Child Labour
CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR
Poverty
Parental illiteracy
Tradition of making children learn the family skills
Absence of universal compulsory Primary education
Social apathy and tolerance of child labour
Ignorance of the parents about the adverse consequences of Child labour
Ineffective enforcement of the legal provisions pertaining to child labour
Non–availability of and non–accessibility to schools
Irrelevant and non–attractive school curriculum
Employers prefer children as they constitute cheap labour and they are not able to organize themselves against exploitation.
Causes of Child Labour
Some common causes of child labor are poverty, parental illiteracy, social apathy, ignorance, lack of education and exposure,...show more content... India is the largest example of a nation plagued by the problem of child labour. Estimates cite figures of between 60 and 115 million working children in India the highest number in the world (Human Rights Watch 1996, 1).
What are the causes of child labour in India? How do governmental policies affect it? What role does education play in regard to child labour in India? A critical analysis of the answers to these questions may lead in the direction of a possible solution. These questions will be answered through an analysis of the problem of child labour as it is now, investigating how prevalent it is and what types of child labour exist. The necessity of child labour to poor families, and the role of poverty as a determinant will be examined. Governmental policies concerning child labour will be investigated.
The current state of education in India will be examined and compared with other developing countries. Compulsory education policies and their relationship to child labour will be investigated using Sri Lanka and the Indian state of Kerala as examples of where these policies have worked.
Finally, India's policies concerning compulsory education will be assessed. The Problem of Child Labour in India
How many children are involved?
It is difficult to cite a current figure for the number of children engaged in child labour. This difficulty is attributed to the fact that the Indian Government "has been negligent in its refusal to Get more content
Child labour
The industrial revolution began in Great Britain during the 1700's. Industry grew rapidly with the development of power–driven machinery and new methods of production. By the mid–1800's, the Industrial Revolution had become widespread in Western Europe. From this child labour began.
Child labour is the employment of children as wage earners. It became a serious social problem during the Industrial Revolution in Britain during the 1700's, and the problem spread to other countries as they became industrialized. The problem first began when children, many below the age of 10, were employed by factories and mines. The children were forced to work long hours under dangerous and unhealthy conditions, and their wages were very...show more content...
But child labour created no major social problems until the factory system of labour began.
During the 1700's, many businesses in Britain began to hire children. Children worked for lower wages than adults, and were not so likely as adults to cause labor troubles. Factory owners wanted to use their small, nimble fingers for tending machines. Children worked for low pay in dirty, poorly lighted factories, mills, and mines. They often performed jobs that really required adult strength. Many children worked to help support their unemployed parents. Orphans were forced into labour. Similar conditions became common in the United States during the late 1700's.
Child workers were often deprived of the chance to attend school. Uneducated, the only work they were capable of doing was unskilled labor. So, they had little chance to better themselves. However some kind factory owners did educate the boys of the factory after they had done a days work while the girls went home to cook clean and men clothes.
Early child labour laws,
In 1802, the British Parliament passed the first law regulating child labour. The law prohibited the employment of pauper children (children
Essay on child labour
dependent on charity) under 9 years of age in cotton mills. Pauper children under 14 could not work at night, and their workday was limited to 12 hours. In 1819, the law was extended to include
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Child Labour
Child Labour In the past few years, a great deal of attention has been drawn to the global problem of child labour. Virtually everyone is guilty of participating in this abusive practice through the purchase of goods made in across the globe, usually in poor, developing nations. This issue has been around for a great length of time but has come to the forefront recently because of reports that link well known American companies like Wal–Mart and Nike to the exploitation of children. Prior to this media attention, many Americans andother people in developed nation were blind to the reality of the oppressive conditions that are reality to many.
Child Labour has been in existence in different forms from the beginning of...show more content...
At the factory, Iqbal would begin work around 6 a.m., working 14–hour days with one 30–minute break for lunch. The conditions in the factory were very poor with very little lighting and no fresh air. The children that worked there were not allowed to speak and were often beaten if the broke the rules or made mistakes. When Iqbal was 10 years old, he was severely beaten by the factory owner, a man named Arshbad, and decided to escape and report it to the police. When the police looked the other way, Iqbal was forced to return to the factory and was chained to his loom. Some time later, Iqbal escaped and went to a meeting of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, an organization whose goal was to free Pakistan's bonded workers. Here Iqbal listened to a man named Kahn talk and spoke to him afterward. With Kahn's help, Iqbal was free and started to attend a school operated by the BLLF. Iqbal became a crusader for the rights of children, addressing crowds across India and Pakistan. His work had a large impact, reducing the export demand once people in developed nations heard of the conditions in the factories. Iqbal was awarded the Reebok Human Rights award in 1994 and continued to study hard at school with dreams of becoming a lawyer and fighting for children's rights. Because his work had resulted in the loss of income to many factory workers due to a decrease in the export
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Child Labor Essay
Child labor is considered as a form of child abuse, it being the exploitation of a child's rights and freedoms. Therefore, child labour is when underage children are employed, this happens because a child labourer is paid less than an adult labourer. Consequently employers have more children working for them because they spend less paying the children.
