a country struggling

to make ends meet. Nicaragua is faced with a difficult challenge to make the poor and distressed

country thrive and succeed again by rising from the ashes of poverty and sustaining a functioning

government and education system. Nicaraguans are facing extreme conditions, with their

economy failing and their inability to rise from poverty. The overall state of the country is

plummeting at high rates due to the effects of poverty and how it has taken its toll on the

community through the educational and social systems and how life is lived daily. If changes are

not made in the government, Nicaraguan people will continue to live in poverty, fighting

everyday to survive.

Due to the lack of money and importance of education, children are residing to labor

instead of school. Children live different lives, "strolling through the coastal town of Bluefields

on a school day, the number of children out and about is striking. Bluefields is the biggest town

in the isolated autonomous provinces on Nicaraguas Atlantic coast the poorest region of a very

poor country where figures for school dropout and child labor remain worryingly high" (Lakhani
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1). Since parents are not making school a priority in their childrens lives, kids from all ages

roam the streets on a school day, when they should be in the classroom working to learn new

things and expand their horizons. The daily lives of children are unlike any of those seen in the

United States. It has been made normal and acceptable that children do not go to school and try

to get an education. Instead, parents push their children to start work early and begin making

money for the family. Children are exposed to work in fields, factories, farms, and worse forms

of labor dealing with human trafficking and prostitution. The current economical state of the

distressed country has caused panic in households and neighborhoods. Desperate parents take

advantage of the extra income that their children could make by performing certain labor-filled

tasks. It is very rare for a child to attend school, instead children work long days in fields,

partaking in vigorous labor where they are not paid or accounted for. Poverty dominates in

Nicaragua, "the links between leaving school and child labor are multifarious, but poverty

plainly drives both. Nicaragua a country of 6.1 million people. It has the largest youth bulge in

Latin America with more than 2 million school-aged children. Half of all children and

adolescents live in poverty" (Lakhani 3). Nicaraguas current rate of poverty has caused many

adolescents to leave school and turn to labor. Children are being forced out of schools and into

hard work due to the overwhelming amount of poverty in Nicaragua. With over 2 million school-

aged children, half of those are not attending school and getting the proper education they need

to rise above the harsh conditions in Nicaragua and create a substantial life for themselves. In

order to make a change, parents in Nicaragua must prioritize their children's lives by putting their

educational needs before their own. Poverty rules over Nicaragua, causing children to leave

school and turn to unfair and unjust duties. Since the amount of youth is the largest in Latin
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America, it is more common and normal for adolescents not to attend school. It is almost

impossible for one to create a future for themselves without receiving a sufficient education.

The work the children are conducting can not only deprive them from their education but

can be very dangerous and possibly life threatening. The International Labor Organization has

fought and campaigned against child labor for the past decades. More than 250 million children,

ages five to 14 are involved in child labor, half of them working full time. Many of these

children work in harsh and dangerous conditions as drug-traffickers, sex slaves, or in hazardous

mines, farms and factories. Children, who have little to no say on whether they perform these

tasks are put at risk everyday when entering jobs that are potentially life threatening. In a poverty

enriched continent and country, the amount of children in Nicaragua involved in labor

outnumbers the children attending school. If there are less children attending school, then there

are less children getting meaningful jobs. With less official jobs, there is no success in children

and no accomplishments can be achieved. It is extremely difficult to rise from the dust and create

a successful life without a sufficient education. This means that most children will continue

working and most likely never be able to stop due to the lack of income they are making and the

inability to sustain balance in their finances. Because of the lack of money and parents forcing

their children to attend school everyday, inexperienced young children result to potentially

harmful and dangerous labors. The most severe forms of child labor have been linked to poverty.

Poverty forces parents to choose to put their children in these kinds of work or poverty acts as a

catalyst to child trafficking. Research has stated that most cases of child labor are linked to and

cause by the amount of poverty surrounding a country. When there is no money for families to

survive off of, children must go to work in attempt to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves and
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their families. It is common for children to live on their own, forced to work and keep

themselves alive, because their parents have died of abandoned them. Children must fend for

themselves and produce income, which is why they drop out of school and begin work early in

their lives. Poverty is seen in large amounts where there is child labor involved. Seeing as though

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the world, it is not surprising that more than half of

the children are forced into working at a young age.

Some people believe that child labor is beneficial to a country and can bring about many

benefits and produce large quantities of money. Child labor supporters argue, "Child labors main

advantage is that compared with employing an adult it is remarkably cheap. This means that a

business expense can be driven down be expanding its child workforce. This, in turn increases a

business profits, which is the ultimate goal in any economical climate. Child labor can be a key

cog in a system which ultimately provides a nation with more money, which in turn grants it

greater political power (Williams 4). In a poor country like Nicaragua, the extra income and

work accomplished by children could result in economical profits. If children are completing

more tasks and producing products there are going to be increases in business profits. Even

though children are being deprived of a normal childhood, there are positive influences in

agriculture and the economy that could emerge from child labor. The work of children in

factories and farms could provide a nation with more money, which would greatly benefit

Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the world. Child labor can result from different

situations. Some families struggle to afford the cost of education for their children. Even when

schooling is free studies have shown that parents end up paying fees for activities, uniforms,

paper and pens, text books, transport, lunches and others which often result in the exclusion of
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poor children from school. Children are not always forced to leave school because of the

financial problems, but instead choose to leave or are instructed by their parents to begin work to

earn money for their family. For some families in Nicaragua, their flow of income and ways of

survival could depend on the labor their child is conducting and receiving money from.

Generating the extra revenue could greatly benefit a family. Many students are choosing to leave

school because there is no importance or significance put on receiving an education. Children

dont recognize the significance of getting properly educated and dont understand why they

should have to attend school if none of their friends or family members are. Child labor is an

extremely difficult issue, one that could be viewed in a positive or negative way. On one side,

child labor produces extra income for families that could be very necessary for survival. But on

the other side, young, inexperienced children working hazardous jobs could be very dangerous

and is causing loss and lack of education amongst children.

If changes are not made to the educational requirements of children in Nicaragua, the

overall population will continue to resort to child labor, which diminishes knowledge and puts

children at risk. The importance of attending school and getting an education must held to a

certain standard so that the future of Nicaragua is one that thrives with knowledge and one that is

not dragged down by the cruelty of child labor. The different events that have occurred in the

past years have shaped Nicaragua into the poverty enriched country it is today where children of

all ages are forced to abandon their education and resort to numerous forms of child labor which

could be severely life-threatening. Every year, nearly 2.7 million children spread across the

world are involved in illegal labor and die due to illness or injuries caused by the work they

perform.
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Lakhani." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 19 May 2015. Web. 23 Jan. 2017

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2017. Web. 23 Jan. 2017

"Youth Education & Development Issues in Nicaragua." Youth Education & Development Issues

in Nicaragua. Foundation for Sustainable Development, 13 May 2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2017

Nikolau, Lisa. "Nicaragua's economy is growing, but the poor may be falling behind."

Humanosphere. 07 Dec. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

"Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor - Nicaragua." United States Department of Labor.

Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports: Nicaragua, 30 Sept. 2016. Web. 23 Jan. 2017

Silva, Jos Adn. "Nicaragua." Global Information Network. 07 Sep. 2010 eLibrary. Web. 20 Feb.

2017.