Child Labor Problems

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In the world of globalization and liberation, there are still some barbaric practices left from old times. To be more precise, child labor that was dominant in ancient times has not left this world still. A lot of developing countries still use children in a lot of industries such as agriculture, mining and construction. Also, children are exploited in prostitution industry, slavery and even in military. Almost all UN member countries ratified to stop child labor around the world, however, still a lot of developing countries cannot stop it. Definition of child labor is still a controversial issue and many jobs fall outside the law. Child labor continues to be a problem whose form and meaning shifts with social, geographical, economic and cultural…show more content…
Currently, there are four approaches to stop child labor in development policy and it is obvious that all of them are effective to stop it. Since the welfare of working children is a real issue, it is important to examine the nature and extent of the problem more closely to gain better insights into child labor practices and to implement policy measures keeping in mind country-specific peculiarities. First, there are many studies that explains the causes of child labor among them poverty directly or indirectly lead children to work. Many developing countries depend heavily on agriculture which in some countries contribute more than 50 per cent of GDP. Agriculture is the predominant occupation of many families with large number of children and child labor is a pre-requisite in the family’s farm. Poor families cannot afford to hire labor due to poverty and they use their children as a worker. There has been significant…show more content…
Government intervention is required to improve the standard of living and stop child labor by subsidizing poor families. Governments can offer daily money and stipends as incentive for kids to attend schools. A lot of international agencies and development organizations support conditional cash transfer because it is more effective than making education compulsory. Outside incomes can have a positive income effect on children’s education and reduce child labor. Parents value present consumption and the human capital formation of their children. They face a tradeoff between work and human capital formation because child labor competes with a child’s schooling opportunities and educational achievements. Also, governments should multiply the number of schools in rural areas because it decreases the opportunity cost of going to school. If school is far from village, parents will not send their kids to school because of transportation cost or they may send kids only during good weather or season. Moreover, reducing cost of education such as lowering school fees and prices of books etc. are important to encourage parents to invest on education. Some countries have introduced even some additional measures such as food for education programs. In Bangladesh, kid working in a glass factory will come to school during his breaks both to study

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