"Child labor usually means work that is done by children under the age of 15 (14 in some developing countries) that restricts or damages a child's physical, emotional, social and/or spiritual growth."1
Child labour is not something that just recently evolved. As a matter of fact, child labour dates back to the 1780s and the 1840s, where child labour was predominant worldwide. In 1788, it...show more content...
Although there are efforts to put an end to child labour in the world of today, they does not seem to be enough. This is because even though there is a decrease in the number of children that experience child labour, the change is not significant. The level of child labour continues to increase. Presumably, in the societies where child labour is the way of life, only few individuals master the courage to speak against it. Unfortunately, their voices are unheard. For instance, in India there are efforts to lessen the number of child labourers, but culture always gets in the way. This results in children working under very poor conditions that pose a danger to their health on short–term and long–term scale. However, in Canada the law states that:
"Section 72 imposes a statutory duty on every person to report certain suspicions are based, to a children's aid society."2 "... a professional has a legal obligation to immediately report suspected child abuse."3
Usually, there is a reason behind everything that occurs in the world. For instance, the purpose of going to school is to educate ourselves so that we can have a bright future ahead of us. The main cause of child labour is poverty, which is heavily inclined by culture which varies with different societies. In India, culture is the way of life. Closely related to customs, culture this merely provides guidelines to the people within a society on how to conduct their daily lives.
2 Zuker, Marvin A., Randolph C.
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Child Labor Essay example
Imagine waking up early in the morning, having to walk kilometres to receive water, starving yourself to feed a younger sibling and then setting off to work in a hazardous workplace. Then imagine all of that happening at the age of twelve. This situation is exactly what happens to children that are born in an unfortunate part of the world. Their daily struggle is not homework, but earning enough money to eat at least one meal a day. Poverty, debts and family pressures encourage these children to start working from a very young age. The main reason children enter the workforce so young is because they want to earn money for their poor families. They do not get the opportunity to attend school and receive an education. These children are forced...show more content...
This can then reflect badly onto the countries that buy products made from child labour. The Australian government need to take action immediately and there are many ways the Australian government can do this. The best way would be to make strict trade laws which employ strict measures against child labour and to stop all trade with companies that participate in child labour and to stop all brands that currently sell their products in Australia from purchasing goods that have been produced through child labour. When we purchase a product that has been produced through child labour, we become willing participants to this horrific industry. Those who believe having children in the work force to create more revenue for companies are the main issue in the prevalence of child labour. Another way is to give children a basic education that will enable children to obtain normal jobs in the future. If we try reduce child labour it can help the world's economy, and also make the world a better place to live. It will also lessen crime, and reduce world poverty because children can receive an education and receive higher paying jobs in the future when they are adults. Let children be
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Child Labour Persuasive Essay
Child Labour
Child labour is one of the topic that presents strong emotions, beliefs and opinions. Most people are opposed to the involvement of children in labour force activities when they are at an age when other activities, such as education and play, should be the central role in development. However, child labour represents an extremely difficult and complex issue which often extends beyond emotions, beliefs and opinions. Much of this has to do with the understanding that a wide variety of factors, such as economic, cultural, social, political and legal concerns, are part of any child labour problems as well as the solution to these problems. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper will be to...show more content...
However, while poverty is an important causal factor, it is often the case that it is not the only factor. For example, some studies have indicated that some child workers "...are from relatively affluent families, and engage in the business for excitement and pocket money"5. This would seem to suggest that "...cultural and economic factors here interact in complex ways to encourage child work and need to be understood together"6.
