CHILD LABOUR OR CHILD CARE
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CONFLICTING IMAGES OF
CHILD BETWEEN SOUTH ASIA AND NORDIC COUNTRIES
MOHAMMAD SADAAT BUKHT
Supervisor: Professor Michael Seltzer
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OSLO UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Master thesis for the Master of International
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September 2009
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Social Welfare and Health Policy
CONTENTS
Page No.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
3
ABSTRACT
4
INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXTUALIZATION
5
1. INTRODUCTION
5
2. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHILD LABOUR & CHILD WORK
6
3. THE GOALS OF THE STUDY
7
4. JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
7
5. CONTEXTUALIZATION
8
6. THE CAUSES OF CHILD LABOUR
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7. THE BENEFITS OF CHILD LABOUR
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8. CHILDREN’S SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONTEXTS
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CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD
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1. THE IMPACT OF UN CONVENTION ON CHILDREN’S RIGHT
12
2. MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS & CHILD LABOUR
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3. THE LAWS & CONVENTIONS RATIFIED & REJECTED
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CHILD LABOUR AND EDUCATION IN SOUTH ASIA
17
1. CHILD LABOUR IN SOUTH ASIA
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2. POVERTY & URBAN MIGRATION
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3. EDUCATION FOR ALL BY 2015
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4. EDUCATION IN SOUTH ASIA
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5. EXTERNAL AID & UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN’S
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EDUCATIONAL PROGRAME (UCEP)
CHILD LABOUR & EDUCATION IN NORDIC COUNTRIES
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1. CHILD LABOUR IN EUROPE
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2. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
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3. EDUCATION POLICIES IN EUROPE
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4. CHILD WELFARE WITH CHANGING THE
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1. ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF & AGAINST NGO’S
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2. STRATEGY TOWARDS CHILD LABOUR
32
3. EDUCATION AS A PROTECTIVE STRATEGY
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4. EDUCATION AS A SKILL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
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5. EDUCATION AS A PREVENTIVE STRATEGY
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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1. STUDY DESIGN & STUDY SUBJECTS
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2. EXCLUSION & INCLUSION CRITERIA
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3. RESEARCH METHOD
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4. SAMPLE COLLECTION PROCEDURE
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5. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH INTERVIEWS
38
6. QUESTIONNAIRE
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CHILD LABOUR CHALLENGES
40
DISCUSSION
40
CONCLUSION
42
REFERENCES
44
APPENDIX
51
1. LITERATURE REVIEW
51
2. CASE STUDIES
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ROLE OF NGO’S & THEIR STRATEGIES
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GENDER BALANCE OF EMPLOYMENT
Acknowledgements
First and foremost I want to express sincere gratitude to my excellent and inspiring supervisor,
Professor Micheal Seltzer, who intellectually challenged me throughout the whole process of this
study with valuable guidance, essential information, intellectual inputs, constructive criticism,
critical assistance and ever-smiling cooperation. In addition, I give sincere thanks to Professor
Knut Halvorsen, who provided my thesis with important research participants and who was
willing to share his immense knowledge and competence. I also wish to express my deep
gratitude to Professor Timo Kivimäki (ex-Director and currently Researcher at Nordic Institute
of Asian Studies-NIAS) and Professor Monwaruddin Ahmed (ex-Dean, Faculty of Social
Sciences at the University of Dhaka), I benefited greatly from their comments on earlier versions
of this work which have been the source of inspiration for my study. My special thanks to all of
the honorable teachers of the Department of International Social Welfare and Health Policy, Oslo
University College, especially to Professor Frank Meyer (Course Coordinator), Professor Einar
Overby, Professor Ivar Lodemel, Professor Berit Bringedal and Professor Per Arne Tufte for
expanding my knowledge and cooperation during my study period. I am also thankful to Stuart
Arthur Deakin and Anne Thorsen for extending all means of cooperation regarding my studies. I
also wish to give thanks to Sylvi Nylsen for her valuable advice and sincere help regarding
various exams during my study in Oslo University College.
My heartfelt thanks go to all my classmates in Norway specially Hadia, Prokash, Felipe,
Jennifer, Gry, Kathleen, Kawawa, Walaa, Jorunn, Florence, Yaser and other friends for their well
wishes towards me. My special thanks also extend to the staffs of Oslo University College and
Dhaka University libraries for their cooperation. I would like to thank all the NGO staffs,
volunteers and children to carry out my field visit in Bangladesh.
I am in depth of gratitude to my mother, father, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sisters and brothers
who have helped me and motivated me with their support and encouragement despite their own
hectic times. Finally, Rumana my wife, for her active support and sacrifice during my absence
from the family and for sharing pain and pleasure through a lovely companionship with my
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loving daughter Arpita for depriving her from her fatherly affection during all of my study time.
Abstract
Child labor is regarded as one of the most serious problems of human rights violations in the
contemporary world. Millions of children around the world have their rights violated every day
and this is of great concern for the international community. The purpose of this study is to
systematically examine & evaluate child labour in developing South Asian countries and show
how it affects children‘s ability to access education & care in comparison to developed Nordic
countries. One central aim is this is to increase our understanding of new realities and aspects of
educational approaches in reducing child labour as well as to research the awareness of the
consequences of child labor in developing countries. In South Asia many cross sectional studies
have been done on children‘s labor as well as their education. But there are few studies
comparing these findings with those from developed countries. I want, within the frame of this
study to find out what the child labor situation in South Asia is like and what measures are being
taken with respect to child labor both, from the local and international arena. In addition I wish
to examine systematically the role of NGOs addressing the issue of child labour in developing
countries.
In the initial phase, I conducted a literature review on childhood, child labour and educational
issues in developing countries. By comparing and contrasting the literature presenting
conceptualizations of childhood in Europe with that of South Asia, I gained ideas on the
differences of childhood in two regions. Bangladesh was chosen for the study because I was born
and raised there and I have a clear understanding of the South Asian society like Bangladesh
where there is a serious child labour problem. In addition to literature review I also focus my
own face to face interview with children and adolescents who are enrolled with NGOs.
The study design is comparative, retrospective & qualitative in nature. The child subjects
focused on here are drawn from the existing data of Bangladesh and the Nordic countries.
Subjects over seventeen years of age are excluded from this sample. Qualitative research
methods employed in the study have included semi-structured interviews, structured texts and
documents. Various cases have been collected in a uniform manner and these together with field
have also been used.
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discussion and conclusions of the study, although additional information from external sources
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notes on children collected from NGO programs comprise the main empirical basis for the
Introduction and Contextualization
Introduction
Child labour may be defined as all economic activity for children under the age of 12 years. It
may also be defined as weekly economic activity lasting enough to undermine the health and
education of those aged 12-14. Additionally, it may be defined as all "hazardous work" which
could threaten the health of children under the age of 18. As we see here, different frameworks
have been proposed for defining child labour to find a solution to the problem. UNICEF defines
child labour as work that exceeds a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child
and on the type of work, such work is considered harmful to the child and should therefore be
eliminated. Ages 5--11, at least one hour of economic work or 28 hours of domestic work per
week. Ages 12—14, at least 14 hours of economic work or 28 hours of domestic work per week.
Ages 15—17, at least 43 hours of economic or domestic work per week (UNICEF 2008). Some
define child labour based on the patterns of children‘s activities. Others define it on the basis of
the negative impact of work on children's physical, mental, social and moral development as well
as deprivation from educational opportunities. According to Anker and Melkas (1996, 49), child
labour involves mainly the questions of children‘s work in early age, long working hours,
hazardous working conditions and insufficient access, attendance or progress in school.
However, there is no consensus on what child labour is and how it should be tackled.
According to UNICEF, there are today over 250 million children being exploited for profit or
forced to work. In terms of international treaties, there are 218 million children working illegally
today. Of these children, 126 million are engaged in hazardous work, such as mining or handling
chemicals, which is otherwise described as the "worst forms of child labour". A further category
known as "unconditional" includes even more severe forms of child labour such as prostitution,
military enrolment and slavery. This last category includes the use of children as bonded
labourers making brick kilns, assembling boxes, polishing shoes, stocking a store's products, or
cleaning. No statistics are available for this ‗unconditional‘ category but the numbers are likely
to be close to 10 million. Whole generations of children are currently being deprived of the
In developing societies, many children do not have choice and control over their work and
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education. Many from poor households work because they do not have the same opportunities to
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chance to take their rightful places in the society and economy of the 21st Century.
get education as middle and upper class children. There is one clear qualitative difference
between child labour in South Asia from that of Europe as well as Nordic countries. Many
children in developing countries can not choose the nature and working conditions of their work,
while children in Western countries can choose for example, to work part-time to earn extra
pocket money. Another difference is that many child workers in South Asia do not have
opportunities for leisure and play while the work children in Western countries carry out does
not interfere with their leisure and play activities.
Difference between ‘child labour’ and ‘child work’
There have been many debates in developing countries on what constitutes ‗child labour‘ and
‗child work‘ and on how to deal with them. In the literature, it has been argued that one way of
distinguishing between ‗child labour‘ and ‗child work‘ involves the nature of the work and its
impact on children. Child labour it has been claimed may be considered as hazardous when it has
adverse implications on children‘s health, growth, psycho-social development and educational
opportunities. It is argued that work of children becomes ―child labour‖ when it takes place
outside the family and under hazardous conditions. On the other hand, work by children taking
place in the family environment i.e. family farms or family enterprises are considered as nonhazardous i.e. ―child work‖. This distinction however may be misleading, because household
labour in the rural context can also be harmful for children. It hides the fact that children‘s work
under the protection of family may equally be considered as child labour depending on the nature
of work and children‘s lack of access to education (Fyfe 1989, 21-23; Anker 2000, 258).
It can be said that child labour is a sub-set of child work which denotes exploitative relations
and hamper children‘s school attendance. Parents may impose work on children to reduce their
own burden of work and reap the benefits of children‘s work. As Alec Fyfe argued, ‗Many
children make a deliberate choice in favour of ‗exploitation outside the home‘ and control their
own earnings, often in the face of parental opposition, rather than endure the ‗eternal
apprenticeship‘ of long hours without remuneration under the control of parents‖ (Fyfe 1989, 72-
because there is nothing to prevent children moving from one category to the other. According to
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Santha Sinha (2000, 152-3) criticizes the differentiation between ―child labour‖ and ―child work‖
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3).
Sinha, all work done by a child constitutes child labour and the fact that no child is really idle in
the Indian context leads to the logical conclusion that children out of school are by definition
child labourers. Her definition solves the problem of apparently invisible or non-existent children
who, for example, are not officially at work and not at school either. She treats elimination of
child labour and universal primary education as inseparable process, the success of one
automatically leading to the success of the other. From this point, it can be said that when
children are in school, they are less likely to be employed full-time work and work under
hazardous conditions. For any credible solution to child labour problem, Sinha argues that there
is a need to solve the educational problems of underprivileged children and their households. Her
framing positions child labour firmly with educational failure of disadvantaged groups in
developing countries.
The goals of the study
Given this link between education and child labour, one overriding goal of the study is to
increase the understanding of new realities and aspects of educational approaches in reducing
child labour as well as to research the awareness of the consequences of child labor in
developing countries.
In addition to the aims of the study spelled out in the introduction, a specific goal of the study is
to fill the intellectual gap in understanding key issues of education for child laborers and to find
out what measures in education improve the living conditions of child laborers.
Justification of the study
Personally, there are several factors influencing this study in addition to the fact that I
continually observed children working while growing up and working in a developing society.
