Another Politically Incorrect Post

Child Labor
The distinguished Welfare Ministry would, of course, care to explain what happens to these children who are picked up from work. What is the alternative welfare scheme for them?

These children come from overpopulated, underfed homes where each mouth has to fend for itself or die. I see nothing happening to advise these parents against an overpopulated house.

In insisting on formal schooling of 3Rs for all children, the assumption is, that this form of schooling is appropriate education for ALL children. An assumption that is flawed at best, because this method of schooling does not teach life skills like coping with challenges, nor vocational skills that will make the students employable. Nor does this kind of schooling, by itself, guarantee employment when the child reaches employable age (14 or 18 years). In the formal schooling method, the earliest that a child can hope to be employed is 20 years, and the financial inflow to the education system is continuous and unrelenting till then. The question is, who will supply this inflow?

If the children are not allowed to work legally, and they have no money to feed themselves, what is the most rational alternative? I would think, crime, because it pays well, is easy to enter and helps fill the tummy.

Before we release advertisements on TV warning people against child labor, the honorable ministers should also go back to the sources of such labor(the families), and make a viable alternative available to them.

The minister must also, of course, indicate what they plan to do about children who genuinely prefer work to formal education. These children have a right to make a choice too.

Point of this post? To illustrate that child labor is a complicated issue with no simple one-size-fits-all solution. Period.