An examination of existing trends regarding child labour often reveals contradictory and even disturbing developments. More specifically, official data from most countries have shown "...a gradual, long–term decline in child labour, but many experts assert that recent economic crisis in the developing countries has led to an upsurge in juvenile workers"7. Even though child labour is primarily found in developing countries, and that this can be largely attributed to the economic, social and cultural environment, there is some indication of a resurgence in this activity in industrialized countries. Much of this activity also happens to be everywhere and familiar, such as a child who shines shoes for a living, who is at home tending younger children or who is helping in a family farm and business working such long hours that it is impossible to play or even attend school. If anything, this emphasizes that much of the attention that has been focused on
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Essay on Child Labour
Into: imagine waking up every day aching in pain all over your body from working none–stop as you struggle to stay alive. skipping breakfast everyday just to be a slave at 12 years old working for up to $1.40 a week. According to international labour office "Twelve–year–old Alejandra is woken up at four in the morning by her father, Don JosГ©. She does not go to school, but goes to collect curiles, small molluscs in the mangrove swamps on the island of Espiritu Santo in Usulutan, El Salvador. In the rush to get to work, Alejandra does not take time to eat breakfast. It is more important to make sure she has the things she needs to make it through a workday that can mean spending up to 14 hours in the mud. These items include about a dozen cigars and at least four pills to keep her from falling asleep. A good part of the money that she earns goes to buy these things....show more content... children were forced not to get the education they need because they were too busy working to get money for their family. many families were also affected by child labor because they have lost their children because of it. Many parents that put their children into such hazardous labor sometimes lost their child from chemicals in factories to inhaling dirt into their lungs making it hard to breath for them. Claim: many people who like the thought of child labor because they either have children of their own and need money or they have a company that needs more people to be hired for them. The reason why people agree with child labor is to earn more money. Businesses hire children to get more money because the children don't need to get paid as much or at all. Many parents also agree with child labor because they may be poor and need money for their
Thesis Statement On Child Labor
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Utilitarianism
We have all heard that child labour is a bad thing, however, lets try and think В– is it, really?
By introducing child labour companies save millions of dollars which are passed to the consumer as a cheaper price on products they buy from our firm, if there are more profits there are more taxes paid to the Government. By having better profit margins our company is able to pay bigger dividends to shareholders thus giving them a better return on their investment and making them richer.
And to top it off, the children are not being forced to work В– they are working out of their free will В– what our company does is give children the opportunity to earn some extra money if they feel like it.
In the end, every...show more content... Imagine yourself living in China and being poor or single parent with a child or being a child without parents В– there is little support for the poor from the Government and if are a child with no parents you will most likely be living on the streets with the dogs.
I can say with great pride that our company, or in fact any company that uses child labour helps poor people in these kind of situation. A child that has no parents will have his chance to make his own living, which otherwise would have been minimal В– children in these circumstances either die or turn to a life of crime which ends them in prison. Our company gives alternative choice to children in need when the governments cannot support them. And if your family or if you are a single parent struggling to put food on the table and have a place where to live В– why not let your child help you do that? Why shouldn't he be able to help if you are really struggling? And the good thing is В– children become mature at younger age, they begin to understand the cost of living and that nothing in life is free, which in turn will help them become better, more hard–working and appreciative individuals in the future.
Child Labour and Ethics Essay
So, yes В– I do think that our company is doing Good to societies that really need
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Child Labor Child labor has been around for long time and it still exists in today's world. Thiskind of labor provides problems or difficulties in the economic world. Child labor is social problem with the rise of industrial production and capitalism. It appeared in earlier ages in agricultural societies when the children all around the world had to work along with 19th century, spreading to many countries. The problems started when many children, younger than ten years old, were employed by factories. In this paper I will address the issues and history of child labor, the child labor laws, and my suggestions or solutions to child labor problems. Child labor is defined as the employment of children under the...show more content...
Of these, 120 million children are working full time to help support their families. Of those, 171 million work in hazardous conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and working with dangerous machinery. Most of these workers are in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Sub–Saharan Africa. There are 153 million of child laborers in Asia, 80 million in Africa and 17.5 million in Latin America. Sub–Saharan Africa has an estimated 48 million child workers. Approximately 2.5 million children are working in industrialized and transition economies. Child labor is also reported in Italy, Portugal, UK, US and Eastern Europe.
The Children's Rights Division at Human Watch says that children who work long hours in dangerous and unhealthy conditions, are exposed to lasting physical and psychological harm. The Children's Rights Division gave some examples of work that children are harmed from. Working at rug looms, has left children disabled with eye damage, lung disease and stunted growth. Children making silk thread in India dip their hands into boiling water that burns and blisters them, breath smoke and fumes from machinery and medical care if often not available. There is also bonded labor, which takes place when a family hand over their child to an employer for an advance payment. In most cases the child can't work off the debt, and neither can the family raise Get
Child Labor Essay
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Within China, there are many, many cases of heavy child labour. Sometimes it's from law abuse, other times it's poverty. Several countries and organizations, including Canada, are involved in putting their efforts into ending this across the globe, China as well. There are many ways you can contribute, but before that, you'll have to understand the current problem.