The acclaimed cartoon series by Nabi about ―Tokai‖, the poor little street urchin has also been an
inspiration for me to do something about disadvantaged children. Moreover, the child cooks of
the University of Dhaka student dormitories, known as ‗pichchis‘ or the‗little one‘ (8-10 year
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visited Underprivileged Children‘s Educational Programme (UCEP) School in Dhaka, I found its
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old) pressed me mentally to work for increasing educational opportunities for children. . When I
approaches to education as new and promising for underprivileged children. I decided to include
education for child labourers in Bangladesh for my Master thesis to get a broader picture of the
fight against child labour in South Asia.
Within the frame of this study, I wish to examine the child labor situation in South Asia with a
prime objective of contributing to educational policy change in developing countries taking
underprivileged children‘s concerns into account.
Contextualization
This study will mainly focus on worst forms of child labor in South Asian context. In doing so I
found it important to investigate how a concept such as ‗globalization‘ relates to three key
factors of child labor, education and poverty. If we look at child labor in a global perspective it is
estimated that the number of child labourers between the age of 5 and 14 in developing countries
is 250 million. Approximately 61 per cent of these are found in Asia, 32 per cent in Africa and 7
per cent in Latin America (ILO 1997).
South Asian content consists of seven countries – Bangladesh, India, Srilanka, Maldives, Bhutan,
Nepal and Pakistan. In addition to the reasons already mentioned, Bangladesh is chosen for the
study as this country is more directly affected by child labour than any other countries in this
region (Falkus et al. 1997). Statistics provided by the Bangladesh Bureau of statistics in the
Government report National TBP (2006), show about half of the population (63.3 million) are
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children under the age of 18. Bangladesh has been ranked 139 among 177 countries in the
Human Development Index (HDI, 2005). Its economy is characterized by low levels of income,
and the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GPD) for 2003 was estimated at USD 376, with a
GDP growth rate of 5.3 per cent in real terms (National TBP, 2006).
The statistics provided above give us an idea of the situation in Bangladesh. Even though the
national poverty incidence fell from 59 per cent in 1991/92 to 50 per cent in 2000, Bangladesh is
still considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world. Importantly, there is a significant
difference in the country between the urban and rural areas. The poverty in the rural areas is 53
per cent compared to 37 per cent in the urban areas (National TBP, 2006). If we look at the issue
number of people living in the country.
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very dependent upon children working, since children representing almost 50 per cent of the total
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of child labor in Bangladesh in the light of socio-economic factors, it appears that Bangladesh is
The causes of child labour
According to Jillani (1998) poverty is a major cause of child labor since poor children are
required to work to contribute to the subsistence and survival of their families. The Bangladesh
government report National TBP (2006) shares Jillani‘s view and they go further in saying that
there are a lot of other factors contributing to and causing child labor. Among these are: rapid
population growth, adult unemployment, bad working conditions, lack of minimum wages,
exploitation of workers, low standard of living, low quality of education, lack of legal provisions
and enforcement, low capacity of institutions, gender discrimination, and conceptual thinking
about children.
The reports distinguished among ‘push factors’, ‘pull factors’ and ‘interactive factors’. ‘Push
factors’ can be when children are forced to work in order to earn money, such as ―Extreme
poverty, death of the earning member of the family, parental divorce, being abandoned by
parents and natural calamities‖. ‘Pull factors’ refers to children being cheaper to employ and that
they will accept lower wages. A good example of that in Bangladesh are the garment factories
during the 1990s which attracted a lot of poverty-stricken children who were easy to employ.
The ‘interactive factor’ consists of a series of psychosocial factors. Here the children are
exploited and their vulnerable minds are taken advantage of, leading them to work and earn
money. Contributing to this factor are ―parental disinterest in the child‘s education, failure in
examinations, dropping out from school, social and psychological crisis in the family,
punishment by the family members and peer group influence to work with them‖.
There are, however, other factors accounting for child labor and I would like to discuss two of
these here. The first is related to education. According to Bruns et al. (2003:118) education is
one of the most powerful instruments for combating child labor and poverty. He further argues
that the provision of compulsory primary education should be the state‘s main method of
controlling child labor. Schooling, however, must be affordable and relevant to the child‘s
circumstances. The second factor involves the level of awareness on the issue of child labor. In
Bangladeshi society as well as in South Asia, there has long existed a rather indifferent attitude
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the labour of children.
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toward this problem. In the following I wish to discuss briefly different ways of thinking about
The benefits of child labour
Child work can be considered as valuable for life skills and ‗neutral‘ or ‗beneficial‘ for children.
Non-hazardous child work can sometimes be good for children and their development if it does
not affect their school performance negatively. In this circumstance, child work can help children
prepare for productive adult life through skill training and building self-reliance, self-confidence
and self-esteem (Fyfe 1989, 21; Anker 2000, 257; Burra 2003, 83). A study made by Grote at
Center for Development of the Research University, Bonn, shows that the household decision to
send children to work was generally driven by economic need, rather than greed. Nevertheless,
what was interesting was that families had not devoted much thought to considering whether
letting their children work would be optimal for the household (Grote et al., 1998:9).
In terms of poor families in the developing world, it seems that one of the most important
questions would have to be if their decisions to send their children to school would be better than
letting them work. Moreover, the policy question becomes one of how does one recommend or
force families to keep their children out of work, if letting them work is most optimal for the
families. This is a really difficult question to answer, nevertheless, a really important one. Some
people talk about education as an option instead of working, but the reality for poor children and
the families is that they do not have the ‗luxury‘ to think about education. While education is
important, it is clear that children‘s work can be beneficial for families as well. This however
must take place under conditions that are good and where the work is not in violation of
children‘s ability to access education and other rights.
In many developing countries child labor has several important functions. The most important
function may be facilitating the survival of the poorest families. In India research conducted in
1993 found that each working child was contributing an average of 20-25% of the family
income. This is quite considerable and this could make the difference between survival and
starvation. Certainly it is important to find out what children working are contributing on an
average to the total income of a family. In addition, the work experience gained by children may
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few years of formal education might be able to provide (Grote et al., 1998).
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even enhance the chances of both the child and the family surviving in the future, more than a
Children’s Social and Cultural Contexts
Children‘s social and cultural contexts play an important role in their participation in work and
educational opportunities. Conceptions of age and maturity have far reaching impacts on the
overall well-being of children in different societies. They vary in their significance and meaning
both in different times and cultures (Jenks 1982). Chris Jenks (1996, 69) argues, ―Childhood
appears in different forms in different cultures in relation to structural variables such as mortality
and life expectancy, organizations of family life and structure, kinship patterns, and different
ideologies of care and philosophies of need and dependency‖. If we look at child laborers around
the world they are a good example of a group in society which is at great risk of being socially
excluded. The fact is that many children are forced to work and very often also abused. Looking
at the kind of work and work environment they have to endure, I would argue that they do not
receive the kind of treatment they deserve. The fact that the children are exploited and abused
puts them in a situation where they are at high risk of experiencing other deprivations. Often, the
direct or indirect consequences are that these children are excluded from participating fully in
society and a good example is their ability to pursue education.
Religion, myths and traditions define childhood and generational role in South Asia which differ
significantly from that of European societies. Children are never accorded with an identity of
their own; they remain as an object of their parents‘ wishes and family needs in South Asia. A
contrast to this for European children is the notion of ―citizenship right‖ (Marshall 1992, 18).
This gives them a sense of equality with other members of their society. Moreover children in
the West are considered as competent agents and informants on their lives (James, Jenks & Prout
1998, 32, Alanen 1994). This however is quite a recent development which is the culmination of
change brought about by industrial revolution in Europe. Because of this unique history
influencing cultural and economic conditions, Western conceptions of childhood may not be
applicable or create confusion in non-Western societies.
If we look at laws and conventions concerning child labor, many countries in the ‗West‘ appear
not to have child labor while many countries in the ‗South east‘ do have child labor. Therefore
the understanding of what child labor is and how it affects the societies which have child labor
‗outside‘ looking at countries having child labor. It is common for countries in the ‗West‘ to see
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child labor as something negative, while counties in the developing world, such as Bangladesh,
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might be understood as reflecting cultural differences between countries standing on the
do not share this view. This makes it extremely difficult to make the laws and conventions
relevant and applicable for both region (Bruns et al. 2003).
A major difference between European and South Asian conceptions of childhood is that whereas
European children have their own identity as a social group, children of South Asia are hardly
considered as a social group or actors in their own right. Family and caste are the parameters of
South Asian childhoods (Kakar 1981). European children enjoy ―public childhood‖ which is the
culmination of a process began during the industrial revolution in Europe. South Asian
childhoods can be considered as having ―family childhoods‖ based on century-old traditions. In
these traditions, autonomy and agency of children are considered as outrageous, spoiling for the
child and a source of ―threat‖ to the authority and control of father or other adult figures
(Blanchet 1996, 68).
Convention on the Right of the Child
The impact of UN Convention on Children’s Right
The International Labor Organization (ILO) works internationally against child labor. It was
founded in 1919 and it became the member and specialized agency of the UN system after the
end of World War II (ILO, 1998). One of the most important tools this organization has available
towards combating child labor is the adoption and supervision of international labor Conventions
and Recommendations. For decades, ILO has worked towards adapting conventions to prohibit
child labor in different sectors and under different conditions (ILO, 1998).
In 1989, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
within which Article 32 asserts the right that children should not be engaged in work deemed to
be "hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health".
The ILO has been active in coordinating global political initiatives to respect these rights,
together with the production of internationally recognised statistics. For example, the ILO aims
to achieve by 2016 the objective of its Convention 182 for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labour, encouraging countries to have time bound plans in place by 2008. This
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human beings and that they also need special care and protection.
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incorporates the Convention emphasizing that children have rights in the same way as other
According to UNICEF (2007) the Convention is universally agreed and comprises nonnegotiable standards and obligations. Importantly, the Convention is a legally binding instrument
which is the first set of instrument to incorporate human rights, civil, cultural, economic, political
and social rights. If we look at the Convention in relation to Child labor and education in
Bangladesh, which the two previous sections addressed, the goal of the Convention is the best
interest of the child: Devotion to the best interest of the child; the right to life, survival and
development; and respect for views of the child. Every right spelled out in the Convention is
inherent to the human dignity and harmonious development of every child. The Convention
protects children‘s rights by setting standards in health care; education and legal, civil and social
services (UNICEF, 2007).
Millennium Development Goals and Child Labour
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) missed the opportunity to drive forward this
strategy of mainstreaming child labour within development plans. Targets and indicators within
the MDG framework make no reference to the subject of child labour which is therefore less
likely to feature in national Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers that shape governments' policies.
Critics argue that the persistence of child labour could undermine progress towards Goals for
education, HIVAIDS and gender equality. Compounding these faultlines were the MDG‘s goals
of school enrolment totaling 5 years of education. These are far less than those defined by child
labour conventions.
Nevertheless, one prime achievement of the MDG to provide universal primary education by
2015 is a key benchmark for child labour campaigners. Whilst overall prospects for this Goal are
often assessed in relatively positive terms, there is correlation between those countries lagging
behind and those in which child labour thrives, such as Pakistan and Nepal. The daunting call by
global education campaigners for 18 million new teachers does not augur well for the elimination
of child labour (Global March against Child Labour 2000, Washington). Some caution is needed
in the presumption of a perfect inverse relationship between child labour and education. The
resources will fail to secure universal enrolment. And educational initiatives have to recognise
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Schools which levy unaffordable fees or which have insufficient teaching and classroom
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availability of education alone may not be sufficient to break down the demand for child labour.
the need for incentives for parents who will lose income by transferring their children from the
workplace to the school.
In an implied admonition of the MDG approach, an international joint-agency group established
in 2005, The Global Task Force in Child Labour and Education, explicitly aims to achieve
education for all through the elimination of child labour. Child labour continues to remain a
major obstacle in the realisation of education for all and well as the international goals and
commitments. Imparting education and elimination of child labour are the two sides of same
coin. One cannot be achieved without other. Education has a dual role in relation to child labour.
