Teenagers in Rio de Janeiro: education, work and health risks

Original Article

Vol. 4 nº 3 - Jul/Sep - 2007
Pages:33-
36

Teenagers in Rio de Janeiro: education, work and health risks

Authors:

Abstract

Abstract:
Adolescence is generally treated in a homogeneous manner by society. However, adolescents’ vulnerability to risks is strongly influenced by their social conditions. The role played by schools is essential in introducing young people to culture and citizenship and preparing them for insertion into the job market. Data from the 2005 National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) show increasing rates of school attendance, but high levels of grade/age gap, which leads to a disadvantage in insertion into the job market. Adolescents from the poorest segments of the population enter the job market much earlier than those from other social segments and have greater difficulty in reconciling study and work. According to the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (DIEESE), most young people from poorer families only work and do not study, have only incomplete elementary education and receive average incomes below the minimum wage. The conditions and environment in which the work is carried out can influence the health of adolescents. One of the great challenges of Brazilian society, in relation to adolescents and young people, is to enable them to have socially integrated life projects in the different social contexts in which they are inserted.

Adolescence; educational status; socioeconomic factors

Abstract:
Adolescence is generally seen by society in a homogeneous way, although the vulnerability of teenagers to risks is strongly influenced by their social conditions. The role played by school is fundamental to introduce youths into culture and citizenship and to prepare them for the insertion into labor market. PNAD data from 2005 shows growth in the taxes of school attendance, but also high levels of discrepancy between age and grade, which leads to disadvantages for the insertion into labor market. Adolescents from lower social classes are inserted into the labor market much earlier than those from other segments of society and have greater difficulty in harmonizing study and work. According to DIEESE, most youths that come from poor families only work and do not study, possess only incomplete elementary education, and have average incomes that are lower than the minimum wage. The conditions and the environment in which this work occurs may influence the adolescent’s health. One of the great challenges faced by Brazilian society regarding teenagers and young people is to enable them to have life projects that are integrated to society, no matter the social and cultural context they come from.

