June 12 is known as the World Day Against Child Labour. Each year on this day, the world day brings the government, employers and millions of people all stand together, to highlight the plight of child labour and the steps needed to eradicate the problem. This day was invented by International Labour Organization (ILO) in the year 2002 to bring attention to child labour and the efforts and actions needed to eliminate a worldwide issue. World Day Against Child Labour 2020 will focus on the result of crisis on child labor, in light of the COVID-19 health pandemic and the resulting economic and labor market shock.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) defines child labor as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.” According to the ILO, child labor refers to work including::
- is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and
- interferes with their schooling by:
- depriving them of the opportunity to attend school;
- obliging them to leave school prematurely; or
- requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
According to Census 2011, 10.1 million children are a victim of child labor in India and 168 million worldwide. These children are often working under hazardous and dangerous working conditions. In many cases, child labor exits because to sort of pool in the family income, which is required in poor families. It is more common in the poorest areas. However, the rate has decreased from 2001 to 2011.
“Child” as defined by the child labor (prohibition and regulation) Act 1986, is a person who has not completed the age of 14 years. People under the age of 18 should be encouraged to study and not to work as they are the future of our country. But unfortunately, due to the socio-economic problems children are forced to work in industries, leather factories, hotels and eateries. Industries such as bangle making require delicate hands and little fingers to do minute work with a lot of glass work which increases the risk. This often results in eye accidents of the children and completely ruin their rest of the lives.
Ways to reduce the problem-
The government should take required actions and steps to reduce poverty by providing more job opportunities for their parents. As we have heard, “education is the key”, the government must allocate necessary funds to provide education to poor children. Strict punishments and fines should be made for people violating the child labor act. People who report such crime must be encouraged and awarded. There should be more awareness and education regarding child labor and the reasons to not continue it. We see child labor around us almost every other day and yet we ignore it. Some of the maids working at our homes are underage. Children we see on red lights selling balloons or polishing our shoes. It is illegal yet so common. We should stand together and against child labor not just today but everyday.
Eduindex News 