It is on one hand, a crucial element in the rehabilitation and social reintegration of child
labourers and on the other, a powerful tool in preventing children at risk from slipping into
situations of child labour.
Within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) there is a ―hidden goal‖
that underlies each of the eight goals and in some cases is central to their achievement, notably
those having to do with eradication of poverty, attaining universal primary education, promoting
gender equality and combating HIV/AIDS. This ―hidden goal‖ is none other than the elimination
of child labour. Sometimes policy makers simply fail to acknowledge and register that if there
are about two hundred million children engaged in some form of labour, how will it be possible
for them to receive education? Even if they are enrolled in schools it is impossible to ensure that
they stay and complete their primary education (Kailash Satyarthi, 2009). The approach is
underpinned by a cost/benefit analysis carried out by the UN in 2003 which convincingly
demonstrates the value of eliminating child labour through investment in education by reference
to the long term economic benefit of a more skilled and healthy workforce (UN Agency report
2004).
The Laws and Conventions Ratified and Rejected
ILO Convention 182 on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour came into force
November 19, 2000 with nearly 25% of the organisation's 175 members participating as
signatories. 132 countries had ratified the Convention within 3 years, symbolising the fastest
(Global March against Child Labour, Geneva 1999). The involvement of these countries in the
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Convention clearly shows that support for the movement against abusive child labour is gaining
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ratified Convention in ILO's 82-year history. Currently, the ratification status stands at 150
momentum worldwide. However as of 1st April 2007, 14 of the 177 ILO member countries still
had not ratified this crucial convention. These countries are Afghanistan, Burma, Cuba, Eritrea,
Guinea-Buissau, Haiti, India, Kiribati (Republic of), Sierra Leone, Soloman Islands, Somalia,
Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (ILOLEX 2009).
According to a United Nations report from 2003 (United Nations, 2003 B), Bangladesh started
building a strong framework for the promotion and protection of children‘s rights during the
1990s. This was made possible through an active commitment from the international community
in cooperation with the government authorities of Bangladesh. An important step towards
working for the rights of the child was the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. The objective of the human rights principals was to form a common standard of
achievements of all people within a country and all nations. In 1990 Bangladesh signed and
ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and they also signed the Declaration on the
Survival, Protection and Development of Children, and in addition to this they also related a Plan
of Action at the World Summit for Children. In 1996 they strengthened this by signing the
Rawalpindi Resolution on Children of South Asia. Just after signing of the new declarations and
the ratifications Bangladesh added new essential planning and policy adoption of National Plans
of Action for Children in 1992 and in 1999. In addition to this they approved the policy of the
National Policy in 1994 (United Nations, 2003 B).
The Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention No.182 is especially focused on forced or
compulsory labor, where the child has not voluntarily offered himself or herself to an employer.
Further, the ILO Abolition Forced Labor Convention No.105 is meant to supplement Convention
No.29 in protecting and upholding that no laborers have been forced to work. The last
Convention on the list, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, advocates protecting
children‘s rights, trying to help them with their basic needs and trying to make sure they can
reach their full potential (ILO, 1998). Having these Conventions in mind, it is positive to see the
commitment from Bangladesh towards combating child labor and that they have signed and
ratified the Conventions above. However, there are still areas which the International
community. One of these is that Bangladesh has yet to define what a child is and another is that
years as a child (UN report 2003).
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a child should be allowed to work. Interestingly, the UN defines everybody under the age of 18
15
the Bangladesh government has yet to ratify the Convention No.138 stipulating the minimum age
The UN has addressed the issue of ineffective legislation and they have strongly recommended
that they ensure that domestic legislation on minimum ages is respected and implemented
throughout the country. However, the UN feels that Bangladesh is not doing enough towards
meeting their recommendations (United Nations, 2003 C). As earlier noted Bangladesh has not
ratified the minimum age convention spelling out the age in which children are to be allowed to
work and also type of work they are allowed to conduct depending on their age. The law also
covers different work sectors and the work the children are doing is separated into two
categories, light work and hazardous work (ILO, 1998). I have already mentioned the
conventions Bangladesh have ratified, nevertheless, it is also important mention the ones that
Bangladesh has not ratified. It is a major challenge for Bangladesh to ratify Convention No.138
because there are so many socioeconomic dimensions and obstacles involved with defining
minimum ages for workers.
The implementation of the conventions is a challenging task, because after ratifying a convention
the nation signer has to implement it and that requires plentiful resources as well as policy
formulations, reformation and many changes to the existing system. That also creates a huge
impact on the system from a socioeconomic point of view. A country with little resources to start
with does not have the luxury to prioritize ratifying conventions that cost more than the country
can afford to pay. This is especially so in Bangladesh which according to ILO (2004) is
considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world.
The Convention does not give a fixed deadline by which the worst forms of child labour must be
eliminated. It will ultimately depend on the level of public concern, the political will of
governments and the resources invested for exploited children. Governments that take a token
approach will likely see children exploited in their country for many years to come, but those
that take a sincere and comprehensive approach to ending the problem may achieve results in a
very short time frame.(Global March against Child Labour ,Geneva 1999).
According to ILO (1998) ―Virtually all countries have some form of labor inspection and,
indeed, 118 countries have ratified the Labor Inspection Convention, 1947 (No.81). Even so, in
practice many encounter serious problems in enforcing child labor laws‖. The state has the
through the labor inspection system. However, due to difficulties such as the ones mentioned
16
above by the ILO it is a challenge for many countries to effectively protect against child labor as
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primary and general responsibility for making sure the laws are enforced. Normally this is done
a result of the weakness of the enforcement mechanisms. Enforcement problems are acute in the
informal sector, away from main cities and in agriculture, in small businesses such as shops and
hotels, in street trading, and in domestic service and home-based work. Since most working
children are found in agriculture, domestic service and the informal sector, most of them work
where child labor law enforcement is virtually absent (ILO 1998). The fact that most working
children are found in the informal sector was there are no enforcement mechanisms, implies that
children are not protected in these areas. This is a huge challenge for the international
community and the countries that are experiencing these problems. The tools which ILO talks
about using to combat child labor have limited effect reaching most of the hazardous child work.
Child Labour and Education in South Asia
Child Labour in South Asia
Asia has the largest share of child labour in the world and South Asia has the largest share of
child labour in Asia. According to Thomas DeGregori, an economics professor at the University
of Houston, in an article published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank operating in
Washington D.C., "it is clear that technological and economic change are vital ingredients in
getting children out of the workplace and into schools. Then they can grow to become productive
adults and live longer, healthier lives. However, in poor countries like Bangladesh, working
children are essential for survival in many families, as they were in our own heritage until the
late 19th century. So, while the struggle to end child labor is necessary, getting there often
requires taking different routes -- and, sadly, there are many political obstacles."
Children from disadvantaged communities may enjoy more freedom comparing to middle class
children by virtue of their economic contribution to their families. Work gives children the
opportunity to acquire every-day life skills and a sense of control over their lives (Burra 2003).
Because their parents are poor, weak or absent and work givew them status, some children may
act more independently than other children. Childhood identity is superseded by their parent‘s
restaurants, and child labour in the entertainment sector illegal under the Child Labour
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notified all child domestic labourers, children in roadside dhabas (popular kabab shop), eateries,
17
economic and social position in South Asian cultures. On 10 October 2007, the government
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986. This is the extension the service rule of 1999 to the
employment of child domestics. This service rule is a direct result of Bachpan Bachao Andolan's
(Save the Childhood Movement), a NGO working for the rights of the child, effort to highlight
the case of first child domestic slave rescued in India in 1996.
Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour has commented on these
actions by noting: "What this indicates is a serious lack of political will and lack of preparedness
on the part of government to implement the law. Enforcement of the law is the key, without
enforcement the law is more or less just a piece of paper. Efforts must be made to change this
culture of breaking laws". Even though the respective national laws state that no child under the
age of 14 may work, the law is often ignored. Children as young as 11 go to work for up to 20
hours a day in sweatshops making items for US companies, such as Hanes, Wal-mart, and
Target. The get paid as little as 1 cent per item produced (Sabah Saeed 2008).
If we look at the issue of child labor in Bangladesh in the light of socio-economic factors, it is
clear that economic factors influence the use of children as child laborers. If we look closer at the
statistics above one can argue that Bangladesh is dependent upon children working, since
children representing almost 50 per cent of the total number of people living in the country.
According to Jillani (1998), countries such as Bangladesh are dependent on using children as
child laborers in order to increase the economic productivity. For years the country has,
according to ILO (1998), been experiencing less growth rate and less economic activities. This is
of great concern and is in many ways increasing the country‘s dependence on using children to
meet the demand. In addition to this Bjerkan et al. (1997) believe that because of this pressure
and dependency, children are used unwillingly and at any cost to meet these demands. The
children also represent a labor force which is cheaper and less likely to complain on poor and
hazardous work conditions. Bjerkan et al. believe that Bangladeshi society and the general social
system work economically, socially and culturally to set the conditions in such a way that
children and their families are positioned to be exploited or/and abused. According to the
Bangladesh Bureau of statistics stated in the National TBP (2006:4) ―the total number of child
which 3.8 million were boys and 2.5 million were girls‖. Of the total 83 per cent of the children
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were employed in rural areas and 17 per cent in urban areas (National TBP, 2006:4). If one
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workers in Bangladesh between 5-14 years of age was then estimated to be 6.3 million, out of
compares the number of child laborers in Bangladesh to the total number worldwide, the
Bangladesh Bureau of statistics found that 2.6 per cent of the world‘s child laborers are found in
Bangladesh and that is 19 per cent of the entire child population in Bangladesh.
One way of looking at these conditions is to compare them to another country in South Asia
According to a CWIN study there are at least 1 million child labourers in Nepal of the age group
of 10-14 (Pradhan 1998, 37). In Nepal, of the child population in the 10-14 year age group, 57
per cent was economically active (ILO/IPEC 1995). In certain communities and income groups,
children‘s work and salary are controlled by father. The cultural respect for seniority gives the
adults authority over children. Parents may demand labour from their wards and employers can
take advantages of the labour of children who are considered as innocent, docile and less
troublesome. A study in Nepal revealed that 66 percent of parents controlled the income of their
children. Parents have tendency to control their sons and daughters in rural and disadvantaged
communities. The study found that the majority of child labourers were brought to work by their
own parents. About 83 per cent boys and 81 per cent girls were put to work by their father. In
case of school enrolment, father decided for 71 per cent boys and mother decided for 71 per cent
of girls. Children took their own decision to work only 0.1 per cent cases. Those who enrolled in
school, children took their own decision in 22 per cent cases (National Planning Commission
1996, 16).
With the United States as a leader, the use of child labor was put on the political agenda with the
passing of legislation to ban importation of goods made using child labor. This automatically put
pressure on the factory owners and the government in Bangladesh, which lead to an immediate
stop of the use of child labor. All of the children lost their jobs. At first this sounded like a good
thing, however, neither the US, nor the factory owners nor the Bangladeshi government appeared
to have thought about the consequences this decision would have on the children and their
families. The fact is that nobody did anything in preventing the situation in getting worse. Again,
by turning to Nepal for parallels to Bangladesh, a study found that 5,000 to 7,000 Nepalese
children turned to prostitution after the United States banned that country's carpet exports in the
children were dismissed from their garment industry jobs in Bangladesh, leaving many to resort
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to jobs such as "stone-crushing, street hustling, and prostitution, which is more hazardous and
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1990s. Also, after the Child Labor Deterrence Act was introduced in the US, an estimated 50,000
exploitative than garment production and actually harm rather than help the children involved
(UNICEF 1997 A).