INTRODUCTION The living conditions of adolescents and young people have increasingly occupied a place on the public policy agenda. This population group, which is generally treated as a homogeneous group, presents great diversity due to variables such as region, education, income level and gender. Several diagnoses and studies show that this population is the most vulnerable to the effects of poverty, malnutrition, violence, etc. It is known that there is a relationship between adolescence and youth and various types of risks due to their behavior in the face of new needs and realities. The habits and behaviors acquired at this stage of life are crucial, since they can have consequences that often define the possibilities of insertion into adult life. Much of the premature mortality in adult life is the result of behaviors initiated in adolescence. However, among the factors that affect the extent of young people’s exposure to risks, their living conditions stand out. The possibilities and risks to which less privileged social groups are exposed are not determined solely by individual behaviors and/or characteristics of demographic groups, but by the social environment in which they live. Thus, the vulnerability inherent to age, in contexts of social exclusion, exposes young people to adverse situations, transgressions, infractions and crimes of which they are victims or perpetrators, unwanted pregnancies, etc. Adolescence is related to a new family and social insertion, when the individual moves from the role of son or daughter to that of father or mother. However, the formation of a new family, including motherhood and fatherhood, when it occurs prematurely, can imply many difficulties in the formation of the adolescents themselves, in family stability and in the education of new children, and reproduce or amplify economic and social difficulties that impede the sociocultural progress of these segments of the population. EDUCATION: GREATER ACCESS IS NOT A GUARANTEE OF QUALITY The role played by schools is fundamental in introducing young people to culture and citizenship, helping them to build autonomy by preparing them for the demands of the job market, whose production processes demand increasingly qualified labor. The 2005 National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) indicates that school attendance is practically universal in the country for those aged 7 to 14, corresponding to elementary school. When analyzing access to the education system, however, the gross and net school attendance rates provide a more realistic view of the situation. The first represents the proportion of people in a given age group who attend school; the second considers grade/age adequacy, that is, whether people in a given age group are attending the grade recommended for their age, which makes the net rate an important indicator of school flow and quality of education. Data from the 2005 PNAD show that the gross attendance rate for those aged 7 to 14 was 98.1% in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region (RMRJ) and 97.3% in Brazil as a whole. In the case of adolescents aged 15 to 17, the gross attendance rate is lower, but has been increasing since 1995 and reached 88.5% in the RMRJ and 81.7% in Brazil in 2005. Inequality of opportunity in access to school is already evident in this age group, based on per capita family income . However, universal access does not guarantee continued education or completion. The high age gap between grades in the country indicates that a significant number of those who complete elementary school do so at an age older than that considered appropriate, but do not always enter high school. The proportion of elementary school students who are up to two years older than the recommended age for each grade is increasing progressively. In the case of students who attended the 6th grade in 2005 in the RMRJ, 37% were 14 years old or older; Of those in the 7th grade, 36% were 15 or older; and of those in the 8th grade, 39% were 16 or older. On average in Brazil, these percentages were 33%, 31% and 36%, respectively. Additionally, as age increases, the percentage of young people who only study decreases, while the percentage of those who study and work or only work increases. In the 10 to 15 age group, the percentage of those who only study is 85.5%; in the 16 to 17 age group, 54.4%; and in the 18 to 19 age group, 27.6%. These percentages refer to the Brazilian average, with some regional discrepancies, especially for the older age groups. In the RMRJ the situation is better, and in the 18 to 19 age group, 42.2% of young people only study. These data probably reflect a set of variables, among which the following stand out: lack of school near home; lack of vacancies or transportation; lack of motivation for school due to its precariousness and the teaching provided; need to help with household chores; lack of money for school expenses; desire or need to earn an income, etc. WORK: NEED AND SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE Adolescents from the poorest segments of the population enter the job market much earlier than those from other social segments. The influence of family income on the occupational profile of young people and on the desirable balance between school and professional training and insertion in the job market is clear. Low-income young people have greater difficulty in reconciling study and work. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), child labor occurs when a child or adolescent is prevented from going to school due to scheduling conflicts, fails a grade due to excessive absences, or their academic performance is reduced to the point of jeopardizing their ability to pass the course. This is without mentioning fatigue, illness, the possibility of workplace accidents, loss of opportunities for socialization and leisure, etc. Since 1992, the ILO has been implementing the International Program for the Eradication of Child Labor (PETI) in twenty countries, including Brazil, where the program was created in 1996. Its main goal is to gradually eliminate work before the minimum age permitted by law, which is 16 years old in Brazil. One of the obstacles to the program is the way in which many poor families and Brazilian society view early labor. Child and adolescent labor is part of a symbolic and cultural framework accepted in our society, which considers it natural for poor children to work: to help their families or even to support themselves; because “it is better for children to work than to be idle on the streets”; and because “work educates”. In this way, child labor is seen as a solution and not as a problem. According to the Ministry of Health (MS), early labor is considered to be activities carried out by people under 18 years of age that contribute to the production of goods or services, including paid activities, family work and exclusive domestic tasks carried out in the home without attending school. Child labor is considered to be all work done by children under 13 years of age and adolescents aged 14 and 15, with the exception of those who are in the condition of apprentices, in addition to dangerous work by adolescents aged 16 and 17. The PNAD shows that in 2005 there were 5.45 million children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 17 working in Brazil, 54% of whom were under the age of 16. In the RMRJ, this total was 96.7 thousand: 3% were between the ages of 5 and 9; 31% were between the ages of 10 and 14; and 66% were between the ages of 15 and 17. In the metropolitan areas, the predominant activities are working in restaurants, personal and domestic services, parcel delivery, production assistants in light and artisanal industries, office assistants, construction workers, street vendors, and work in vehicle repair shops, etc. According to the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (DIEESE), employed young people are generally male, have completed high school, have difficulty balancing work and study, usually work in the service sector, and work long hours that exceed 39 hours per week in the metropolitan regions studied. Income varies, ranging from one to two minimum wages. However, the DIEESE text highlights that the employment reality of young people from poorer families falls short of this profile, since most only work and do not study, have only incomplete elementary education, and receive average incomes below one minimum wage. EARLY WORK: IMPACTS ON HEALTH Following the ILO initiative, research conducted to assess the impact of early work on the health, growth, socialization, education, and emotional/cognitive development of children and adolescents was published. Studies show that children and adolescents respond differently than adults to certain exposures. Furthermore, the fact that machines, tools, furniture and personal protective equipment were not designed for use by children and adolescents can also place child and adolescent workers at increased risk of developing work-related problems, compared to adults. The vulnerability factors in the work of children and adolescents are:

physical agents (noise, thermal discomfort, etc.);

biological agents (bacteria, viruses, fungi, venomous animals, etc.);

chemical agents (pesticides, dust, solvents, paints, etc.);

physiological agents (physical and mental overload);

elements of work organization (working hours, work methods and rhythms, power relations, etc.).

CONCLUSION Adolescence brings with it the idea of individuals defining and transforming themselves to establish their life process, which will give them the potential for emancipation, autonomy and social responsibility. The great challenge for adolescents and young people is to provide them with the conditions to build a life project that is socially integrated, involving some dimensions: exercising autonomy and insertion in the job market; reducing risk behaviors and exposure to violence; possibility of family integration and viability of political and social participation. If society has nothing to offer young people, they will end up with only the ethics of the immediate, of having everything according to their desire, in the shortest possible time.

References

1. DIEESE. Youth occupation in metropolitan job markets. Studies and Research. 2006;3(24). 2. IBGE. Synthesis of social indicators. 2006. 3. Ministry of Health. Policy of the Ministry of Health for the eradication of child labor (preliminary document). Brasília: Secretariat of Health Care. 2003. 4. Nascimento EP. Youth: new target of social exclusion. In: Bursztyn M (org.). In the middle of the street: nomads, excluded and turnarounders. Rio de Janeiro: Garamond. 2000. 5. Barker SL. Conceptual aspects of child and adolescent labor. I Symposium on Child Labor and Health. Bahia. 2007. 1. Pediatrician; president of the Adolescence Committee of the Pediatric Society of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Soperj); manager of the Adolescent Health Program of the Municipal Health Department/RJ. 2. Economist at the State Data Analysis System Foundation (Seade).