Ismira Lutfia – Indonesia is aiming to reduce the number of child workers by 10,000 this year, an official said on Tuesday.

Muji Handaya, the director general for manpower guidance and supervision at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, said that 10,730 child workers from 21 provinces and 84 districts and municipalities were expected to participate in a month-long program designed to get them back into to school.

"This program is aimed at reducing the number of child workers from very poor households, by pulling them off of their work and providing them with outreach programs in temporary safe houses for about a month and then returning them to the education world," Muji said.

Muji said last year the ministry removed 3,360 child workers from their workplaces and directed 90 percent of them to accessible education. Between 2008 and 2011, the program assisted 11,213 children in returning to school, he said.

A 2010 survey on national child labor reported that of the four million children who are working, 1.7 million are in work that harms their well-being, safety and capacity to benefit from normal schooling.

Lawmaker Okky Asokawati, said that one of the worst jobs for child workers is as a domestic helper because the conditions are not open to scrutiny.

Okky, who is a member of House of Representatives Commission IX, which oversees labor issues, said the International Labor Organization specifically mentions household helpers as one of the worst employment situations for children.

Data from the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT) showed that in 2009, the number of minors working as household helpers in the country numbered at least 202,235 or 12 percent of the total number of child workers.

Muji said that the National Education Ministry is providing scholarships to help child workers return to school. Almost five million scholarships are available at the elementary and junior high levels and over 700,000 are available to vocational and senior high school students.

There are also 30,000 for high school graduates seeking for university entry.