World Day Against Child Labour: Lockdown adds to the child labour crisis

Pune, June 12, 2020: With a few states in India looking at diluting the labour laws to bounce back the economy, child rights organisations fear it will defeat all the efforts made so far in eradicating child labour in the country.

The Campaign Against Child Labour appeals to the central and state governments not to adopt any measures due to the COVID-19 crisis, that will backtrack the country from its commitment to the ‘sustainable development goals’ to eradicate Child Labour by the year 2025.

Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) is a nationwide coalition of NGOs, Civil Society Organisations and individuals for the eradication of child labour. On the World Day Against Child Labour marked on June 12, the organisation had conducted a nationwide survey to assess the status of child labour during the lockdown imposed in the country to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The organisation shared data from Maharashtra — rapid assessment held in May 2020. The survey was conducted in five districts of Maharashtra including Mumbai, Nashik, Parbhani, Pune, and Solapur. A total of 215 children along with their parents were interviewed to understand their situation under lockdown.

Work:
35% Children already in the workforce to support their family (part or fulltime)
4% of Child labour might increase post lockdown, in addition to 35% already in the workforce.
30% Confirmed to have worked between 15-20 days during the lockdown
82% of parents said they desire their children to continue education post lockdown, depends on the situation.

Education:
71% said they continued studying from home, but no support from the school, nor do they have any digital device for online studies.
64% from rural areas informed they did not study also they do not have access to any smartphone,
28% have heard of apps for studies launched by the government.
42% said they have heard about online education content on Doordarshan

Increase in child labour during the lockdown
As per an official statement shared with media, CACL members stated that the statistics of the volume of child labour in India is still a matter of dispute as different agencies report different figures, varying between 44 million and 115 million.

CACL’s Maharashtra State Convener, Manish Shroff stated that there has been a claim that there was a reduction in the volume between the Census in 2001 and 2011. If this is true, certainly that provides relief and gives further hope that there will be a further reduction from 2011 to 2021.

“But the fear is that the COVID – 19 induced lockdown is causing an increase in the number of children getting into labour. There are already reports from the field that confirms this fear. It should be noted that mechanisms like Child Line, Child Rights Committees and Child Rights Commissions report that there is an increase in the calls for help,” said Shroff.

Don’t dilute labour laws
In this context, the campaign urges the governments to retract from the efforts to dilute the labour laws because that can put the families of workers into greater insecurities and further impoverishment. This will push more children into the labour market.

CACL upholds the need for providing incentives to employers and investors to rebuild the economy. But allowing cheap labour and child labour is a counterproductive measure, he stated.

Online education stands as a challenge for many children
Shroff also highlighted the tragic incident of a poor tribal girl studying in Std X who committed suicide when the Kerala government had introduced online education, stating that it should be an eye-opener. “The poor family did not have access to a smartphone and the old TV set in the house was under repair. It is a reality that a large number of children in India have no access to any digital media and those children will stop education,” he said.

He also pointed out that any child out of school is a ‘potential labourer’. “Therefore online education cannot be a substitution for a long time for schooling,” Shroff added.

Migration affects children’s health and education
It should not be forgotten that a large number of children are also migrant labourers. Most often, the whole family with children migrate in search of work. The tragic death of Jameela Magdum, the 12-year-old girl child migrant labourer during her long walk to her native place is a reminder for giving a special focus on preventing children from migration. Employing the migrant labourers with the guarantee of a minimum wage in their native place is an urgent necessity, stated CACL officials.