Fighting child labour

A recent International Labour Organisation (ILO)-generated report paints a grim picture of child labour in South Asia, particularly in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. The total number of children engaged in such labour has been estimated at 17 million and these four countries together are home to 16.2 million of them. Bangladesh ranks second with 5.0 millions to India's 5.8 millions. This is simply dreadful because percentage-wise, India's share is not as frightening as that of Bangladesh. Compared to Bangladesh, even Pakistan with 3.4 millions and Nepal with 2.0 millions fare much better on the number count and certainly percentage-wise. This is an indication of multifarious deprivation that families and their young members in all such countries suffer. But Bangladesh's is the worst type of this deprivation. And this is despite the ILO report's conclusion that Nepalese children face the highest risk of being sucked into child labour.
No matter how tall the claims are made about reduction of poverty in this part of the world, the fact is at the lower rung of society, in terms of development indicators, much of an inroad has not been made into endemic poverty. Responsible for this is the absence of education. Millions of children in the South Asian countries, excepting perhaps Sri Lanka, are missing from education. The issue of enrolment is fraught with number jugglery. What matters is functional literacy and then effective education. Under the current system of education where it has been reduced into a commercial commodity, only children of the affluent families are expected to acquire the kind of education that helps them comfortably settle in life. In rare cases, a handful of children from the very poor families can at times break the poverty cycle to lead a decent life. This was not the case in the past. Today's older generation has an overwhelmingly high percentage of high achievers from poor families. Evidently, addressing drop-outs at the primary level of schooling alone will be of no help; there is a need for radically reforming the education system. Opportunities for education have to be rational and universal.
Social stratification will soon assume a monstrous proportion if the present system of allowing the rich and influential to eat the cream and also have the icing on the cake continues. No society has ever prospered by condemning a substantial portion of its population to a life of dungeon. Rising crimes are an immediate outcome but in the long run something worse can happen when social discrimination and deprivation reach a point of intolerance. The staggering number of 24 million such under-14 children in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan points to the danger posed by them to social equilibrium. No wonder, the ILO has suggested incorporation of child labour into social welfare and protection programmes. This involves increased public spending on basic education and further research on the relationship between work and school. Improved schooling may be an answer but efficiently dealing with the various problems facing a poor family compelled to send young ones to work matters too.