Child labor is an issue that continues to negatively affect the lives of hundreds of millions of children. It is common in countries where living conditions are rough and there are high demands of labor that does not require education. Due to the difficulties in providing for their families, parents often send their children to do work. Although this does help in the short term, this leads to poor attendance in school and a lack of attention to studies. The natural course for this is a vicious cycle leading to uneducated adults that also have to get their children to work to support the family. The answer to this question isn’t as simple as a ban of child labor (although that must be one part of it).
Success in eliminating child labor will lead to a world that is more educated and propel so called third world countries. One concern is that the lack of children in the workforce will temporarily hurt the economies of countries that have high rates of child labor. For example, many children in Bangladesh work in the textile industry, which is one of the most important exports for the country. Although it would be great to simply ban all child labor as soon as possible, it may be easier to convince legislators to phase it out starting from the most dangerous jobs, and then slowly work their way up to banning all child labor.
Another major concern is the fact that if the education system is poor and does not equip the children with the knowledge they need to be successful, parents may see the education they are getting as wastes of time. Although looking at this issue from a moral standpoint, you can say that even if the education is not good, it is still better than any job and definitely better than many of the dangerous jobs some children do, it would be even better if the education they get is beneficial for them. To conclude, child labor is a problem that will not be solved without sacrifices, but we owe it to those it affects to try our hardest to help them in any way possible.
Prosun Das
Youth Leader, Distressed Children & Infants International (DCI)
Prosun das lives in Maryland. He is an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Prosun Das has been a volunteer involved with DCI since 2010, at 8 years old.
