Child Labour

By Pooja Johry (St. Stephen's College)

Childhood is a dream; innocence and joy, an age to blossom and should be free from all responsibilities and shackles of the society. The brilliance of childhood gets tarnished when those little shoulders are made to carry the burden of earning their living.

Child labour generally refers to work for children that harms them or exploits them, physically, mentally, and morally or by restricting them from access to basic education. However, work done by children may not always be unsuitable and dangerous for them. Work which enhances their educational skills or helps them earn without hindering with attainment of basic education, like job that involves distribution of newspapers, is not at all a dangerous job but in fact, beneficial for them. As UNICEF’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report puts it, "Children’s work needs to be seen as happening along a continuum, with destructive or exploitative work at one end and beneficial work - promoting or enhancing children’s development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest - at the other. And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child’s development."

 

The International Labour Organization estimates that 215 million children ages 5-17 are engaged in child labour. An estimated 12 percent of children in India ages 5-14 are engaged in child labour activities. Most of them work under unhygienic and unsafe conditions. They are forced to work over 18 hours a day in the confines of a factory. Many children work daily in carpet making factories, glass blowing units and make fireworks with bare little hands, making them prone to disastrous hazards. The degree of child labour is not the same everywhere. In some areas it takes a much worse form where children trafficked in one form of labour may be sold into another one. Many girls recruited for various other works are often sold to sex industry forcefully and are not allowed to move out of it.

Poverty is the main reason responsible for child labour in various countries. Due to acute poverty in various regions, families are deprived of basic health care and they do not have enough money to fulfil their basic consumption requirements, let alone supporting the basic education system for their children. As a result, parents force their children to work so that they could have an additional source of income. Children under their parental pressure take up jobs which are mostly under the unorganized sector of the society where they work with no job security and in unhygienic conditions.

Child labour activities are more prevalent in developing countries like India where around 90% of the population works under the unorganized sector. Most of the production in the country demands unskilled labour in huge amounts.  According to the given statistics, around 350-400 million people in India are below poverty line which means that a large number of families are in need of jobs. Since the poor people do not have enough money to educate their children, children end up taking marginal jobs and giving up education. Thus we see that apart from lack of importance given by parents to their child’s education and considering him an extra earning hand, affordability of education is also a problem resulting in child labour.

The corruption levels in our country are very high due to which many school authorities demand huge amount of money as the admission fees. This accentuates affordability constraints. Another factor influencing low literacy rates and high child labour is the accessibility.  There are not many institutions especially in rural areas which provide children with basic educational facilities. Lack of a school in the vicinity, unsafe conditions, lack of teachers and other facilities in schools reduces a family’s incentive to educate their children.

Child labour can be curbed if steps are taken by the government in the right direction. If most of the families can be raised above the poverty line, it can solve a major part of the problem. If families are able to meet their basic consumption needs then they would not wish to send their children to work instead of sending them to school. Government spends a significant amount on education and for the development of the economy. Hence we should ensure effective implementation of government schemes and laws and this can be achieved by opening schools in various regions and employing good teachers who can educate their students properly. Regular inspection, appointment of responsible and credible officials and creating awareness about benefits of education can ensure effective implementation. Families sending their children to school should be incentivised. This will prompt more families to send their children to school and avail of the benefits. Also, families should be educated about the family planning schemes and healthcare facilities so that they are not burdened by large number of children and they can manage proper schooling and health facilities for them.

Child labour is one of the most serious and dangerous issues in front of the government which needs to be eradicated from its very roots. Children are the future of our country and they need to be safeguarded from any kind of harassment. Serious steps need to be taken to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her own rights and is supported with basic educational and health facilities. It is every child’s right to study and enjoy their childhood to the fullest. At this tender age we need to nurture them with care and should mould them into beautiful human beings. We should set them free from all the chains of baseless social norms so that they can feel the beauty of the nature around them rather than confining their childhood to dark and dingy factories.