Poverty and Urban Migration
In South Asia, poverty has been defined as a lack of means to meet the basic needs of life and
has been related to 'want' and 'deprivation' of households. The South Asian poor do not have
access to regular, legally-regulated employment, and consequently, nor do they constitute a
'working class' as in industrialised countries. The urban poor have different access and assign
meaning of school comparing to the 'working class' in industrialized countries. Children of the
rural and urban poor in South Asia remain mostly outside school and engage in work. Westernoriented education is simply too costly and unrealistic in the framework of poor resource base of
South Asia. In Bangladesh, the poor account for about 50 per cent of its total population, and 37
per cent are counted among the ―hardcore‖ poor, who live in the direst circumstances (Tiejen
2003, 8). A countrywide national sample survey in Bangladesh found that 60.86 percent of the
urban population was below the absolute poverty line while 40.20 percent fell below the
hardcore or extreme poverty line (Islam et al. 1997, 289). In Nepal, 23 per cent of the urban and
44 per cent of the rural people live below poverty line (National Planning Commission 1998).
In South Asian societies, poverty is one of the main reasons why poor parents keep their children
away from school. The cost of a child‘s education is not reduced to zero for poor households
when there is free schooling. Parents are discouraged to send their children to school when direct
costs of books, uniforms, writing materials, transportation to school. Immediate and direct costs
of schooling also lower the likelihood of the child ever entering school (Fyfe 1989; World Bank
1992, 1997). Government policy-makers often ignore the fact that free schooling cannot alone
attract poor children if these and other secondary costs are not considered.
As earlier noted, poverty is the main cause of child labour. Empirical evidence suggest that most
of the child labourers come from landless and marginal families in South Asia (Anker & Melkas
1996; Nambissan 2003, 112). Quite simply, as a result of family poverty, many parents prefer
sending children to work rather than to school.
an unquestioned phenomenon. But it can be said that poverty cannot totally block children‘s
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access to education. This phenomenon is often ignored and child labourers with access to school
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If the poverty argument accounting for child labour is accepted, child labour remains as
are often equated with child labourers without access to school. Scholars argue that relationship
between poverty and child labour is weak and insignificant (Banerji 2000; Strandell 2001). This
is based on the argument that countries with similar level of poverty may have relatively high or
low levels of non-school going children and child labourers. In the Indian State of Kerala, for
instance, with a school dropout rate of less than 1 per cent, there is found the lowest incidence of
child labour despite its relatively low level of income (ILO/UNICEF 1997). This suggests that
the underlying causes of child labour is not poverty itself, but rather, unequal distribution of
resources within the country. In addition, child labor is influenced by social and cultural norms
and aggravated by less relevant and low quality of education in the country.
Owing to unsteady seasonal unemployment, lack of food security, debt and limited income
opportunities, the rural poor in the developing world are today moving in great numbers to urban
areas for employment opportunities. From this point, it is said that urban poverty is in fact
―urbanisation of rural poverty‖ (Hjerppe & Berghäll 1996, 13). Urbanisation is growing at faster
rate than population growth rate in South Asia. It has been causing massive problem in urban
areas as cities are unprepared to deal with waves of poor newcomers. This is not isolated from
the global trend of increasing urbanisation in developing countries. In 1880, only 2 per cent of
world's population was urbanised; by 2008, the figure will increase to more than half of the
world's population (Economist 2003a). In 2001, a billion people were living in slums - about a
third of the world's city dwellers. On the present trend, 2 billion people could be living in slums
by 2030. Child labourers are the part of the growing army of migrants from rural to urban areas
and from agricultural to non-agricultural sector in South Asian countries.
Education for All by 2015
Education is one of the most powerful instruments known for reducing poverty and inequality
and for laying the basis for sustained economic growth. It is fundamental for the construction of
democratic societies and dynamic, globally competitive economies. For individuals and for
nations, education is the key to creating, applying, and spreading knowledge. Through education
chance, a chance to control their own future and destiny. Education can open new doors, giving
boost to society; economically and socially, for both the individual and the nation (Jillani, 1998).
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besides work (Bruns et al., 2003:26). Through education the poor children are given a new
21
the children have the possibility to learn about their rights and that they have other options
The international community has acknowledged that something needs to be done so that
education can be for all. This is crucial since education is an efficient way of reducing poverty
and inequality (Bruns et al., 2003). In 1990 the World Conference on Education for All was held
in Jomtien, Thailand. The 155 nations at the conferencce made a commitment to ensure that the
basic learning needs of all children, youth and adults were to be met by the year 2000, which
now has been extended until 2015 with extra measures to reach the goals (UNICEF 1997 A).
The six EFA goals were set by UNESCO in co-operation with the international community. But
47 low income countries are far from reaching the goals. These countries had an average primary
completion rate of only 57 percent, and their poverty, fragile domestic resource base, and
institutional weakness make them priority claimants on financial support (Bruns et al., 2003:26).
This support from other nations is extremely important in terms of child labors since children
tend to be available for and more ready to participate in labor when education is not available or
when the available, schooling does not meet the criteria of affordability, quality, and relevance
(UNICEF 1997 B). Donor nations play a very important role since different countries trying to
achieve the goals are dependent on help from them. The study done by Bruns et al. (2003:118)
showed that even with a maximum domestic effort, these 47 countries plus Afghanistan would
not be able to achieve the Education for all by 2015. From the perspective of Bruns et al. (2003),
one of the reasons identified for not achieving the goals before the year 2000 was because of
insufficient donor support.
Education in South Asia
The history of education in the North and the South are very different. The major differences are
linked to the purpose of education. The industrial transformation preceded the rise of educational
systems in Europe, and in Southern countries, education systems are considered to be a stepping
stone into modernization (Hoppers 1981). According to Theodore Schultz (1963), investing in
education has generally proven to be highly instrumental and necessary in order to improve the
production capacity of a given population and it also sharpens the decline in absolute poverty.
Prior to the colonization of South Asia, educational content was based on religious faith. During
(Siqueria 1952). Rather, its goal was to build one's personal character, teach respect for elders,
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authority and religious ideology. Following colonization, education was aimed at establishing
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the pre-colonial period, earning of a living was not the principal goal of education in South Asia
modern organizations which would help in forming an educated middle class that could function
as the motor in the development process and as a guarantee against revolutions or other attacks
on the State (Lipset 1964 cited in Daun 1992).
Today, however, this Western-oriented education is too costly in the framework of poor resource
base of South Asia. Indeed the colonial model has proved to be an ineffective and dysfunctional
education system failing to meet the educational needs of disadvantaged children. Different
modes of education i.e. public, private, NGO schools and Madrassahs create class difference in
education access and outcome. While elite schools, private teachers and coaching centres serve
the reproduction goals of upper classes in South Asia, poor parents in the context of poverty and
hunger have little faith that education for their children till grade of V will bring any benefit for
the household. Even if poor children learn to read and write, later on they may forget these skills
as there are little opportunities to have reading or writing materials and there is no school library
in rural schools (Pelkonen 2002). Poor parents also see that their children have little chance to
get a secondary school diploma in a formal job market requiring secondary or higher secondary
diplomas from job seekers.
Moreover, education cannot guarantee a job for children from poor households as there are today
throughout South Asia and the rest of the developing world a growing number of educated
unemployed people. Parents prefer their sons and daughters to work which is relevant for their
income and skill development. Education is seen as a prerequisite for urban and white collar jobs
and as a matter of social status in many developing countries. Getting government job is highly
competitive in South Asia, where a powerful relative or bribe may become necessary to get a job
and ―mama‖ (maternal uncle, meaning ―powerful relative‖) factor and nepotism /corruption are
important in recruitment in formal sector jobs. Poor parents fear that education may detach their
children from their way of life, traditional respect for the elders and from family responsibility.
All of these factors contribute to discouraging poverty-stricken parents from sending their
children to school.
In addition, there are gender factors at work in preventing the poor from sending their children to
school. When it comes to the question of investment of limited resources in education of
or no return from a girl's education. There is a deeply-rooted cultural perception that there is no
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sense in educating girls because they are destined to leave for the home of their husbands. Even
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children, poor parents usually decide not to send their daughters to school as they perceive little
those who send their daughters to school do so in anticipation of getting a better husband for
their daughters. Those who send their daughters to school withdraw them during puberty in order
to protect family honor. Part of the middle class South Asian still consider female education on
the ground of better child-rearing and domestic management rather than career development for
women. Many educated and professional women give up their professions and prospective jobs
in order to carry out the culturally-prescribed role of a wife and a mother.
External Aid and Underprivileged Children’s Educational Program
(UCEP)
Educational development in developing countries is intimately intertwined with external
assistance (Hoppers 1994). South Asian education systems are seldom based on indigenous
models. Schools are strongly connected with the Northern control of content, examination and
infrastructure and the use of European languages. In many respects, these factors are ill-suited
for the needs of the countries. While European education has transformed itself greatly over the
past 30 years, there has not been a corresponding change in developing countries (Kiernan 2000,
197). While different tools of modernization have failed to deliver benefits to every community
in many developing countries, South Asian countries still followed Western models of education
which were important for entry into paid employment in formal sectors. Work-orientation in
education, a reflection of this bias, is still regarded as inferior to academically-oriented
education. It is therefore, unfortunate, that many developing countries have less focus on work
orientation in education even though this may fit with the socioeconomic realities of the
Southern countries.
The current situation in South Asian Countries shows that it not possible to achieve the targeted
EFA goals. While enrolment rates are increasing, over 50 per cent of children dropout before
reaching grade 5. Therefore, many governments must shift their focus from only looking at the
many things that need to be done and too little time and resources available. No matter how
much the donors support, or organizations locally, nationally and internationally use advocacy,
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are some signs that the goal of Education for All is attainable, but not within 2015. There are too
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enrolment to begin looking at the bigger picture and focus on every aspect of education. There
nothing seems likely to change if governments are either reluctant or incapable of making the
necessary reforms to schooling and work. Their problems own not so much to a direct lack of
resources, but rather to a lack of political stability, commitment, and effectiveness. South Asian
countries need to be committed to do these necessary changes themselves.
In Bangladesh there seems to be no curriculum that actually ensures a quality education. The
curriculum is nationally inconsistent which means that the education provided is different
everywhere. The education is also not relevant for children that are coming from a poor
background. A child that is poor needs a curriculum that fits their reality. The reality is that they
need to be able to use what the school is supposed to teach them. They have to be able to apply
that knowledge so that they can survive out in the ‗real‘ world. One positive reform has been that
of the Underprivileged Children‘s Education Program (UCEP). This program is financed by
support from international donors and NGO‘s. It develops the module for the poorest children so
that they could combine both work and education in form of basic education and skills training.
This module has demonstrated that child labor can gradually be dealt with by removing children
from hazardous work and providing them with education and skilled training. In this way,
UCEP has provided children with ways of facing life as workers under conditions that are human
and which do not deprive them of their rights as children. At the same time, this program helps
contribute to the family‘s general income which is essential for its members.
The UCEP program provides both general and vocational education. The children learn how to
read and to write in addition to learning a skill which they can use outside of school (UCEP
2000).
It appears that one reason for the success of the UCEP Schools is because the school cooperates
closely with the community, the children‘s families, factories and the employers. They provide
through this cooperation something that is unique when it comes to education. They provide
technical and skilled education, in addition to a general education, which makes the children
more equipped to face the world as a skilled worker instead of facing the world as an uneducated
and unskilled worker. The fact is that the UCEP Schools provide a solution. If the education is
not relevant and the quality is poor, children and their families tend to see work as the only
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that is both relevant and of a good quality.
