The Impact Of Education On Preventing Child Labor In India (By- Nikaasha Dogra)

The Impact Of Education On Preventing Child Labor In India

Authored By- Nikaasha Dogra

College- Gitarattan International Business School, New delhi

Profession- BBA LLB

Abstract

This paper elucidates the notion of child labour lacking education in the Indian framework with regard the loopholes in the society. Education system is one of the vital elements and one of the principals means for the societal upliftment. Based on the literacy rate, a country’s growth could either rise or fall. Civil disturbance and other social upheaval result in a lack of education. Child labour is one of the upshots that calls into question the social deportment concerning the country’s future. The global pandemic (COVID-19)[1] had a devastating effect on every segment of society, including the education sector. Work from home or taking online classes may interest to a certain group of people but It’s been a setback for the underprivileged class. The condition got worsened for those children that were exposed to the virus, and the rumpus was antagonized for the solace of the privileged. India, being varied country with countless cultures stand by the legal parameters that are also deferential of other traditions. Everyone can differentiate between right and wrong norms with the knowledge of education. The paper aims to convey the obstacles and wiping off the issue, educational cultures should contemplate the foundation of progression among various cultures, study regarding this goes through all the other matters of child labour, as well as the part of education in erasing it. It is difficult to fight social veto without educating the people in the nation, but it is even more challenging to combat social veto with educated people who are not socially qualified. Following paper deals with the research on India and its viewpoint to abolish child labour, in a standardized way.

Keywords: Child labour, Adolescents, education

Introduction

The impact of education on preventing child labour is a very prejudicial topic, explicitly when education is still a privilege, and not a luxury, for many in the community. One cannot deny the fact that education is essential for a country’s comprehensive development. Further if we dig deep into the country’s history of child labour and to understand this unethical practice. It says that India’s average literacy rate is 77.7 percent[2], as per the data from the National Statistical Office (NSO). Further to understand as to why child labour come into existence in the very first place, we need to first apprehend the incorporation of societies modern developments and why it this issue still a major concern. If we talk about Child labour is marked as one of the copious societal issues that might arise because of a lack of education. Rate of child labourers also differs by gender, corresponding to the research. The Male kid labourers have an appreciable rate than female child labourers. these methods as child labour are perceived as a beneficial investment by the market that operates them. The subject matter of Child labour and sex trafficking are both incidental with the same societal stain: which is deficiency of education and social recognition. All These factors make the Indian subcontinent one of the destitute countries in the world and women and children, the fragile members of Indian society, which suffers the most. Major principal cause of child labour is acute poverty, and the basic reason for poverty is unemployment, absence of resources to elevate the social order, which involves hierarchy, untouchability, caste system and marginal differences between eligible and ineligible classes also the government policies that fall short to address these matters. components that help to sustain the population as resources are grave to accumulate for a situation to be contemplated as success. Personal development, professional development, and organizational development are the three major elements of human resource development. And neither one of these is viable without good education. In economics, the humans are perceived as a resource, but child labour is an evil to the economy. Probability of the requisite human resource advancements is compromised by child labour. Nation needs to impart education to all, disregarding of the social backgrounds, to address matters such as child labour. after going over all the primary reasons for developing an educational-based upliftment and how it affects society in terms of child labour, the paper intent to bestow some analytical perspective on the subject matter of child labour and how education is a key and a necessitous element for the means of acquiring the objective. In India acts has been formulated such as Right to Education Act of 2009, as well as there is further government-enacted legislation that aims to safeguard that everyone can retrieve the benefits of education, along with all these there are procedures for dealing controlling this barbarous crime. method to end the illicit activity varies from country to country, also mostly it is contingent on the stage of development for a mass number of people. Following paper deals with the research on India and its viewpoint to abolish child labour, in a standardized way.

Reasons For Child Labour

Latest reports have shown that 1 out of every 10 children is a sufferer of child labour globally, 9 million of them are at risk because of the pandemic. Child labour and its exploitation are the repercussions of many factors, some of them are discussed below:

Poverty
It is basically a situation where a person is unable to fulfil the minimum need or standard of living, prerequisite due to the unavailability of sufficient financial resources. When a person or his family goes through this patch, they believe that their kids should go to work and earn some money to support the family and sustain a minimum livelihood. The reason of scarcity leaves parents with no other possibility but to send their children for work at a very cheap wage rate.

Overpopulation
The world meter[3] intimation, India’s population is approx. one billion, out of which 7.83 per cent people in India are unemployed. India ranks at 86th position for with an unemployment out of 214 countries. The population of our country is considerably more than the job opportunities that are available for the people, hence it leads to a huge section of the society as unemployed. the adults when unemployed, fall under the stage of poverty, debt trap, and many more, further they also are unable to educate their children which eventually results in child labour.

Debt Trap
A situation in which a family gets trapped in the vicious cycle of debt it comes up with child labour. hence the child start working at a very young age to make their family monetary sound and act as a assistant hand to lead them out of the debt trap.

