Peer-reviewed article
Child Labour and the role of the school
Diego Azqueta Oyarzún, Guillermina Gavaldón Hernández, Daniel Sotelsek Salem ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper examines how schools can help prevent child labour, particularly in the context of COVID-19 pandemic impacts and economic inequality. The author argues that while education offers high returns for poor families, these benefits may be overstated when social and economic inequality are significant. The paper emphasises that schools should provide not only education but also material support through programmes like Conditional Cash Transfers, which become especially critical during school closures.
Key points
- COVID-19 is expected to worsen child labour problems
- Schools have traditionally been the main policy tool to combat child labour
- Basic education shows high benefits for poor families, but these may be statistical illusions amid inequality
- Schools should function as providers of goods and services, not just education
- Conditional Cash Transfer programmes are urgent, especially during pandemic school closures
Limitations
This document presents theoretical arguments and policy discussion rather than empirical research findings. It does not provide data on the actual prevalence of child labour, effectiveness of specific interventions, or quantitative outcomes from school-based programmes.
Abstract
Covid-19 will aggravate the problem of child labor. The traditional policy to fight this problem has relied heavily on the role of the school. Empirical evidence shows that the benefits of basic education for poor families are very high. Yet, these high returns may be a statistical illusion when social and economic inequality prevail. In this case, while fighting inequality and enhancing social mobility, the emphasis should be put on the role of the school as provider of goods and services: on maintaining Conditional Cash Transfer programs. This is the more urgent when the pandemic is forcing temporary school closures.