In Senegal, thousands of children are exploited by their teachers in the name of Koranic education. Called talibes, the Arabic word for students, some 50,000 boys are forced into child labor, according to Human Rights Watch. Photographer Sebastian Gil Miranda spent two months last year traveling around the country to document the conditions of these youths. “Families do not have money to pay for the religious education of their children,” Miranda said, “so for them it is logical that the child himself be the one to finance their own education.” Housed in deplorable conditions in daaras, or schools, teachers demand talibes deliver daily begging quotas or be beaten, starved, or left out in the street.
Schooled Into Slavery
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Girls sit at their desks in conventional Koranic school classroom in Saly, Senegal. Students, who often come from disadvantaged backgrounds, cover their education, room, and board by begging. #
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A boy poses for a portrait in his room on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal. If talibes do not earn enough money from begging, their instructors, or marabouts, have been known to deny them food or force them to sleep on the street. #
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Boys participate in class at an NGO-supervised Daara in Dakar. Groups like Boolo En Faveur Des Enfants are working to change the conditions of the schools and the treatment of the children. #
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