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option. UCEP, through their program, offers a solution to this problem by providing an education
Child labour and Education in Nordic Countries
Child labour in Europe
Throughout human history, children have always worked. Often they have been exploited and
exposed to extremely unhealthy conditions. In the West, industrialization and the vast influx of
poor immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries made it easy to justify the work of young
children. Fifty years ago it might have been assumed that, just as child labour had declined in the
developed world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries so it would also, in a trickledown fashion, decline in the rest of the world. Its failure to do that, and its re-emergence in the
developed world, raises questions about its role in any economy, whether national or global, and
about the contribution which children can make to their family economies. It also serves to focus
attention on the explanations which are available for the decline of child labour in western
economies (Lavalette 1999).
In the 1830s and beyond, children played a crucial role in key industries in the more advanced
economies, most notably in textiles, coal mining, paper and pulp industries. Most factories were
situated outside the cities and towns in districts where school usually was held only two or three
days a week. So the children worked full time the other days and during the long holidays (Bull
1982, 223-231). By the late nineteenth century children in these economies for the most part no
longer participated in these key industries; they were confined to a distinct and marginalized
children‘s labour market—and they remain there. Despite this shift in the nature of children‘s
work, working-class family economies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century‘s
remained dependent on children‘s earnings; children contributed more in earnings than did
women, and the male breadwinner norm was an actuality in only one phase of the life cycle
(Cunninghum 1991).
At the level of the firm, work on the Ghent cotton industry has shown that 3.7 per cent of the
Voortmans labour force was under 15 in 1842 and by 1859 the proportion had risen to 10 per
cent (Scholliers 1995). In Alsace in the 1820s one- third or more of the workforce in mills were
35.6 per cent and 48.3 per cent (Bolin-Hort 1989). In the British coal industry in the midnineteenth century 13 per cent of the labour force was aged under 15 and 30 per cent under 20
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workforce was under 14 and 32.4 per cent under 16; in 29 mills in Glasgow the proportions were
26
under 16 (Heywood 1998), In 1833 in a sample of 43 Manchester mills, 22.3 per cent of the
and the young children were regarded as crucial to the carrying on of the industry (Church 1986).
There were similar figures in the Belgian coal and coke industry in 1846: children under 16
constituted 22.4 per cent of the total workforce of 46,000. Children most commonly started work
in these industries between the ages of eight and eleven (De herdt 1996). It might be concluded
from such examples that although the technology did not always require high levels of child
labour, in many cases employers or those to whom they sub-contracted employment, for example
the mule spinners, had a preference for child labour. In some ways, children in these
circumstances were crucial to the success of the industries during that time.
Industrial Revolution
Before the Industrial Revolution virtually all children worked in agriculture.
During the
Industrial Revolution many of these children moved from farm work to factory work. Over time,
as real wages rose, parents became able to afford to send their children to school instead of work
and as a result child labor declined (Cunningham 1995). By the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century, the age structure of the workforce in the central industries of an industrial
economy had changed. The age of entry had risen, and it was open to question whether those in
their mid- to late teens who did work in them could be termed ‗children‘. Moreover, children,
however defined by various laws, played little or no part in the new chemical and electronic
industries of the period This, however, did not mean that they had no economic role.
In 1872, the Mines Regulation Act in Britain removed children under the age of 15 from the
mines and as a result, their proportion of the total labour force dropped from 10.5 per cent in
1871 to 6 per cent in 1881 (Nardinelli 1990). In 1911 in Britain over one-quarter of males under
15 in employment were in the category ‗transport‘, a high-sounding title for work as messenger
boys (Hopkins 1994). It was work of a kind which was not only exclusive to children, but also,
certainly in comparison with the earlier nineteenth century, was marginal to the economy. In
Norway in 1875 children worked in such major industries as agriculture, tobacco, and glass
manufacture. Statistics from 1875 quote 3370 children under 15 years worked in industrial
were paid. Such children were not in the statistics. Most worker families did nothing to avoid
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directly employed by the firm. They helped the adolescent and got their pay from them, if they
27
establishments. That would mean about 8% of the entire workforce. Most of them were not
sending their child to the factories. The first Norwegian factory act was passed in 1892 and came
into effect in the following year. From then on it was categorically forbidden for children under
the age of 12 to work in factories and working hours and other conditions were specially
regulated for those between 12 and 18 years of age (Bull 1982, 223-231). By 1912, that‘s why,
their role had been sharply restricted and, typically, they were become the distributors of
newspapers (Schrumpf 1997).
So it is clear that technological and economic changes are vital ingredients of Western Europe in
getting children out of the workplace and into schools. There they were to grow to become
productive adults and live longer, healthier lives. During stage of industrialization, factories
required a large number of educated workers due to the introduction of new technologies and an
increasing orientation towards productivity. As a result, managerial competency simply put
children out of work and into school in order to satisfy the growing demand for a skilled labour
force which causes reduction of child labour in Western Europe.
Education Policies in Europe
Thus so far in this study I have shown that there is a direct link between child labor and
education. According to DeGregori, "it is clear that technological and economic change are vital
ingredients in getting children out of the workplace and into school thus they can grow to
become productive adults, live longer and healthier lives. However, in poor countries like
Bangladesh, working children are essential for survival in many families, as they were in our
own heritage until the late 19th century.‖ (DeGregori 2002).
Very few industrialized countries set their own education policies in terms of Education for All,
and only a small minority have produced an EFA plan. The latter include the Nordic countries
(Denmark, 2003; Finland, 2002; Iceland, 2002; Norway, 2002; Sweden, 2002). In the United
Kingdom, the National Commission for UNESCO has produced a report on the national and
international implications of EFA (UK National Commission for UNESCO, 2003).
The Nordic school system is of a high standard in international terms, and there unresolved
problems are small in comparison with the challenges in the field of aid and development.
For an example seen from Norwegian perspective, Norway is typical of most industrialized
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countries that follow the agenda set in Dakar primarily through their development ministries and
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International development work is therefore the most important focus of EFA‘ (Norway, 2002).
agencies rather than through their ministries of education. The Norwegian Government is
strongly committed to children's rights and welfare; it amply funded systems of public education
and medical care. The Government provided compulsory, free, and universal primary school
education for children 9 to 16 years of age.
Child Welfare with changing the Gender balance of Employment
Nordic child welfare policy reforms on 1990s with the expansion of state-sponsored childcare
services, the strengthening of fathers‘ rights to care and the institution of cash grants for
childcare. Three sets of child care policies – linked to different family models are: the expansion
of state sponsoring of childcare services, the institution of paid parental leave, and the legislation
of cash benefits for childcare (Leira 2002a).
In all the Nordic countries the early stages of motherhood change preceded large-scale policy
reform. The modernization of motherhood and paternal responsibilities for childcare started
earlier in Scandinavia than in other parts of Europe where political and cultural traditions are
different and the state perceived as subsidiary to the family in care provision. From the 1970s in
Finland, Sweden and Norway, and from 1984 in Denmark, welfare state legislation included
fathers among those entitled to care for young children. Since Norway is the only Nordic country
to provide both a father‘s quota as part of the paid parental leave and a cash benefit for childcare,
it might be argued that Norway makes a fourth model (Leira 2002).
In the Nordic region, the shift away from the stay at home mother type family started in the
1950s and 1960s, first in Finland, next in Sweden and Denmark, with Norway to follow. During
the 1970s and early 1980s, women‘s labour-market participation was approaching that of men
(NORD 1994). Mothers of pre-school children became one of the fastest growing groups in the
labour market; by the mid-1990s, economic activity rates of mothers with children up to 10 years
of age ranged from 84% in Denmark and 82% in Sweden, 77% in Finland and Norway (Statistics
labour market, Norway 1997).
Danish welfare analyst Gøsta Esping-Andersen (1999) presented the high employment rates of
women as a characteristic of the social democratic welfare state regime. State support of a wide
facilitating their employment by relieving them of (some of) the responsibility for family care.
29
Mothers have become more equal to fathers as economic providers. Usually, the welfare state is
Page
range of social services serves a double function, he argued, offering jobs for women, and
considered to have promoted the modernization of motherhood, offering mothers both jobs and
social care services to assist their employment. In the mid-1990s, the great majority of employed
Finnish mothers of children under 10 years of age worked full time, as did about 2 in 3 of the
Danish mothers. Among the Swedish and Norwegian mothers of children under 7 years of age,
about half were in part-time work, but often working long part time, that is 20 to 30 hours per
week (Statistics, labour market, Norway 1997).
In the 1990s, all the Nordic welfare states considered legislation of cash benefit for childcare
schemes as an entitlement of the families whose young children do not make use of state
sponsored childcare services. The grant is used for the support of parental care in the home, or
alternatively for extra-parental, private childcare arrangements. For children aged 12 to 36
months who did not use the state sponsored childcare, a cash benefit for childcare was available.
In 1997, state-sponsored childcare services in Norway accommodated 28% of the under 3-yearolds, and 73% of the older pre-schoolers (NOSOSKO 1999). Parents received approximately
$1,300 per year for each child less than 16 years of age; the per-child amount increases when
there are three children or more.
So in Nordic region, state-sponsored, high quality child welfare is used, particularly for children
aged 3, to start of school, where state-sponsored child welfare has facilitated the employment of
both parents, which forms child care instead of child labour in this region.
Role of NGO’s and their strategies
Arguments in favor of and against NGOs
Arguments in favor of NGOs
Millions of children in developing countries are not in school and those who enroll, tend to drop
out before completing their primary education for filling the basic needs of poor households.
Formal education systems are also less sensitive to the needs of disadvantaged children including
child labourers in developing countries. These are the barriers to the promotion of coherent
policies of governments in education sector in developing countries. That‘s why I try to
actors of alternative development. NGOs and international development agencies played a
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countries. NGOs have provided useful educational services to the underprivileged children as the
30
overcome the problem and to guide the role of NGOs in the education sector in developing
central role in creating innovative approaches for education in order to address the position of
child labourers. Through their innovative efforts, it has been found that basic education may
prove to be the most efficient way to transform the living conditions of child labourers.
Furthermore, if we look closer at what role the NGO‘s play in reducing child labor and
promoting education, a very good example is the UCEP Schools. Helmut Anheier (1990, 361374) discusses the comparative advantages of NGO. He compiled four major arguments on
comparative advantages of NGOs, i.e. the social argument, the economic argument, the political
argument and the cultural argument.
The social argument states that NGOs try to stimulate the participation of the poor and are able
to reach those strata which are bypassed by public service delivery systems. According to this
argument, NGOs attach greater equity concerns in development than public sector. The economic
argument implies that NGOs carry out services more economically than governments and their
goal is to provide self-reliance and self-sufficiency. This ensures greater efficiency of NGOs
comparing to government institutions. The political argument states that NGOs are more
"honest" and less guided by political considerations and hence efficient channel for doing
development work for the poor and vulnerable. The cultural argument stipulates that NGOs are
embedded in local culture and are more sensitive to local needs and contexts. Instead of
replacing indigenous social structures by large organizations, NGOs try to nurture local
organizations within their own cultural context.
Though NGOs emerged as a response to emergency operations in the beginning, they increased
their importance in Third World development. They have become intermediary organizations
located between the state and market on the one hand, and between the local domestic and the
international level on the other. Role of NGOs in development has been widely appreciated by
marginalized groups as well as by international donor agencies. NGOs are said to be propoor,
participatory, flexible, innovative, cost-effective etc. They are considered to reach the grassroots
and play important role in influencing and transforming policy changes in the South (Nelson
2000; Mundy & Murphy 2001a). In relation to reducing child labour, NGOs have emerged as
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Arguments against NGOs
31
experimental/alternative educational providers, innovators and catalyst for change.
