Child Labour snatches the childhood and dignity of children. It simply refers to a crime where children have to work at very early ages.
Various reasons drive children to work with or without consent. No Doubt, child labour is a heinous crime that deprives children of their childhood and hinders their physical and mental development.
But a lot of employers employ children for the sake of cheap labour. According to law, employing a child in any kind of work is a criminal offence
Definition [Inroduction]
Child labour is a term that everyone is well aware of. It simply refers to a crime where children have to work at very early ages.
It snatches the childhood and dignity of children. It is something like burdening them with huge responsibilities of which they are not capable enough.
It is a cause of underdevelopment of their physical and mental health. Poor or economically weak families in India push their children to work for money instead of educating them.
It is a shameful practice that is needed to be thrown out of the country so that children can retrieve their real rights.
Causes of child labour
Many major causes promote this evil practice. Poverty is the biggest reason that drives it to a high level.
Poor Families have no choice but to put their children into this hell because of fewer earnings to meet the basic needs of the family.
One of the other primary causes is The lure of cheap labour. As they are cheap to hire than a regular adult worker, industries prefer child labours.
Unaffordable education is another reason for it. As economically weak families can not afford to send their children to school, they force them to earn money.
Moreover, The poor mentality of families that education has no value at all made them engage their children in work.
Effects on Children
The first and foremost effect of child labour is children lose their childhood and basic rights to education.
They are deprived of enjoying their innocence and naughtiness. At an age when they are supposed to play with toys, they have to play with dangerous tasks.
Children involved in child labour have to face several challenges during work time. They bear the load beyond their capabilities and so they get fractures and physical damage. In construction industries, they come across cuts, burns and wounds.
Moreover, they are beaten and abused for minor mistakes. Even they are made to consume narcotics to get more work done. Apart from it, Children become victims of sexual abuse. especially sexual exploitation of girls by adults, rape etc.
Elimination of child labour
If we wish to remove child labour, we require to develop some very practical solutions which will defend our children.
It will also improve the future of any country dealing with these social problems. To start with, we must build several organisations that undividedly work to stop child labour.
Besides, we need to keep the parents in the loop to educate them on the value of education. If we offer education free and make people aware, we will be capable to educate more children. Moreover, making people informed of the harmful results of child labour is a need.
additionally, family control measures should also be taken. This will diminish the family’s weight so when you have lesser mouths to feed, the only parents will be suitable to work for them, rather than the children.
Challenges in Controlling Child Labour
Weak Laws: While the laws to diminish child labour have been executed, they are pretty dim. For instance, most of the laws are incapable to deliver strict guidelines for the unorganized sectors.
Lack of Awareness: Awareness in rural and urban areas is required to be spread out. this will help a lot to fight the curse of child labour.
Child Trafficking: This is another challenge in to fight against child labour. Children are sent far from their habitat that is unknown to them. They have the only choice but to step into this hell.
Final words (Conclusion)
In conclusion, Child labour is a curse for our children that is needed to trash out of society as soon as possible. It is not only damaging the future of young ones but also our nation because future generations determine the development of a country. We all have to take measures against this terrible practice so that our adolescent generation can get their true rights.
Stats and Facts about Child Labour
- The global surveys show that 152 million children – 64 million girls and 88 million boys are in child labour globally, accounting for about one in ten of all children worldwide.
- 70% of children in child labour work in the agricultural sector and 69% perform unpaid work within their families.
- According to the census 2011, there were 255 million economically active children in the age group of 5-14 years.
- 1 out of 11 children in India works to earn a living for their family.
- The top 5 States in child labour are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh constitute nearly 55% of the total working children in India.
- Nearly half of the child labour (72.1 million) is to be located in Africa. 62.1 million in Asia and the Pacific. 10.7 million in America. 1.2 million in the Arab States and 5.5 million in Europe and Central Asia.