Child Labour Day:

May 03/2014: International Labour Day that has just passed by was also an occasion for many to shed tears -- some genuine and more crocodile -- over the way children are denied education and made to work at a young age.

Child labour is a phenomenon that is common with the developing or under-developed world where economic pressure compels families, willingly or otherwise, to ask their kids to work. This is in contrast to the developed nations that have both the mechanisms and the ways and means to make sure children do schooling and no work. In India, laws are in place to ban child labour, but they are observed more in their breach.

Children toiling in factories, agricultural fields, as carpet weavers, urban establishments and working as domestic servants are a common and pitiable sight. India is recorded to have over six million child labourers, but their actual number could be much higher. They can be seen at every turn. The Right to Education Act, enacted in 2010, claims to have helped bring down the number of children engaged as labourers. But, there now are children who do both: study and work. Study as a ‘right’ and work to feed their families. Some of the reasons could be that they either do not have a father to take care or have their fathers as alcoholics or some may simply be orphans. Sometimes, though it sounds crass, one may prefer a working and studying child living with parents rather than being sold as an infant as a camel rider in some weird Arab country.

Activists who are in the forefront of campaigns against Child Labour dutifully raise the issue on occasions like International Labour Day, as they did this year too. For most of them, this is celebration time: storm the streets with banners, pose for TV cameras, shout slogans and then retreat to the comfort of their homes for late lunch with beer. Agencies that do a selfless service with a great sense of commitment do exist, like those who run proper orphanages and free residential education centres for children from poor backgrounds. But, it is pertinent to note they do not figure in the television frenzy on such occasions as they are not the rule but aberrations. Many of the agencies involved in campaigns also have the pleasure of getting grants and donations from both national and international agencies, a part of which they might be spending for these banners, and another part for their frequent travels and conferences at Geneva and Amsterdam.  The cause as such remains on the backburner.

It is alright for the developing world to root out the problem of child labour and herd all the boys and girls to a rigorous ten-year schooling, but whether that alone helps is a moot point. In India, for instance, most poor families have difficulty making both ends meet. Governments cannot take the responsibility of providing social security to one and all in a nation of one billion plus. By contrast, the developed world has less of numbers and more of wealth. What they do cannot be replicated in countries like India. So also with the issue of child labour as well. Therefore, when we hear of developed nations banning this or that product being imported because child labour was involved at some stage, it could prove disturbing. All those appropriate noises may be counter productive too.

Ideally, every child should go through the 10-year schooling. Yet, in practice, and for a poor family, this is mostly a waste of its manpower. If all the children in this country are educated, where do they find employment; and, if the idea is that a segment of them are needed for agriculture labour, do such workers need a 10-year-schooling, is worth a thought. Fact is, every one needs education. Skill development as is touted in India is a well thought out mechanism to produce a larger class of servants for the rich and not so famous. With recurring reformations in the education sector, children are given cent per cent pass up to Class 10, and then they are put through a board examination where most of them fail. With no proper teachers, haphazard examinations and no assessment up until the last class, most children end up in a situation where they cannot read even their own hand writing. This is the reality of India’s public education system. Education as a ritual is both a luxury and a waste of time. 

A simple solution to this complex problem is extremely difficult to come by. A huge and unwieldy population, none having a desire to excel in anything, monumental economic disparities and to top it, a complete lack of discipline makes India a dissatisfied and grabby nation that portends ill for the future of all citizens.