|
|
|
|
Articles: Business | World Economy & Child labour
- Mr. T.R.Sridhar Prasad. Uppalapati.
| |
More than ever today, children need a good quality education and training if they are to acquire the skills necessary to succeed in the labour market. However, in many countries the schools which are accessible to the poor families are under-resourced and inadequate. Poor facilities, over-sized classes, and lack of trained teachers lead to low standards of education.
In the Millennium Development Goals the United Nations and the broader international community set targets of ensuring that by 2015 all boys and girls complete a full course of primary education and that there is gender parity in education.
These targets cannot be met unless the factors that generate child labour and prevent poor families from sending children to school are addressed. Among the most important steps required are:
Provision of free and compulsory education;
tackling barriers to girls education;
ensuring that children have access to a school and a safe and quality learning environment;
providing catch up education opportunities for children and youth who have so far missed out on formal schooling;
tackling the worldwide shortage of teachers and ensuring a properly trained and professional teaching force;
enforcing laws on child labour and education in line with international standards;
tackling poverty, and creating decent work for adults;
raising public awareness to tackle child labour.
Promoting human rights and development.
The right to education occupies a central place in human rights and is essential for the exercise of other human rights and development. It provides a means through which economically and socially excluded children and youth can lift themselves out of poverty. When children who have had the benefits of education grow up, they are more likely to choose to send their own children to school.
Investing in education is also a sound economic decision. A recent ILO study found that the elimination of child labour and its replacement by universal education would yield major economic benefits in addition to the social benefits. Globally benefits exceed costs by a ratio of more than 6 to 1.
According to the ILO's latest estimates (2006), the number of child labourers fell by 11 percent globally over the past four years and the number of children in hazardous work has decreased by 26 percent. While this is encouraging, there are still 218 million child labourers worldwide, 126 million of which are engaged in hazardous work.
Throughout the developing world, and especially in Asia, many millions of little boys and girls are working .They are busy from morning till late at night, often seven days a week, making clothes, shoes, socks, locks, dolls, toys, soccer balls, and countless other products.
The Fate of Many: Slavery or Near-Slavery:
The physical and psychological cruelties inflicted on them are unspeakable. In India nearly 300,000 youngsters under 13 work in bondage, or under other circumstances that approximate slavery, as they weave luxurious carpets for living rooms in the United States and Europe.
| Be first to comment on this Article!
| |
|
|
|
 |
| Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
| Advertisements |
|
.gif)