When it comes to China, there is obviously a large population number, which can lead to numerous occasions of child labour. Of course, this is a global issue, but it is important to address it in individual countries. In schools, a law has been applied called "Educational Labour" where schools can teach children things like planting and harvesting crops through labour (although not intended to be serious). Yet, this law is abused through schools forcing children to do much more heavy labour than originally sought. Poverty is also a main cause of this...show more content... There are some do's and don'ts to helping out with situations like these. Some ways you can help is by donating and volunteering for organizations trying to stop it, or just supporting them as a whole. Nonetheless, it is important to not just say, "I can help by not buying products by children!" Wrong. It is a fact that, when people began to do this, it actually worsened the situation for the children, who had resorted to horrible solutions like street–begging. You're better off helping those who have more control over the situation than that.
This problem still lives on in China, and other countries in the world. Major reasons for this are things like schools abusing laws, and poverty. Canada, and other countries, are doing their best to stop this global issue. There are organizations who are supported by governments, and are doing their best to stop this. Ways you can help exist, but there's also ways that don't help. Hopefully, child labour will soon come close to an end with all the world's efforts, including
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Child Labour In China Essay
Kids working in factories, handling dangerous equipment, potentially hurting themselves. This is everyday life for children in other countries. Everyday kids lose their innocence, they experience something that is grueling and back–breaking everyday for, most likely, for their lives. Children are considered the future, they are to be nurtured, cared, have a childhood, they are to be loved, to be raised fairly as they pave the way for humans, the next generation, so the world would have better technological advancement, medicine and overall a better world, so it is best to set them to a straight path. Though many spirits of children who grew to adults were broken, they have practically become a slave that earned little earnings and...show more content...
"India has the largest work force of children in the world. They are made to work as shares in fields and factories in homes and in cottage industries. They are deprived of their childhood. Children are also self–employed as shoeshine, milk boys, rag pickers and rickshaw pullers. They are overworked and under paid. They miss the benefits of education" (R. H. Waghamode, J. L. Kalyan). Many children suffer from the age of child to adulthood as they become exhausted and usually deformed from working from a child because kids work jobs from stone quarries, in the streets to working in the fields or hidden in another house that often makes them do domestic chores. Child labor in India has a common cause why they use children because it is a socioeconomic problem with India having illiteracy, poverty and other issues that fuel child labor. With the continuation of child labor, India continues to be one of the prominent country that utilizes children to work. Malaysia is another country that uses child labor, though somewhat developed, it still uses child labor but not as harsh than India. They work as labourers in workshops, at eating–places and other commercial sectors.
A great majority of the children, 77%, indicated that, at the time of the study, they have been working for less than one year, while 19.2% had been working for between one to three years. Children are also observed to work in restaurants, carrying goods, wet market works. Boys and
Child Labor Essay examples
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Child Labour In The Fashion Supply Chain
The authors and articles that I will be relaying on the most to refer to all the different points of view regarding child labour are: Jeffrey Tucker, the editorial vice president of the think tank Ludwig von Mises Institute; Pauline Overeem, a senior researcher that studies the issue of corporate liability in supply chains; Dr. Frank Wijen, a professor at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University; "Child Labour in the Fashion Supply Chain", an article sponsored by UNICEF. Many argue that child labor impacts children in a negative way, not only physical but mentally. Others believe it gives children a scent of responsibility. More importantly, it gives children the skills they will need to succeed in their adulthood.