All NGOs do not have advantages over government agencies in reaching the poor and
vulnerable. Some see NGOs as the agent of imperialism and grassroots capitalism. The rise of
NGOs may not be necessarily an outcome of local and national response to fill the needs of the
poor. Rather, it may be the result of increased fund from international development cooperation
agencies including Northern Non Governmental Organizations (NNGOs). Primarily, NNGOs
used to run their programmes in developing countries and in the recent time, they have taken the
back seat and working as a facilitator of local NGOs. Some scholars argue that NGOs do not
necessarily reach the poor and meet their needs comparing to government agencies (Ferrington
& Bebbington 1993).
There are criticisms against NGOs because of their urban bias. Only few NGOs have interest to
work on remote inaccessible areas. Some seasonal famine prone areas of developing countries
are often neglected by NGOs in their development programmes. Officials of big NGOs are
criticized for having luxurious lifestyles, working in skyscrapers and driving around luxury
vehicles (Miwa 2003). NGOs of developing countries are criticized for being dependent on
Northern aid agencies. Excessive dependence on international aid may make innovation of
Southern NGOs difficult (Rooy 2000).
Strategy towards Child labour
Child labour continues to remain a major obstacle in the realization of education and well as the
international goals and commitments. Within the framework of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) there is a ―hidden goal‖ that underlies each of the eight goals and in some cases is
central to their achievement, notably those to do with eradication of poverty, attaining universal
primary education, promoting gender equality and combating HIV/AIDS. This ―hidden goal‖ is
none other than the elimination of child labour. Sometimes we fail to acknowledge and register
that if there are about two hundred million children are engaged in some form of labour how can
they receive education? Even if they are enrolled in schools it is impossible to ensure their
retention and completion primary school education. A crucial target group for inclusive
education strategies is the millions of child labourers worldwide who have never attended school
might
never
in
future
either,
if
we
don‘t
act
now.
Education is not an individual but an inter-sectoral issue. Education for All is one of the four
32
possibly
critical, closely interrelated processes affecting the future of our world, especially our children.
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and
The others are poverty, child labour and insecurity. Education has a dual role in relation to child
labour. It is on one hand, a crucial element in the rehabilitation and social reintegration of child
labourers and on the other, a powerful tool in preventing children at risk from slipping into
situations of child labour. The role of NGOs in the education of child labourers can be
categorised in three broader categories. These are: 1) education as a protective strategy; 2)
education as a skill-development strategy, and 3) education as a preventive strategy.
Education as Protective strategy
NGOs follow this approach based on the premise that child labourers can be better served by
providing them with part-time education. NGOs consider that formal education more or less
distant from the target groups. Due to children‘s work patterns, NGOs see part-time education as
more realistic solution for children's immediate needs than the goal of full-time education for
them. Protective strategies of NGO in Bangladesh can be categorised according to three different
target groups. They are education for working/street children, education for the victims of
trafficking and prostitution and education for child domestic servants.
Education for working/street children
NGOs provide free educational materials (books, uniforms, pads and pencils), free tuition,
stipend and free health care under this category. They arrange school hours based on the needs of
child labourers, particularly their off hours from work. The children in this category are mobile
and may change their work place and home in squatter settlements. In public schools, this group
of children is not usually allowed to study as they cannot become full-time students because of
their work patterns, their low cleanliness and inability to pay tuition fees. This manifests that
schools do not reproduce educational division in South Asia as they do in Western countries.
NGO schools run their education projects to ameliorate the conditions of children left out or
dropped out from school. NGOs such as CWIN, UPCA have contact centre for children where
staffs and volunteers have been working to change children‘s patterns of life particularly their
and BRAC Urban schools in Bangladesh run educational programme for child labourers without
33
shelter homes. NGOs try to change children so that they can become ―appropriate‖ children
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unclean and unhygienic lifestyles, lack of educational opportunities and street habits. Prodipon
(obedient, responsible and skilful without threatening existing social order). Here children give
up their individuality to conform to the social norms.
Education for victims of trafficking and prostitution
Education is secondary to the immediate needs of victims of trafficking and prostitution i.e. girls
from disadvantaged families and communities in South Asia. The victimization of girls is a
direct result of patriarchal social values. It has been noted that most of the girls under this
category did not get equal educational opportunities comparing to their brothers.
The poor have less means for education, health care and other social services in rural areas. The
spread of radio, TV, cinema has reached to the grassroots level because of the explosion of mass
media in South Asia in the recent time. It has created a desire among girls and women for better
life, which leads them to move to urban areas for jobs. For girls without literacy and lack of
awareness of urban dangers, moving to urban areas may make them vulnerable to trafficking and
prostitution. The abandoned or divorced women want to work in the rural areas but they are not
allowed to do so because of social norms and lack of job opportunities. When they move to cities
for employment in garment industry, they find it difficult to survive with a monthly salary of
BDT 800 (equivalent to $13), which is paid irregularly. Girls and women under this condition
move around bus stations and cinema halls for job advertisement. Pimps promise them highly
paid jobs and then try to sell them in brothels.
For the victims of forced prostitution, the primary focus of NGOs is rescue and rehabilitation.
Medical care and psychotherapy then helps to improve their physical and mental health from
shocking and traumatic experiences. When their situation is stabilized, they are given non-formal
education and skill training by NGOs working with them. It has been found that NGOs working
on trafficking and prostitution have a weak orientation towards education and skill development.
They give priority to rehabilitation and reunion of the girls with their family members. Girls are
given encouragement and training to set up their own enterprise and become independent. In
certain cases, marriage is arranged by the NGOs so that they can start new lives.
To protect educational rights of child domestic servants, ‗Shoishab Bangladesh‘ has been
34
exclusively working on domestic child servants in Dhaka since 1991. Its program covers
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Education for child domestic servants
education of 2,200 child domestic servants. By considering the reality of child domestic servants
and their lack of opportunities for education, Shoishob provides children with learning
opportunities that may eventually help them to secure a less exploitative and better future for
them. At present there are 140 learning centres of Shoishab in Dhaka. Children go to the learning
centre for 2 hours from 3 to 5 p.m. and on Friday (Weekly holiday). Apart from basic education,
the children are given lessons on etiquette as well as what their rights are. After completion of
grade III in Shoishab Schools, children are sent to UCEP for further education and skill training.
Shoishab works as a bridge between employers and child domestic servants and tries to protect
the rights of children.
Education as skill development strategy
UCEP follows skill development strategy in dealing with child labour. It aims to provide
alternatives to children through non-formal education and skill training program. The majority of
the UCEP students are children working as factory workers, shop assistants, vendor, rickshaw
pullers, hotel/mess boys, garbage collectors and porters etc. UCEP has specialized programme
designed for child labourers of the age group 6-14 years. It offers four years of basic education in
two years and then transfers many of the students to vocational training to impart employable
skills. It is a mixture of general and technical education. The education in UCEP is free and it
bears all the costs associated with education of working children. UCEP works on providing
education and skill training for child workers to save them from intergenerational poverty.
UCEP has three types of activities: general basic education, vocational education and job
placement/employment support. General education is available for urban working boys 11 years
or above and girls 10 years or above. UCEP has 30 general schools in Dhaka, Chittagong,
Khulna and Rajshahi City with 20, 000 students. This consists of a three-year course of basic
learning, which brings the children to an academic standard equivalent to grade V in public
school system. UCEP technical schools have 1200 students.
A one-year bridging course aimed at preparing the students for UCEP vocational training or
to grade VII under the public school system. The bridging course includes English, Bangla,
35
Mathematics, Social and Physical Science. The learning contents are selected as to meet the
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further regular education. The academic standard of the bridging course is considered equivalent
general academic requirements and an orientation to market-oriented vocational training. It
responds directly to problems and issues faced by children in their current work and help them to
acquire education and skills to enter the labour market with better chances for upward social
mobility. It allows children to remain in low paid jobs, continue their work and study and
improve their future. It has collaboration with industries so that after completing the vocational
studies in UCEP School, the graduates can be placed in industries (when they reach the legal
workable age). It does not claim to directly restrict or prevent child labour. Instead it provides
educational and skill training opportunities for children. Through UCEP‘s education and
training, child labourers have a chance to raise their socio-economic status, and ensure a better
future.
Education as Preventive Strategy
Comparatively few NGOs focus on the preventive strategies of education in improving the life
conditions of child labourers. Among selected NGOs, BRAC follow preventive strategies in the
true sense. BRAC education makes children socially conscious about their life situations so that
they can have a conscious and safe life within their context. By comparing the cases of protective
and preventive cases, we can clearly see that preventive education can prevent children from
entering in exploitative child labour. The BRAC education helps children to empower them from
within. They get social and health consciousness in the classes and negotiate with their parents
and community in changing their family and community environment. BRAC‘s education
prevents children from migrating to urban areas and working in exploitative conditions.
Education has lowered the prospect of early marriage for girls under BRAC Schools. BRAC has
changed the attitude of girls towards life and work. All of them expressed the desire to delay
marriage and become self-reliant. Education has also increased their marriage prospect. It has
increased girls‘ self-confidence and positive self-image.
Research Methodology
Page
36
Study Design and Study Subjects
Study Design
The study is comparative, retrospective & quantitative in nature.
Study Subjects
The study subjects were included from the existing data of Bangladesh & Nordic countries.
Exclusion and Inclusion Criteria
Exclusion Criteria
Subjects after seventeen years of age were excluded from this sample.
Inclusion criteria
Children up to seventeen years age of these two regions.
Research Method
Quantitative research methods including semi-structured and structured texts and documents
were used.
Sample Collection Procedure
Various cases were collected in a uniform manner & these case studies and field notes on
children, collected from some NGO projects/programs comprise the main empirical basis for the
discussion and conclusions of the study, although additional information from external sources
have also been used.
The number of children participated in the study. The letter C followed by unique number
for every child in the study. Vocational Education is providing technical education.
Age
9
Status
Worked in a car workshop for 1 year
Female
12
Worked as a domestic worker for 2 years
37
Gender
Male
Page
Number of children (C)
Currently working
C1
C2
C3
Female
14
Worked in a garment factory for 2 years
Attending school and working
C4
C5
Male
17
Vocational Education
Female
12
General Education
C6
Female
14
Vocational Education
Qualitative Research Interviews
A qualitative research interview is a method where both the researcher and the interviewee
interact. The researcher sets the conditions which allow them to communicate, share information,
discuss and give their own perceptions to how they see the social world around them (Miles and
Huberman, 1994). I chose structure and semi-structured interviews and since the target group for
my study were children below 17 years old. Before I started to interview the participants I
developed a questionnaire that was specially develop to fit all he child individually. The
questionnaire included a set of questions and specific topics that guided me while I was
conducting the interviews. I was dealing with some sensitive information and I wanted the
research participants to know that they could rely on me in guaranteeing them full anonymity if
they wanted it. It was important for me to establish the trust of the research participants. I
provided tea, mineral water and cookies. I spent time at the beginning of each interview by
telling the participants briefly about my study and about my personal background. I wanted them
to understand that their role in the process was important and that the interview hopefully would
be beneficiary for both parties beneficiary in that the study will create awareness towards child
labor problems in Bangladesh and that the voice of the participants can be heard. In addition,
raised awareness might create a ‗movement‘ which puts focus on what needs to be done and the
importance of taking child labor seriously. I also took notes during the interviews. When
required, the interviewees were contacted in order to provide additional (missing) information,
and/or to clarify any remaining issues that surfaced during the face to face encounters. The
Questionnaire
Page
38
interviews lasted between 20 – 30 minutes.
