Peer-reviewed article
Child Labour and Education in India: Promises and Challenges
Monika Bisht ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This article examines child labour in India, describing it as both a cause and consequence of socio-economic hardship. The paper identifies multiple contributing factors including poverty, parental illiteracy, and unemployment, and notes that affected children work mainly in the unorganised sector as domestic workers, construction workers, and helpers. Child labourers face serious social, physical and psychological harms including abuse, violence and discrimination. The article argues that education is essential for breaking this cycle and discusses the specific educational challenges and gender dimensions of child labour in India.
Key points
- Child labour in India is perpetuated by destitution, illiteracy, unemployment, low family income, and parental ignorance of education's importance
- Most child labourers in India work in the unorganised sector, including domestic work, construction, automobile repair, and hospitality
- Child labourers face social abuse, violence, discrimination, stress and psychological vulnerability
- Government mechanisms have been ineffective at abolishing child labour due to weak labour laws and poor state agency coordination
- Education is identified as a primary solution for helping children overcome child labour
Limitations
This is a secondary analysis based on existing sources rather than primary data collection, so it cannot provide current prevalence statistics or direct evidence of intervention effectiveness. The article does not evaluate any specific policy or programme intervention, limiting what can be said about solutions that actually work.
Abstract
Child labour is a global reality. It is both cause and consequence of socio-economic backwardness. In India, child labour is considered a ‘curse’ for the nation’s development. There is a diverse range of factors that perpetuate child labour in India. The highlighted factors of the proliferation of child labour are destitution, illiteracy, unemployment, underemployment, large-family size, low family income, ignorance of the parents towards the importance of education and many others. Notably, child labour is most prevalent in the unorganised sector primarily as domestic workers, restaurant and eateries’ workers, automobile repairing workers, construction workers, shop, and canteen workers and as helpers in various occupational fields. Over the years, child labourer has been facing social, economic, physical and psychological problems in India. Some of the serious issues faced by child labour are social abuse, violence, discrimination, stress and vulnerability. The government has been a failure to abolish child labour due to a lack of effective labour laws, government mechanisms and state’s agencies. Education is, therefore, one of the primary conditions for children to overcome this problem. Against this background, this article understands the current patterns in child labour in India. Based on the secondary sources, it underlines the educational challenges faced by child labour in India. It also discusses gendered issues before the education of child labour.