World Day Against Child Labor 2021: How COVID-19 Is Disrupting Children’s Education, Dreams And Dignity
Marking a sharp rise of 8.4 million in the last four years, child labor has risen to 160 million worldwide. Progress to end child labor has stalled for the first time in 20 years, warns the report ‘Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward’ released ahead of the World Day Against Child Labor observed on June 12. Calling attention to the dire state of affairs, the theme this year is: ‘Act now: End child labor’.
Globally, nine million additional children are estimated to be at the risk of being pushed into child labor by the end of 2022 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the new report published jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted not just the lives and livelihoods of millions but the rights to protection, education and health of children worldwide.
The severity of the impact could be gauged from the fact that it has started reversing the previous downward trend that saw child labor fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016. “We are staring at a socio-economic disruption of enormous proportions that is threatening lives, livelihoods, and challenging the very notion of a ‘normal’, stable and safe childhood. With millions of children experiencing deprivation of their right to a life of dignity, their access to basic needs such as education, food, water, shelter, and health have been affected,” tells Swagata Raha, head of restorative practices at Enfold India - Creating Safe Spaces, to MAKERS INDIA.
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Disruption of innocence and a vicious chain
Poverty and education are correlated. With no devices and Internet at their disposal, children of vulnerable sections are unable to access online classes and are increasingly left of the current fold of education, laments Enakshi Ganguly, co-founder and advisor, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights.
“A growing economic distress and the loss of livelihoods in families due to successive COVID-19-induced lockdowns have only aggravated the risk of child labor. With a rise in hunger and poverty, the only option left for affected children is to be pushed into the crisis, thereby leading to a significant rise in school dropouts,” says Ganguly.
Childhood is a window to opportunities enabling social mobility that can break through the barriers of caste, class, religion, region and gender. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has endangered that window of innocence, which needs to be preserved against exploitation and abuse.
“The vicious chain of child labor owing to the COVID-19 crisis is worrisome as it has taken us two decades back into increased cycles of intergenerational poverty threatening children with the risk of abuse and trafficking. It’s tragic,” remarks Ganguly.
“The vicious chain of child labor owing to the COVID-19 crisis is worrisome as it has taken us two decades back into increased cycles of intergenerational poverty threatening children with the risk of abuse and trafficking. It’s tragic”Enakshi Ganguly
COVID-19, childhood in crisis
In a country like India with huge populations and deep pockets of intergenerational poverty, it is a big dream for children to be respected for their rights and privacy; their need for safe spaces of learning and play etc. It is even more challenging for girls given the existing gender gaps.
The report indicates that the ‘economic shocks’ and school closures catapulted by the pandemic have increased the burden of working hours among children already in child labor. As if, there’s no ‘excuse’ now to come out of the oppressive cycle. The report indicates children in rural areas are three times more affected than those in urban areas and more boys are affected than girls at every age. However, this doesn’t take into account the domestic labor “performed for 21 hours or more each week” by girls, known to be a routine offender for them dropping out of schools.
“Patriarchy has ensured women’s labor is invisibilized; the same is true for girls. Even if a girl is working in the kitchen or at the field (agricultural labor), it is not accounted for as productive. Moreover, in the current situation, pre-existing gender inequalities mean that if there is one educational device at home, preferences will be given to the boy,” reminds Ganguly. The pandemic has also resulted in a rise in instances of child marriage, where children especially the girl child is likely to enter into marriage lacking education, agency and awareness of rights and gender justice.
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Call to action
“To reverse the upward trend in child labor,” the ILO and UNICEF have called for “universal child benefits” and stressed on sustained efforts to bring children back to school. A wide coverage of families and children in existing or new social protection schemes by state governments and the central government is recommended.
Raha says, “We need an urgent mapping of the impact of COVID-19 on children at every level — how many have dropped out of school, how many have become severely malnourished, how many have entered the workforce, how many were forced into child marriage or trafficked. Local authorities such as Gram Panchayats and Zilla Parishads, and community-based groups like Village level CPCs, School Management Committees, Self Help Groups (SHGs), etc, should have an equal responsibility in ensuring children’s safety, their access to education, food, and shelter.”
The UN has declared 2021 to be the ‘International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour’ with a goal of ending the practice by 2025.
According to universally-acknowledged goals of sustainable development, children are supposed to avail education, rights-based access to health, clean drinking water and sanitation, sexuality education and justice. Above all, children need a non-discriminatory and empathetic ecosystem where their rights are respected and their dreams are not thwarted. As India’s children stare at a bleak future ahead, who will take ownership of their shrinking childhood?
(Edited by Amrita Ghosh)
