ABSTRACT
The majority of child labor populations are primarily found in developing countries. In this chapter, the author explores the dilemmas and tensions that shape the lives of Egyptian child laborers and their families around questions of education and citizenship. Through this ethnographic study, the author explores how these children and their families negotiate their realities of living in poverty and their aspirations for education as a tool for social mobility. The study is conducted in a school established by an Egyptian non-governmental organization in Ezbet Khairallah—one of Cairo’s largest informal settlements—which aims to help child laborers find a healthy balance between their education and economic survival. The author explores several questions, including, How do Egyptian working children perceive themselves in the liminal space of work and education? How do they balance between their identity as students and their identity as workers? And, how do they make the transition or the “rite of passage” from one phase to the other?