Although child labour has become an issue that provokes a negative connotation in society, this is a complex situation that has to do with more than emotions and opinions. It has to do with the understanding of economic, social, and cultural factors. The status quo believes that a ban should be unquestionably imposed because children should not undergo situations that are harmful to their well–being. Instead of working, children could receive an education and enjoy their childhood. In particular, children as young as seven–years–old are working in horrible conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to mine cobalt that ends up in smartphones. Popular electronic brands like "Apple, Samsung and Sony, are failing to do basic checks to ensure
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Child Labor
Even though children helped their families get money to pay the bills it was also called Child Labor. Child Labor was very dangerous because the children working didn't get to see their families and many children became injured or even dead. Children didn't get to see their families because they were working to much. In Mr. Coal's story it states " I thought they must he men, who threw us in and drove the mules; but on looking closely i found that one of them was a boy about 12 years old." No boy 12 years old should be in a mine he should be in school. In addition many children became injured or even dead from working in the mines because then the mine could collapse and the child aren't wearing anything on their hands so they
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Child Labor Thesis
Child labour, in the Western tradition, evokes a negative connotations of dangerous work being committed by children, and while child labour that causes physiological or psychological damage to children, or inhibits their ability to gain an education is reprehensible, not all child labour is detrimental. However, child work, which is difficult to differentiate from child labour, is an acceptable even beneficial to the child and their family. This is especially true in agriculture. However, certain industries should prohibit all children from working such as working domestically outside of the child's home or within mining. While children are working in all these industries it become a question of why. There are several reasons including: poverty, which is associated with an inability to receive an education, the cultural context of a society, family breakdown, and a lack of government enforcement and resources. In order to address the underlying causes of child labour it is imperative that implement policies that reduce and eliminate child labour, additionally there must be cultural enjoyment to better educate the populace on what the obligations the state has signed on too, also education needs to be free in its entirety to ensure everyone has equal opportunity for advancement, finally there needs to be greater government resources invested in reducing the sources of poverty. Due to the loose categorization of children's economic rights set out in the Convention of the Get
Child Labour And Its Effect On Children Essay
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child Labour Child labor is when a child under the legal working age is made to do work that is physically and mentally harmful and which interrupts their education or social development. Child labor is one of the gravest problem affecting the world because it harms the physical and mental development of children. Children are risking their lives, being deprived of freedom, are illiterate, which is resulting in. Children are blooming flowers with a powerful scent of any nation. However, some countries are declining their power and destroying their future of their country just for earning a small amount of money by illegally employing the growing kids. Protecting children from child labor is the responsibility of each and every citizen living in the country because it is not the responsibility of the government only, it should be solved and taken care by all the parents, owner, and other social organization. Child labor should be banned. In order to eliminate the social issue of child labor, there needs to be an effective solution to save the future of any developing country and their children. The following solution should be implemented.
All children should be given first priority by their parents to receive proper and regular education from their early childhood to their adulthood. Parents should take on the responsibility of their family by letting their kids to be educated. According to publicagenda.org, two–thirds or 65 percent of the parents said that they are willing to do anything when it comes to involvement in their children's education. Children have full rights to get a proper education, which shours love and care from their parents. Children should be provided with education. Because of the high level of poverty and poor schooling opportunities for children, they never get a chance to make their life bright. They are spending their lives in complete darkness without the light of education. According to www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu, more than 215 million children, of which children ages 5 to 17, are working in developing countries, and most of the children are employed in the agriculture by their own parents instead of being in school. Some households may argue that child labor shouldn't be
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Persuasive Essay On Child Labour
Child Labour and The Industrial Revolution During the 1800s the Industrial Revolution spread throughout Britain. The use of steam–powered machines, led to a massive increase in the number of factories (particularly in textile factories or mills). From Country to Town As the number of factories grew people from the countryside began to move into the towns looking for better paid work. The wages of a farm worker were very low and there were less jobs working on farms because of new machines. Thousands of new workers were needed to work machines in mills and foundries and the factory owners built houses for them. At the start of the 19th Century about 1/5 of Britain's population lived there, but...show more content...
The household rubbish was thrown out into the streets. Housing conditions like these were perfect breeding grounds for diseases. More than 31,000 people died during an outbreak of cholera in 1832 and lots more were killed by typhus, smallpox and dysentery. Child Labour Many factory workers were children. They worked long hours and were often treated badly by the supervisors or overseers. Sometimes the children started work as young as four or five years old. A young child could not earn much, but even a few pence would be enough to buy food. Coal Mines The coal mines were dangerous places explosions happened and workers got all sorts of injuries. There were very few safety rules.
Cutting and moving coal which machines do nowadays was done by men, women and children. The younger children often worked as "trappers" who worked trap doors. They sat in a hole hollowed out for them and held a string which was fastened to the door. When they heard the coal wagons coming they had to open the door by pulling a string. This job was one of the easiest down the mine but it was very lonely and the place were they sat was usually damp and draughty. Older children might be employed as "coal bearers" carrying loads of coal on their backs in big baskets. The Mines Act was passed by the Government in 1842 forbidding the employment of women and
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