Unprincipled Labour
India is a country which is known for its cheapest labours available therefore it is one of the largest markets for outsourcing. Other countries reach out India to get their job done at a very minimal rate. It is like that of the labour class, the labour pay in India is minimum and to increase the family income, parents are compelled to let their child work and stand up for them.

Disease or disability
There are various cases of families where the child is a lone earner reason being the demise of their parents or they are too diseased that they can’t work. Hence, in such a situation, the parents are left with no choice but to push their child to work and earn to live and survive the family. The result of this leaves the children to go to factories to work instead of going to school and educate themselves so, they act as pillar of financial support to their family[4].

The ongoing endurance of child labour and exploitation causes a threat to national economies and has extreme negative short-term and long-term repercussions among the adolescents some of them includes absence of education and unresolved physical and mental health diseases.

Types Of Child Labour

Child Trafficking
Another major reason of child labour that comes into picture and is quite common worldwide is “Child trafficking” and it always leads to child abuse. These children face all sorts of abuse be it physical, mental, sexual, or emotional. Moreover, they are forced to perform prostitution, pushed into marriage or some of them are illegally adopted; manipulated to provide cheap or undetermined labour free of cost, they are put through to work as house servants or even as beggars and some of them are sometimes recruited into armed groups. Trafficking also put the children at risk of violence, sexual abuse, and HIV ailment.

Bonded child labour
People usually employ a small girl to work as a maid in their household and the girl is under the age of 17, then that is considered as child abuse it would fall under the Child Labour Act. many young boys and girls working in the industries that deal in making of fireworks and perfume incense. all These kinds of chores are smoothly carried out by young boys and girls. Moreover, they work as an unpaid labourer.

Laws Against Child Labour

The Factories Act, 1948
The act guides and forbids factory owners concerning employment creation. The act prohibits employment of children under the age of 14 years, as authorised under law. Also, it states a guideline regarding the employment criteria of a pre-adult that is between the age of 15 to 18 years. Factors including poverty, social norms condoning them, insufficiency of competent work openings for youngsters and children, migration, and emergencies. All These factors are not only the origin but also a repercussion of social injustice reinforced by prejudice.

The Mines Act, 1952
To Work in mines is deemed to be one of the toughest occupations. adolescents who have no experience of work in this field might cause an adverse effect to them. After considering and viewing various incidents of children giving up their life while working in mines, lawmakers of our constitution came up with the mines act and stated that all the children working in this field was completely debarred. mines act talks about the employment criteria in mines, it restrains children under the age of 18 to work under such a place.

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act year 1986
To prevent children from working at some dangerous occupation, the lawmakers of our constitution came up with a list for this. The list contains all the hazardous occupations and children who are under 14 years were strictly restrained to work at such places. In 2016

amendment was made and it changed the title of the act from THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) ACT OF 1986 to CHILD AND ADOLESCENT (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) ACT OF 1986. The amendment enumerated the following attributes in the act; -

No child shall be authorised to work in any occupation or process
Nothing contained sub-section (1) of this act shall apply where the child,
Helps his family or the family enterprise, which is other than any perilous occupations or processes demarcated in the schedule, after his/her school hours or during the time of vacations.
Working as an artist in the audio-visual entertainment industry, that includes occupations such as advertisement, films, television serials, or any other entertainment or sports activities besides for the circus, subject to such conditions and safety measures, as may be determined. Further Provided that no such work under this clause may affect the school education of the adolescent.
No child shall be employed or sanctioned to work in any of the dangerous occupations or processes determined in the schedule, further provided that the central government may, through notification, enumerate the nature of the non-hazardous work activity to which an adolescent shall be authorised to work under this act framed.

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act year 2000
It was stated that the employers will be made punishable if they employ a child in some hazardous work. The act provides punishment to all those who act in contravention to the previous acts by engaging children to work.

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009
It is formulated that for children aged from 6 to 14 years, education was constituted mandatory and free. also, it is mandated that in every private school 25% of seats should be reserved for those children who come from physically disabled groups or disadvantaged groups of society.

Education word or we can say that education as a major subject, in the Indian constitution is a coinciding issue and both centres and states can legislate on this issue. Act lays down certain responsibilities for the Centre, state, and local bodies for its application. The states have been professing that they lack the monetary capacity to deliver education of a suitable standard to all the schools obligatory for universal education. Hence, it was clear that the central government (which accumulates most of the revenue) will be prescribed to subsidize the states.

Child Labour (Prohibition And Regulation) Amendment Act Year 2016

This amendment act suffers from several flaws.

from independence, India has implemented several legislations for child labour. Children who are under the age of 14 have no access to work in factories, mines, or any other hazardous industry, referring to Article 24 of Constitution[5]. Articles 21A and 45 guarantees that all adolescents aged between 6 to 14 would secure a free of charge and mandatory education. Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education this act was passed in India in the year 2009 (RTE). nevertheless, the new law’s modifications make administering the right to education nearly rigid. the provisions impose such a monetary strain on inferior-caste tribe that, rather than promoting and encouraging education, the Act shoots up the likelihood of dropouts. also, parents, afraid of the ponderous fines that may be charged if their children are employed, and hence are more likely to create a circumstance where parents are devised to falsify information regarding their child’s attendance.

