Abolishing child labour

The employment of children below the age of 14 in homes and the hospitality sector must be stopped. Employment of children, particularly girls, in homes for cleaning, cooking, and caring for infants has hitherto been common in cities and among the affluent. Children in rural areas are still seen as more hands for help than mouths to feed. Industrial managers and petty businesses see them as cheap labour. Of course, the employment of children in hazardous jobs, hotels, roadside eateries, and as domestic help is exploitative. But what is the way out? Adequate provision should be made in the budget for the education of these children. It is also necessary to create steady employment for parents to prevent them from sending their children to work. Imagine the plight of the children thrown out of jobs. They will be on the streets and will struggle to get a square meal a day. It is crippling poverty that forces parents to send their little ones to work. Poverty ensures that child labour stays. Educational opportunities and anti-child labour laws need to go together if child labour is to be abolished. Besides enforcing the ban, the government should ensure that the children liberated from the shackles of labour are rehabilitated. The ban will be meaningful only if the Right to Education Bill is passed so that free and compulsory primary education for children between 6 and 14 years becomes a fundamental right. Many things are easier said than done. Abolition of child labour is one of them. Acute poverty forces families to send their children to work. Banning child labour completely will not serve any purpose. The government should look at including vocations such as carpentry and weaving in the curriculum so that children can earn while they study. Eradication of child labour will make sense only when it is accompanied by substantive measures to provide education and the basic necessities of life. In this context, it is unfortunate that even after almost 40 years of independence, children do not have the fundamental right to education. Gopal Sengupta Canada E-mail: gopalsengupta@aol.com