Child Labour

Keywords: Education / Child Labour / Policy Measures/ Employer mindset/Family backdrop

Summary: Many instances related to child labour can be seen in big metropolitan cities. Many of these children possess education up to a certain level as well, but that is not sufficient in providing a bright future for them. It is important for policymakers to understand the real cause behind child labour and thereby taking steps in eradicating child labour and thus imparting education to create a better future for them.

Child Labour – At the gateways of Education for All[1]

Aditi Bhowmick[2], Arpan Biswas[3], Chirag Jain[4], Priya Gupta[5], Sripriya Poddar[6]

“Child labour and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labour of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labour to the end of time.” -- Grace Abbott

Introduction

Right to Education has been recognized as a fundamental right by United Nations. With the 86th amendment of the Constitution of India, Education was declared a fundamental right in India. The Right of children to Free and Compulsory Education Act came into force from April 1, 2010. The right guarantees every child in the age group 6-14 years, 8 years of elementary education in a class appropriate to his/her age in the vicinity of his/her neighbourhood. However, the country needs to go a long way in ensuring that this right is available to every child.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (formerly Calcutta Municipal Corporation) was the first Municipal Corporation of India. Formed long ago in the year 1876, Kolkata Municipal Corporation takes pride in managing the city having a 10 million (resident and floating combined) population. KMC is responsible for supplying 350 MGD to 5 million people, clearing 4000 MT of solid waste per day, managing 136 clinics and 119 health units and running 268 primary educational schools with more than 40,000 students. In the last...