CHILD LABOUR ‘A CONFLICTING IMAGES OF CHILD’
ROLE OF NGO WITH THEIR EDUCATIONAL POLICY
Identification Information
1
Name / ID No
2
Name of NGO
3
Present Address
4
Permanent Address
5
Age (years)
6
Sex
Male 1

Female 2
7
Area of living
Urban 1

Semi-urban 2
8
Education
Rural 3
Illiterate 1

General 2
Vocational 3
Employed 1
Unemployed 2

39
Occupation
Page
9
Child Labour Challenges
South Asian Countries have huge challenges when it comes to child labor. Much needs to be
done. The governments need to step up and take progressive action towards combating child
labor. They must implement a plan of action; (1) they need to implement a family planning. The
Government, the community and the families must come together and co-operate; (2) they need
to actively work towards motivating the children. In addition to informing the children, the
families and the employers about why eliminating child labor is important; (3) they need to
intensify the improvement and the accessibility of education for children. This is really
important; (4) they need to implement a ‗step by step‘ program for eliminating worst forms of
child labor, which means they must incorporate a plan for how to rehabilitate the children
withdrawn from child labor. The children and their families need support and they must be given
the chance to rehabilitate.
The challenges described above clearly show the importance of addressing the issues education,
child labor and poverty together. The political leaders in these countries must lead their countries
in the right direction. Without a plan and a common direction it will be very difficult to meet
these challenges and new challenges that most definitely will come in the future. But the
ineffective enforcement of laws is a huge problem in South Asia and creates difficulties for
protecting the children‘s rights. The first step would be to ensure the new political platform with
laws and policies as well as lack of political commitment, which is a very big problem in South
Asia. There is a feeling of a ‗gap‘ between political commitment expressed and political
commitment practiced by the government. So in order to succeed, the Government would need to
continue towards the next step which is ensuring implementation of the laws and policies.
Discussion
The study intends to take a closer look at three central concepts in relation to each other;
education, child labor and poverty and to see how these concepts are intertwined in children and
their families‘ lives. In the initial phase, I conducted a literature review on childhood, child
elimination of child labour are the two sides of same coin. One cannot be achieved without other.
40
By comparing and contrasting the literature presenting conceptualizations of childhood in
Page
labour and educational issues in developing countries. I found that imparting education and
Europe with that of South Asia, I gained ideas on the differences of childhood in two regions. I
found childhood sociology very important in describing and interpreting the status of children in
both Western and South Asian countries. The causes which make this difference of the two
regions are mainly due to economic and political instability, corruption and lack of political
commitment. The primary responsibility of the government is to create the trust and optimism in
society that elimination of child labour is achievable. Restoration of the faith in the governments'
ability to address plight of the child labourers and to bring back their childhood is the most
critical task of the government.
According to IPEC (2004) it is very important to attach an economic value to the labor of the
children so that one can estimate the financial loss the families involved will have due to their
children not working. IPEC (2004) further refers to a program which is called income transfer
program, which estimate the financial loss of each family. However, the Government of
Bangladesh does not know how many child laborers that exist and they do not know the cost of
eliminating child labor. According to UNICEF in Bangladesh, the situation in Bangladesh is
different from the IPEC (2004) report. What I found was that they did not remove the children
completely from work, so that they did not take away the income the children were contributing
with. UNICEF explained ―Our goal is not to remove the children completely from work. Our
goal is to eradicate all negative forms of child labor, especially the worst forms of child labor.
We are working to remove the children from hazardous work and providing a new start for the
children, both providing work and schooling. The key is cooperation, cooperation with the
community, the government and most importantly the employers and their factories. Therefore
we do not have any income transfer program system in Bangladesh‖(Interview with Shabnaaz
Zahereen, Child Protection Officer, Child Protection Department, UNICEF, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
19/08/2009). That‘s why there was reduction of child labourers by 11 per cent over the last four
years, with the number of children in the worst forms of child labour falling most rapidly by 26
per cent. However, the increase by 15.6 million in the number of children engaged in other forms
of child labour is worrying as it may point to a trend where children have shifted one form of
On the other hand, Industrial revolution and technological innovation of Nordic Countries makes
41
elimination of child labour completely. Children of the Nordic Countries enjoy the highest
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child labour to another (ICFTU 2006).
facility due to their strong Welfare State. Their National Social Insurance Scheme makes it
possible and it is compulsory for their citizens to insure under the National Insurance Scheme.
Children under 18, insured with entitlement to pension benefits, are entitled to a children‘s
pension if one or both parents are deceased. Family allowances are also granted for children
under age of 18. Free quality education for all seems to be the key to social justice, equity,
protection of childhood and combating poverty. These are absolutely absent in South Asian
region. However, in terms of financially supporting the government and cooperating, there is a
slight difference in the work organizations such the UCEP Schools are doing in a role as an
NGO, compared to the other organizations such as UNICEF. What I found in my study was that
the Government did not support the UCEP Schools in any way and the UCEP Schools does not
support the Government financially. Further, I found that the way the UCEP Schools worked
with helping to combat child labor and to promote education must have been of interest for the
government. However, I did not get the possibility to find out why they were not interested in
cooperating with UCEP. On several occasions UCEP expressed during my interviews that they
had initiated contact with the government in trying to cooperate on combating child labor,
however they did not get any positive responses back. Having this in mind, a UN report (United
Nations, 2003 B) mentions the key element in succeeding is to collaborate and getting the
Government to not only cooperate with NGO‘s such as the UCEP Schools, but to also
collaborate. In this case what I found was that child labor on the political agenda is not
prioritized. The government and the politicians are aware of child labor; nevertheless, they are
not doing enough. Arguably, they are doing a few things, such as increasing the educational
enrolment rates; however, what I found was that they are too passive in their role in combating
child labor. They need to recognize the linkage between child labor, education and poverty. It is
not enough to increase enrolment, when almost 50 per cent of children drop out before finishing
grade 5.
Conclusion
addressed in relation to each other. The prioritization of children which the country is talking
42
about must be put on the political agenda. There is a need to move away from using words and
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So there is a need to look at every aspect of child labor, education and poverty; all issues must be
towards taking affirmative action in achieving the goals. The next step would be to develop more
coherent policies, to ratify and implement more conventions, and addressing all the issues linked
to child labor, education and poverty, and ensuring that they are effectively protected by the laws
and legislation. Now this is the time that the countries should not hesitate to admit the existence
of child labour as the biggest obstacle to EFA. Denial will never lead to solutions. Also that
Ministries of Education cannot be complacent by saying that the issue of child labour is outside
the domain of the Education Ministries. This is a fundamental problem. The dominant areas of
prevalence of child labour should be identified and special educational measures should be taken.
The labour inspectoral system should be oriented and connected with the EFA at local and
national level. The ways and means of coordination among these sectors needs effective
implementation. Finally let me say that there is no dearth of good practices carried out by
governments, inter- governmental agencies and civil society. They must be collected and
disseminated. I would like to appeal to the donor community to integrate child labour elimination
in education sector funding because education could be a ‗tool‘ for development, however, for
poor people education can be a way to increase their life quality, it can be the difference between
‗death‘ and ‗survival‘. Education can give people hope, it can create chances they ‗normally‘
would not have and it can give them dignity and liberty. So our goal is to put the rights of the
children on the agenda and to increase the awareness around the world. The key is to get people
to understand that children are human beings to and that they should have the same rights as
adults. Importantly, we must not hinder the children‘s ability to develop under an environment
which protects their rights to live a healthy life, the right to pursue an education and the right to
being a child. Education for all is a non-negotiable as is complete elimination of child labour.
Addressing one without the other is like finishing only one-half of the promise. We must
remember that we have borrowed this world from our children so we return it to them in better
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43
shape.
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50
Task Force on
Appendix
Literature review
In my study for literature review, I searched ‗Google‘ and ‗Google Scholar‘. I used some ‗key
words‘ related my topics and got many articles, which I mentioned below:
Searched: Google
Key words:
•
Child labour: 27,200,000 articles,
•
Child labor & education: 11,500,000 articles,
•
Child labour & education in South Asian countries: 254,000 articles,
•
Child labour & education in Nordic countries: 24,300 articles,
•
Nordic welfare policies for child labour, care & education: 8,810 articles,
•
Child labour & education, comparison between South Asian & Nordic countries:
8,340 articles.
Searched: Google Scholar
Key words:
•
Child labour: 1,330,000 articles,
•
Child labour & education: 755,000 articles,
•
Child labour & education in South Asian countries: 77,900 articles,
•
Child labour & education in Nordic countries: 18,200 articles,
•
Nordic welfare policies for child labour, care & education: 10,800 articles,
•
Child labour & education, comparison between South Asian & Nordic countries:
6,750 articles.
From these articles, four articles were selected for my study.
Page
51
Publication limit: 2007
Selected 4 articles:
•
Children first (but not woman): New labour, child welfare & gender.
•
Updating the gender contract? Child care reforms in the Nordic countries in the 1990s.
•
Child labour and access to education: An investigation of the situation in Bangladesh.
•
Education & child labor in developing countries: A Study on the Role of NonGovernmental Organizations in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Article 1: Children first (but not woman): New labour, child welfare & gender
Author: Lister R
Journal: Critical Social Policy, Vol. 26, No. 2, 315-335 (2006)
Objective: To analysis of New Labor‘s agenda for children in an emergent ‗social
investment state‘ which provides an overview of policies for children and their
parents/mothers in Britain.
Subjects: Subjects were mainly parents having children, children with disable (study
done in London), asylum seeker child (study done in Wales).
Results: The social investment approach such as maternal & paternal leave scheme of
parents with social cash benefit for small children was modified in the interests of
children‘s well-being and flourishing in the present and of greater attention to child
rights and social welfare with gender and justice,
Strength: Children were given more preference than women.
Disable, orphan & asylum seeker child were pointed out for welfare.
Weaknesses: No specific sample & design were taken.
Exclusion & inclusion criteria not mentioned clearly.
No statistical procedure mentioned
Article 2: Updating the gender contract? Child care reforms in the Nordic countries in the 1990s
Author: Leira A
Page
Objective: The aim of the study was to expansion of state-sponsored childcare services,
the institution of cash grants for childcare and the impact of reforms on mothers and
fathers as workers and carers for children.
52
Journal: NORA no.2 2002, volume 10
Subjects: Subjects were the parents with their children of four Nordic countries (Finland,
Norway, Denmark & Sweden)
Results: Women‘s reconciliation of work and family was widely regarded as a trademark
of the Scandinavian welfare states by the mid-1990s as economic activity rates of
mothers with children up to 10 years of age ranged from 84% in Denmark and 82% in
Sweden to 77% in Finland and Norway (EC Childcare Network 1996; Statistics Norway
1997) with establishment of three sets of childcare policies – linked to different family
models: the expansion of state sponsoring of childcare services, the institution of paid
parental leave, and the legislation of cash benefit for childcare.
Strength: High quality state sponsored childcare is maintained from three years to start
of school.
Mothers were given equal economic providers like father.
Weaknesses: No specific sample & design were taken.
Exclusion & inclusion criteria not mentioned clearly.
No statistical procedure mentioned.
Article 3: Child labour and access to education: An investigation of the situation in Bangladesh.
Author: Awaleh M.
Journal: Academic Dissertation (Master‘s Thesis), Institute of Educational Research,
University of Oslo, November 2007.
Objective: The main objective of this study is to evaluate child labor in Bangladesh and
how it affects children‘s ability to access education.
Design & population: The study design was qualitative in nature. Two age groups (6-9
and 10-14 years) were selected randomly.
Instruments: Semi-structured interviews of parents, working children and children
attending an NGO school (UCEP- Underprivileged Children‘s Educational Program)
were taken through questionnaire, tape recorder.
Study subjects were randomly selected.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria were clearly defined.
Page
Strength:
53
Results: The study depends upon at three central concepts: education, child labor and
poverty, and to see how these concepts were intertwined in children and their families‘
lives. But these three central concepts were a highly political, thus one has to take into
consideration the complexity and implication that follow when evaluating the issues
surrounding children‘s ability to access education.
