Rise in children quitting school to drive tuktuks скачать в хорошем качестве

Rise in children quitting school to drive tuktuks

(28 Jun 2017) LEADIN: Thousands of Egyptian children are working as tuktuk drivers instead of going to school. The three-wheeled vehicles provide an income for their impoverished families - but at the expense of receiving a basic education. STORYLINE: Over the last decade the streets of Egypt have slowly filled with three-wheeled, motorised tuktuks or auto rickshaws. A cheap and easy way to get around, they are particularly favoured by young people. But now more and more children are dropping out of school to make money from taking passengers in the vehicles. Ten year-old Hossam Mahmoud is one of them: "I left school a long time ago and worked as a mechanic. The owner of the garage harassed me so I decided to quit the job," he says. "Then I found some of my friends driving tuktuks. And I found that my father's financial conditions were bad. He bought me a tuktuk and I work on it every day as you can see." Tuktuk owners are overwhelmingly young men with little money and no other job. And with little training in how to drive, they are often accused of showing disregard for pedestrians and larger vehicles. Fifteen year-old tuktuk driver Sherif Abdel Aziz says even his passengers sometimes tell him he shouldn't have quit school for this job: "I always reply that I left school against my own will. They always advise me to search for a better and respectable job. I don't know how to reply but my only excuse is that this job is easier and more profitable," he says. Tuktuks are usual rented out to children by their owners for 50 Egyptian Pounds (2.8 US Dollars) per shift. The driver usually makes between 80 to 100 Egyptian Pounds (5.6 US Dollars) a day. Some drive tuktuks during their summer holidays to save money for private education lessons, like 15 year-old Sherif Abdel Aziz. The government does not have a licensing system for the vehicles - but that makes it more difficult to control the problems they cause. Passengers and local residents are now demanding new traffic laws for tuktuks, including restricting the areas they are allowed to drive. "The government should license these tricycles with a number plate in order to make it easier to locate the tuktuk that goes against the law," says local resident Hamed Abdel Latif. He also thinks the government should clamp down on child drivers by introducing a minimum age limit of 18. "And if the driver is under age, the tuktuk should be confiscated," he says. According to a recent study by the Centre of Social and Criminal Research, with help from UNICEF, the number of children quitting education has reached 25,000. "Among this percentage are a huge number of children working in jobs that do not comply with their ages. Most of these children work on tuktuks," says Kamal Elsamman, Professor of Sociology at the Centre of Social and Criminal Research. Many in Egypt see learning a craft or a trade as outweighing the benefits of traditional education. That's why working on tuktuks is seen as a tempting way to make money. But it would appear there are many costs involved for the drivers, passengers and citizens in general. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...