Uzbekistan: The schoolchildren in the Tashkent Oblast continue hard work at the cotton fields
While the government of
Ferghana.Ru correspondents visited the cotton fields in the village of Djambul, located in the Tashkent Oblast and approximately 30 kilometers away from the capital city. During the last week the weather was bad. Slight fog and pouring rains did not motivate to get out. Nevertheless, in such conditions kids still have to work all day long.
We also met few girls that had cotton bags. We asked if the campaigned was not over yet. "No, there are still many fields left", girls informed. It turned out that they were 7th graders of local Kazakh school.
The kids at the Tashkent Oblast cotton fields. Photo © Ferghana.Ru
Few moments later we met another 40-year old woman. She informed that her son also goes to this school. "My son is not strong enough. Today, I did not let him go to the field. Yesterday, he was so tired that he felt asleep at the field", the mother said.
Looking around we saw no cotton fields. Therefore, we asked our interviewees to take us to the cotton areas. The woman instructed her son to take us to his "work". It was a long way there.
The 6th grader shared that every day he diligently attended the field work. Meantime, the mud was all around. Perhaps, it was raining here.
Approaching the field, we noticed eight 12-year old kids, picking the cotton. We started taking picture, but kids turned away, trying to avoid eye contact with us.
"Who are you?" asks one woman. This was the local school teacher, monitoring the work process. We honestly said we were journalists, coming to witness the child labor at the cotton fields. Her reaction was a bit surprising, but she also showed some understanding.
The kids at the Tashkent Oblast cotton fields. Photo © Ferghana.Ru
"Please, make sure not to point out the school number and do not show the faces of kids; otherwise, we will get in trouble", she advised. The teacher also preferred to personally look at each picture. It was the 6 graders of local school and it was crystal clear they had no fun working in such cold weather. Indeed, it was quite windy day.
The woman recommended going further ahead. "There are few other fields and you can see what is going on there". We politely rejected this idea since it was really muddy area and we had no will to continue our trip.
The teacher also shared that each school in the district has the cotton picking plan. "Every day we are required to gather 1.5 tons of cotton. We do our best but we are always behind the plan. The representatives of local school district administration promised to let us go at the end of October. It is already November and it is still not clear when we will return to schools", the woman complained. She ignored our question on why they try to avoid talking to journalists.
We thanked her and promised not to indicate the school number. "You are journalists! Do something to take children back to school!"