Moreover, the law demands a solid approach to execution; compelling a larger number of people to comply without first explaining the significance of the law and its prerequisite might backfire in a numerous way, making it much more complex to tackle the matter.

Child Labour (Prohibition And Regulation) Amendment Rules Of The Year 2017.

various amendments regarding the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 were made, one of it includes the amendment of the title head to Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act year 1986. It Deals with, inter alia also obligation of the Central Government concerning the prohibition of child labour {section 2A)} managing situations where an adolescent can help his family without taking hold of their education {section 2B} and the children who work as artists {section 2C}.

The two international labour organisation Conventions[6] on child labour are Convention No.138 which states Minimum Age and Convention No. 182 which tells about Worst Forms of Child Labour. Both Conventions are “fundamental” Conventions, means that under the international labour organisation Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, also all their

member States have a responsibility to regard, encourage and perceive the elimination of child labour, it doesn’t matter if they have not endorsed the Conventions in question. several more legislative provisions forbidding and supervising child labour, in addition to these national policies, and governments worldwide have been venturing to abolish child labourers

Importance Of Education Opposed To Child Labour

Education has a very remarkable role in eradicating child labour. Education International union every year celebrates the world day counter to child labour on 12th of June. As per the Education International, early access to education is very essential to help children get out of the labour market.
Not only it helps children to learn the necessitous skills, moreover it allows them to steer a decent life forward.
Both Education and training are obligatory operators of social and economic growth and democracy in a child’s life.
withdrawal of all the costs that are linked with education will upshot in a huge group of society being educated.
There is a need for approach along with the mindset to educate children and pill them out of poverty which will further reduce the count of child labour cases in current period.
Education itself is a fundamental right, and hence no one has the supremacy to deny it.
Education act as a short in the arm in changing one’s opinions towards life while making them a better human being.
Judicial Invasion

Case law: Jayakumar Nat & Anr vs State of Nct of Delhi & Anr 

Under this case on 4th September 2015, it was stated that “ the Delhi High Court orders the Government of NCT of Delhi to establish a scheme in order to address the matter of rehabilitation of these children who were released by delivering them with some kind of economic help reason being that the parents or their guardians do not compel them to work as child labourers in order to meet with their necessaries and to augment their income for their primary survival”

Case law: Ganesh Ram vs State of Jharkhand and Ors

Under this case on 5th April 2006[7], containing bench of S Mukhopadhaya, N Tiwari stated that “If a person is below 14 years of age, is assigned, hence a penal order can be passed against the employer under (Prohibition and Regulation Act 1986) for child labour, although no order that is

penal in nature can be passed against the employee”.

Case law: Bandhua Mukti Morcha vs UOI & Ors

Under this case on 16th December 1983[8], “A public interest litigation was filed claiming employment of children who are below 14 years of age in the Carpet Industry within the State of Uttar Pradesh. The Reports of Commissioner/Committee assigned by the Supreme Court validated forced and involuntary employment of a huge number of children, mostly belonging to category of SCs and STs and some are bought from Bihar, in the carpet weaving centres situated in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It was stated by the Court that State is constrained to render socio-economic justice to this adolescent and serve them with facilitates and opportunities for their appropriate development consisting of their personality”.

Conclusion And Suggestions

The terms Poverty, child labour, and unemployment are major concerned factors. we all know that education alone enough cannot be considered as a sole solution, although it is one of the most important elements in the matter, and without this element we cannot even begin to consider the achievement fragment. rather we need to take a come forward and upheave awareness stating the essence of education. we all were born with equality, moreover education is the key we learn our rights and have a wider understanding to it, which includes our duties and obligations forthwith. In our country we can find majority of individuals who work as labour class or who are forced to work do not have the knowledge or we can say that they do not realise that they have the equally similar rights as their superiors. India have only one and a sole constitution that have dominance on all the citizens of the country. Hence, In the eyes of the law, no one is especial. We all agree with the fact that there are numerous methods to gain knowledge, but education all over gives us an upper hand. Further the citizens can take steps such as they should boycott goods that are made by child labour also, they should not employ children in workplaces or home as it violates both the law and their nobility. Various unions can be formed that solely work in order prevent and eradicate child labour the motive is to help the children involved in this work and penalising those who make them do it. No perfect method has been found to end child labour forever, because even though there is a solution in our hands, the problem will persist. Moreover, A law is only helpful if it is actualized properly. There is need to increase the quality of implementation rather than the way in which the government exhibits all the policies for the citizens. Whenever a law is declared, the government should consider or scrutinize its execution and implementation to see how much it has headway. All this will help us know or notice the truth and facts as well as the real solution to the situation. In short children are the future and the youth of our country and we all should be responsible enough to take a step forward and stand for them in the best possible manner and help them grow by stopping this menace of child labour.