Informed consent.
Field note and tape recorder was used.
Weaknesses: No statistical procedure mentioned.
The sample size not calculated.
Article 4: Education & child labor in developing countries: A study on the role of NonGovernmental Organizations in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Author: Doftori M R
Journal: Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Social Policy, University of Helsinki,
November 2004.
Objective: The aim of this study is to fill the intellectual gap in understanding key issues
of education for child labourers and to find out what measures & role of education
improve the living conditions of child labourers.
Design & population: The study design was qualitative in nature. The children's age
generally ranged from 6 to 14years;
Instruments: Interviews were taken to the working children attending in the NGOs
schools in Bangladesh & Nepal.
Results: These provides a comprehensive picture of the failure of public schools in
providing equal educational opportunities for disadvantaged children as well as increase
the role of NGOs in development of general and educational sector with presents of the
empirical data on educational strategies. It also presents concluding observations and
remarks as well as policy recommendations with the need for further research on
comparative and international education.
Strength: Informed consent.
High response rate
Inclusion and exclusion criteria were clearly defined.
Statistical procedure not clearly mentioned.
The sample size not calculated.
54
The sampling technique not identified.
Page
Weaknesses:
Case Studies: Case Study 1
Monwara (12) is a domestic servant and a student at Shoishab Bangladesh School at
Mohammadpur in Dhaka. She has been studying in Shoishab School for one and half years. She
is a student of pack II in Shoishab School. She was born in Madargonj at Jamalpur. Her father
died when she was very young.
She has her mother, two brothers and three sisters at village home. She is the youngest of all her
brothers and sisters. All his brothers and sister are working to support the family. The family
does not have any land except for the house. Her two brothers are rickshaw pullers and sisters are
already married in their childhood. Before admission in Shoishab School, she did not get
opportunity to go to village school. Her brothers went to school only to drop out within one year.
She came to Dhaka City for work at the age of nine. Before moving to Dhaka as a domestic
servant, she had been working as a chuta (temporary) domestic servant in several rich
households in the village. The present employer‘s relatives from the countryside arranged the job
for her in Dhaka as a domestic servant. From then she has been working in her employer‘s home
as a Bandha (literally means tied-up or full-time) domestic servant. ―I cook, clean, take kids of
the employer to school and do shopping for the family. I get up at 6.30 a.m. and finish my work
around midnight. I have to be always ready for service anytime they want‖. If they perceive that
something is not done properly, they scold her. Previously they used to beat and slap her. She
was not given mosquito net and she was the last person to eat in the family.
After admission to Shoishab School, apas (school madams) have visited her employer‘s home
several times. This has helped improving the living and working conditions of her. During
celebration periods (such as Muslim celebration of Eid), the employer gives her the used clothes
of his daughter and small amount of money. But the employer does not give any monthly salary
to her. ―Kaka (literally, "uncle" meaning the employer) has promised my mother that he will bear
the expenses of my marriage. He is saving the money from my salary. I get food, a place to sleep
and used clothes of my employer‘s
daughter. When my mother comes to visit me, the employer gives her some money, I do not
the employer‘s home when she gets some free time. It is work, which help her to live in a secure
place and have the opportunity to go to school.
Page
class family and somehow help her mother financially. She watches TV and listens to radio in
55
know how much‖. Work in a house as a domestic servant helps her to have a space in a middle
Monwara heard about the Shoishab School from one of her friends who is also a domestic
servant working in a house nearby. She attends the Shoishab School regularly. The school is just
five minute‘s walking distance. She gets her books, papers and pencils free of cost from
Shoishab. ―Apa(s) (Madams) have taught me reading and writing and knowledge on hygiene,
health and social relations issues. Those are very important for me. I like my school because all
my friends come from there‖. ―Apas are very friendly and caring for me. I try to attend classes
regularly but sometimes I cannot attend because of work pressure at my employer‘s home. When
visitors or relatives of the employer come to visit the family, I have to do extra work and miss
the classes.‖ She regrets the missing of her classes. Previously she never thought that she would
be able to read and write. According to her, ―If I could not be admitted to Shoishab School, I
would not ever be able to read and write‖. If she gets some free time, she reads Bengali
newspaper in her employer‘s family.
Now she feels very happy because she can read and write. In her words, ―before I was like blind
even though I had my eyes, but now I have education. I am not blind anymore.‖ She will
continue her studies for another half a year. She wishes to continue her studies thereafter. But she
does not know how she can continue her studies; at least Shoishab does not have any education
program after completion of Pack III studies. ―I hope Sahoishab will arrange a sewing training
course for me. I want to become a self employed in the future (Shoishab School, Mohammadpur,
Dhaka, 19.8.2009).
Case Study 2
Shahid is 17 years old and a student of Mirpur UCEP Technical School in Spinning and textile
trade. He started his studies in UCEP General School in grade III. After completing grade VIII,
he has been enrolled in UCEP Technical School. He comes from a functionally landless family.
He has his parents, one brother and three sisters. His father and brother worked as agricultural
worker. His mother is a housewife. When they could not sustain livelihood with minimum
income in the countryside, the whole family moved to Dhaka. His father started working as a
muggers and other anti-social elements. Polygamy, child marriage, dowry, family conflicts and
family breakdown, drug abuse and prostitution are prevalent in the slum.
Page
small housing at Dhalpur slum, near Syaedabad bus terminal. The slum is a safe haven for
56
rickshaw puller with a monthly income of BDT 2000 (approximately $33). The family lives in a
Shahid was a school drop out from grade 2 from his village public school at Rangpur. ―The
teachers gave us lots of homework in the school. Nobody in my family could help me with
homework. The teachers beat me in school. What I learnt in government school has little use in
my life. Sarkari School (public school) was a waste of time‖. He could not attend school
regularly because he needed to help his father in share-cropping in agricultural work. He failed
and repeated in grade II and finally dropped out from school. According to him, ―the school
teachers taught the children from rich families privately. This helped the children from rich
families to do better in school examinations. Teachers did not care for education of children like
us‖. In Dhaka, Shahid was working as vegetable carrier to local markets. He worked eight hours
every day beginning early in the morning. He got a wage of BDT 300 (approximately $5) per
month and he gave the money to his parents. ―I came to know about UCEP School from one of
my friends in the slum. I was talking about going to school and most of the boys from the slum
discouraged me. My father did not like the idea that I go to school. When I explained that UCEP
education can change my life, he permitted me to go to school and I was admitted to UCEP
School in grade III‖. He does not participate in local events with other children because many of
them are involved in petty crime. Work from the early morning was not good for his education in
UCEP School and as a result, he changed the job later and took a job as a newspaper delivery
boy. Now he has been working as a newspaper delivery boy early in the morning. He receives
approximately BDT 600 (approximately $10) per month. He likes this work because he can
finish work earlier and focus more on his studies. He is positive about his work and study. In the
beginning, he did not get much co-operation from his father concerning his education in UCEP.
His father was sceptical about the relevance of NGO education which does not give a diploma of
secondary education. But when he knew that after completion of his technical education in
UCEP School, Shahid would be able to get a good salaried job, he became cooperative with his
studies. His father understands and support was crucial for continuation of his studies.
After completing the condensed courses in UCEP Dhalpur School in grade VIII in four years, he
got admitted in UCEP technical school. ―From the beginning teachers are cooperative and
friendly to me. I am regular in school because I can choose the timing of his school. After three
would have to continue vegetable selling work of BDT 300 (approximately $5) per month. ―I
Page
Before enrolling in UCEP School, he was uncertain about his future and thought that probably he
57
months, I will graduate from UCEP Technical in Spinning and textile trade‖.
will get my certificate after three months and get a job in Bangladesh Export Import and
Manufacturing Company (BEXIMCO) promised by UCEP. BEXIMCO will take a total 18
graduates from UCEP Technical School. In the beginning, the salary will be BDT 1500 ($25)
and after several years it would be raised‖.
He wants to take the responsibility of his family members when he gets the job. He wants to take
his family out of the slum environment, rent a better house and then take his sisters out of work
and support their education. He said, ―I did not think before that I will be able to get a good job.
But now I am very near it. Everyone needs education and skill development to become
productive citizens‖. ―When my monthly income will reach to BDT 5000 ($80) and I will have a
good savings, I intend to marry an educated and skilled girl. I think people should not have more
than two children. Children must be liked and they should go to school‖ (UCEP Technical
School, Mirpur, Dhaka, 23.8.2009).
Case Study 3
Nurun is 14 years old girl and a student of BRAC School No. 5 at Prabhatibag particularly
designed for ex-garment workers. She was born at Debiddar in Comilla district. Her father was
landless sharecropper farmer. He has three sons and three daughters. With the income of
agricultural work it was difficult for her father to survive with a large family. As a result, he
decided to migrate to Dhaka with all his family members and started rickshaw pulling. In the
village, all the brothers of Nurun went to public school and subsequently dropped out because
they could not continue work and school at the same time. Her father did not send any of her
sisters and her to school in the countryside. After moving to Dhaka, he engaged every child in
work. Nurun started working in a garment factory as a helper working 12 hours a day with a
monthly wage of BDT 500 (approximately $8). The work was very hard. If the work was bad,
the supervisor scolded her and others using words such as ―pig‖, ―kitten‖ and slapped them. He
said, ―If you want to work here, you have to listen to what I say, you have to tolerate beating and
hitting‖. Later she was dismissed fromwork after the threat of Harkin Bill to protect the industry
from retaliatory measures for using child labour. Her parents did not understand the reason of her
Later, BRAC teachers contacted her so that she could join in BRAC School designed for ex-
58
garment workers at Prabhatibagh in Dhaka. She got a monthly scholarship of Bangladeshi Taka
Page
dismissal blamed her for that. It was a time of nightmare for her.
(BDT) 300 (approximately $5) and now she is a student of grade V. Under the garment school
program, she gets stationary free of cost. When she reached the age of 14 years, BRAC stopped
the scholarship. She does not have time to play at home and her parents think that she is too old
to play or mix with boys. ―I like school. I do not like work. I cannot even talk in the garment
factory, let alone play. I come to school regularly even it takes 45 minutes to reach here‖.
She chose to work to support her studies after the stoppage of the scholarship BRAC has
arranged a job for her in a garment factory. She has been working there for six hours a day and
continuing her studies. She works in far more improved working conditions and gets BDT 700
(approximately $12) as monthly wage from the work. This helps her to give a part of the money
to her parents and continue her studies. Her parents are not happy that she goes to school. For
them, she could even earn more if she would not go to school. In her words, ―My father and
mother do not like that I continue my studies. They only want that I earn money‖. She thinks that
the work helps her to continue her studies but she also finds that it as a hurdle to do better in
school. She appreciates her improved work environment and educational opportunities. When
she compares her situation with her fellow workers at the garment factory, she feels that she is a
privileged person. Most of her colleagues have never been to school and the majority of the girls
are given in marriage at the age of 12 or 13 years. With her income, she has contributed to her
parents to buy a black and white television.
She wants to continue her studies in public school after completing her studies in grade V in
BRAC School (BRAC Urban Schools have education program till grade V). However, she is not
sure how her further education can be arranged. She has to work, help her family economically
and continue her studies at the same time. ―I hope BRAC will help me to continue my further
studies. Without BRAC‘s help, I will not be able to continue my studies‖. In the meantime, her
parents are pressing her for marriage. But she insists that she will not marry before passing her
secondary examination. In spite of future uncertainties, she is more confident about her future
than before. She said, ―Previously I thought that education was only for children of the rich
families. Now I see that it is my right too. Illiteracy is like blindness, I do not want to be like a
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blind woman when I have my own eyes (BRAC Urban School No. 5, Dhaka, 28.8.2009).