subject: Child Labour still a curse! [print this page] Child Labour still a curse!
The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, which was passed on October 10, 2006 bans child labour at restaurants, roadside eateries, dhabas, tea shops and also at domestic households, the punishment of which ranges from imprisonment to penalty or both. Yet, there are still about 200,000-odd child workers in these sectors today. The level of awareness among the child workers, their families and their employers about this social evil is so low that it may take years to tame it.
Though it may be an obligation in many cases, where children do not work out of choice, the fact remains that there are still many families who are ready to make their children work for earning money to meet their financial requirements. As a result, mention of the Child Labour Act makes the child workers fear of losing their jobs, instead of rejoicing.
Most families of child workers opine that as the child grows up their food consumption level also increases, which the families cannot provide. By engaging them in work, an additional income is assured, which also takes care of the food requirement of children. Moreover, if the child is a girl, the question of marriage also crops up as they grow. In this case, the families prefer to engage them as maid servants rather than in rigorous jobs. There are also many children who are forced to work to repay their father's debts. Although at their age education is what the children require, their families feel that it is futile spending time on education, as the time required for education can rather be utilised for working and earning bread.
Therefore, child labour seems to be a source of income for poor families to meet up their economical shortcomings. In order to tackle this social issue, it is important that campaigns to ban child labour are organised frequently to spread awareness about the same among children, their families and employers. However, one wonders that despite the provisions in the Child Labour Act, whether the employers are actually punished or not for recruiting child workers. The government needs to keep a closer eye on this matter to eradicate this problem. One way of doing that is to help the poor. If the level of poverty in the country can be checked, the number of child workers will also reduce. Also, it is important to make the children aware of their rights by imparting proper education and thereby bringing down the instances of child labour.
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