Pandemic driving children back to work, jeopardizing gains

Unused school materials lay on a shelf at a school in the community of Nuevo Yibeljoj, Chiapas state, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. Amid the new coronavirus pandemic, Mexican education officials recently said that enrollment for the new school year was down about 10%, but teachers warn that many students enrolled out of habit, but aren't participating. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Andres Gomez works inside an amber mine near the community of Jotolchen II in Chiapas state, Mexico, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. The 11-year-old said that before the new coronavirus pandemic hit, he attended school and then would spend a couple of hours mining after class, but since the school closed in March he is spending entire days mining. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Mauri, 11, left, and Cesar, 13, work at a clay brick factory in Tobati, Paraguay, Friday, Sept. 4, 2020. The boys have been working at the factory, run by Mauri's family, since before schools stopped operating in March amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Juan Gabriel Vazquez spins thread at his home while schools are closed amid the new coronavirus pandemic in the community of Nuevo Yibeljoj, Chiapas state, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. Since schools closed in March, the 11-year-old is one of 12 siblings who work in the coffee fields daily instead of just the weekends, while his father helps them with school work dropped off by teachers. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Children work with their relatives to load a kiln with clay bricks in Tobati, Paraguay, Friday, Sept. 4, 2020. In many of the small Tobati brick factories, locals begin to work at an early age to complement their family's income. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

A classroom sits empty at La Ilusion community school, closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, where girls play basketball outside in La Ilusion, Chiapas state, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2020. Amid the new coronavirus pandemic, Mexican education officials recently said that enrollment for the new school year was down about 10%, but some teachers warn that many students enrolled out of habit, but aren't participating. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Three of the Delgado children, from right, Yuri, 11, Wendi, 9, and Alison, 8, make a drawer in the family carpentry workshop in El Alto, Bolivia, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020. In a country where informal employment makes up 70% of the economy, the closure of schools because of the new coronavirus pandemic puts more kids like the Delgados to work. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Mariana Delgado does schoolwork at her family's carpentry workshop in El Alto, Bolivia, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020. “For the students the closure of the school year is a catastrophe. They’re not going to make up the time and I strive for them to be more than carpenters,” said the six-year-old's father, Hector Delgado. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Yuri Delgado sands wood in her family's carpentry workshop in El Alto, Bolivia, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020. The 11-year-old studies every morning before working in the family workshop, after the school year was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Cristian, center, turns clay bricks on their sides as they sun dry before they are put in a kiln at a small brick factory in Tobati, Paraguay, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. While the government prohibits minors under 14 from working at brick factories, the 11-year-old said he's been working here to compliment his family's income, even before COVID-19 pandemic closed schools. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Cristian turns clay bricks on their sides as they sun dry before they are put in a kiln at a small brick factory in Tobati, Paraguay, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. While the government prohibits minors under 14 from working at brick factories, the 11-year-old said he's been working here to compliment his family's income, even before COVID-19 pandemic closed schools. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Ronnie, 10, wearing a mask to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, poses for a portrait as he works alongside his father at a small brick factory in Tobati, Paraguay, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. Members of brickmaking families said school closures, scheduled to last at least until December, have led to many children and adolescents working longer hours, making it difficult to complete their virtual schoolwork. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Andres Gomez, 11, exits the amber mine where he works near the community of Jotolchen II in Chiapas state, Mexico, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. Since the start of the new coronavirus pandemic lockdown, Andres works in the mine hoping to find a piece of amber for which a middleman might pay him $1 to $5, but what he really wants is “To learn to read and write,” he said. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Hector Vasquez poses for a portrait inside his former classroom at the Nuevo Yibeljoj school, closed amid the new coronavirus pandemic in Chiapas state, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. Since schools closed in March, Vasquez is one of 12 siblings who work in the coffee fields daily instead of just the weekends, while his father helps them with school work dropped off by teachers. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Using a bed as a desk, Agustin Vazquez helps his sons Samuel and Hector with their schoolwork handed out by teachers amid the new coronavirus pandemic at their home in Nuevo Yibeljoj, Chiapas state, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. “I try, but it’s not the same as a teacher, because I’m a farmer,” said Agustín. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Juan Gabriel Vazquez, center, and his brothers walk to the corn fields to work in the community of Nuevo Yibeljoj in Chiapas state, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed a million lives and disrupted economies around the globe is also sending children like the Vazquez's back to work throughout the developing world, threatening gains made against child labor over the past 20 years. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Wearing masks to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the Delgado family poses for a photo in their carpentry workshop in El Alto, Bolivia, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. After the government canceled the school year, the five children between ages 6 and 14 work in the carpentry workshop with their parents. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

A worker puts clay in a hole around which a donkey moves the wheel that kneads the mixture at a family brick factory in Tobati, Paraguay, Friday, Sept. 4, 2020. Members of brickmaking families said school closures, scheduled to last at least until December, have led to many children and adolescents working longer hours. And these new schedules have made it difficult to complete their virtual schoolwork. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Teddy Bears covered in sawdust sit nex to tools at a family-run carpentry workshop in El Alto, Bolivia, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. In Bolivia, the government decided to cancel the school year in August because it said there was no way to provide an equitable education to the country's nearly 3 million students. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Alejandro, 9, catches bricks to pass over to a man who puts them in the kiln at a brick factory run by his uncles in Tobati, Paraguay, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. Members of brickmaking families said school closures due to COVID-19, scheduled to last at least until December, have led to many children and adolescents working longer hours, making it difficult to complete their virtual schoolwork. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)