CAIRO: The agriculture sector employees 27.4 percent of working children in Upper Egypt governorates compared to 26.4 percent in the country’s Delta governorates, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) said in a report Tuesday.
According to the report, the female illiteracy percentage in the Delta governorate of Sharqia reaches 80 percent compared to 49 percent among males.
Nine per cent of Egyptian children aged from five to 17 are involved in child labor, CAPMAS said in report issued in July 2011.
Three to 15 percent of children working agree that poverty is the reason behind the problem and working children usually come from low-income families, according to UNICEF.
According to Egypt’s child labor law, children aged 12-14 are only allowed to work seasonally if the job does not undermine their health.
The United Nations World Food Program aims to reach education systems that encourage education and fight against child labor. The $77 million project targets 100,000 children from 651 schools in the most deprived areas of Egypt, Reuters reported.