Here’s another pandemic that the world isn’t talking about3 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutesVivaan Taneja
Kunskapsskolan, Gurgaon
Class 8
Crimes against humanity have been perpetrated over millennia. Some continue till date and child labour is one of these. Child labour is a very sensitive issue.
But first let me explain it in brief. Child labour is like enslaving kids to do work in different places and is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous for them. Child labour happens in a significant number of developing countries including, India. In India, children are forced to work illegally in multiple industries to save labor costs and find easy labor.
Child labour in Agriculture
Agriculture is the largest sector that employs children to contribute to family income. Often children are forced to leave their education to support their families and land up working in hazardous conditions e.g. manufacturing of bangles, cracker factories, carpet factories, brick kilns and small production houses sometimes without breaks and little food and water.
A large contributor to child labour is lack of education and poverty along with social inequality. Also, it becomes difficult in the rural sectors for large families to sustain themselves. And most families land themselves in loans and debts and begin depending on their kids as a pair of hands to start earning at a very early age to pay off the loans. Often children are forced to work long hours in the sun without food.
And this, I think as unfair.
What is wrong about child labour
It is the exploitation of a child to deprive them of their childhood. At least 152 million kids are victims of child labour. Imagine being forced to work every day in factories at such a young age. The government has banned this everywhere, yet child labor prevails across countries. The girls begin to manage their house at a very young age to stay at home and cook, clean etc. while the boys are required to go out and earn for daily wages.
In my opinion this is so wrong. It’s sad to see children being stripped of their fundamental rights of freedom and of growing and working towards a dream- just to make a living, which isn’t their choice. It’s time to stop this and put an end to child labor. Victims of child labor often suffer from depression, low self-esteem and anxiety pushing them to destructive habits such as smoking and alcohol.
Here’s a short video on what child labour is and what we can do to help:
We all need to come together to contribute towards the education of needy children. Education would be the first step for these kids to understand their worth and build a skill that will make them independent in the future. If each of us can come forward to support and sponsor the education of even one child, it will go a long way to address this evil of child labor. Every country in the world has laws that prevent child labor but we must continue to build awareness among people not to employ children under 18 for work but instead help them study for a better future. This is the only way we can build a sustainable and inclusive future for the world.
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