CAIRO: Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud ordered the interrogation of 17 parents from the governorate of Suez for forcing their children to drop out of school and start working. Mahmoud's decision came after the governor of Suez filed a report detailing a social and civil research that found that 17 respondents refused to let their children go back to school and are making them work, according to a press release by the Prosecutor General's office on Tuesday. The parents will be interrogated and the necessary legal procedures will be taken against them for violating the Egyptian constitution, according to the Prosecutor General's statement. Article 18 of the Egyptian constitution states, "Education is a right guaranteed by the state. It is obligatory in the primary stage [elementary school] and the state shall work to extend obligation to other stages. In addition, the Child Law of year 1996 bans labor for children under 14. It is common among parents of lower-income families in Egypt to force their children to work so they can contribute to the household's income. Earlier this month, a study on street children by the Ministry of Family and Population found that 79 percent of street children have an income to financially support themselves and 35 percent of the children financially help their families. The Prosecutor General's statement said that Mahmoud contacted the Ministry of Family and Population so that the committee of child protection would take the necessary measures to help those children. "Once we receive the report, our officers in the governorate will handle it and contact all the necessary official bodies until the issue is completely solved and the children go back to school and receive their constitutional right to be educated, explained Magda Barsoum, from the committee on child protection at the ministry. Television presenter, Tamer Amin, commented on the case on "Al-Beit Betak show saying, "It's the state's duty to provide the citizen with school and free education. On the other hand, it's the citizen's duty to attend those schools and receive education. "Education produces engineers, teachers and craftsmen in society while illiteracy produces street children, he said.
