Child Labor
Child Labor: No for children work: Yes for Education
Introduction
While there has been a significant decline in the number of children subjected to child labour globally, child labour is still a global concern. Estimates by both ILO and UNICEF show that globally, nearly 168 million children aged between 5 and 7 are involved in various forms of child labour (Unicef 2015). Increased access to safe, quality education goes a long way in overcoming child exploitation through child labour, thereby improving their overall quality of life.
Child Labour should be banned
A child has the right to good education and any barrier such as child labour should be abolished. Children should never be exposed to hard and forced labor. It would be okay for a child to work, but if they are forced to do so, then it becomes a crime (Debate.org 2017). There are some chores that are so much involving such as industrial manual work and exposing a child to such labor is being cruel to them (Debate.org 2017). Exposing a child to labour exposes them to early childhood inequalities like lack of access to education.
Impact of Inequalities on Young Children’s Lives
Children who work from an early age do not experience parental love, and they may not also have access to better healthcare services. Lack of a proper form of education, healthcare, parental love, and other necessities are among the ways in which a child faces inequalities (Howard 2015). Poverty is also an inequality that affects the child in other ways such as delayed language proficiency and knowledge, registering poor health indicators, infant mortality, and school suspension (Howard 2015). These consequences of inequalities go a long way in ruining the child’s life even into adulthood. Inequalities can also be a result of a child’s ethnicity and race. The latter is most dangerous as one cannot possibly hide their skin color and they will be faced with discrimination both at school and later on at workplaces.
Different Social Construction of Childhood
Childhood is a social and cultural construct (Sharp 2012). Although child labour has become an emerging issue in recent times, the same was viewed from a different perspective a century ago. For instance, in today’s world, how to treat a child well has become a war as different classes of people have varied ways of completing the task (Sharp 2012). There are certain culturally accepted ways of bringing up a child which involves deciding what chores they could carry out and those that are too much for their age.
Aspects of Global, Political, Cultural and Historical Contexts of Early Childhood - and the Role of UNICEF
Early childhood is the stage from birth to 8 years of age, and it involves the development of the child’s “cognitive, physical and social skills;” and ensuring the “development of policies and programs that include the parents, caregivers, and the community” (Yoshikawa & Kabay 2015, p. 2). Education for all children eligible for school enrolment falls under global contexts. The political context could be viewed in three different ways; that is how politics influence a child, “a child’s involvement and understanding of politics and the political rights and status of a child” (Thomas 2015, n.d.). Decisions that are politically affiliated such as tax allocation, education, and health bills; planning, and transport affect the child either directly or indirectly. Some cultures believe that children should be subjected to labour while others think otherwise, thus creating a political and cultural battle on how well to bring up the minor (Sharp 2012). For one community, a child should be able to work towards supporting the family financially, while in another child labour is a criminal offense. As seen earlier, child labour was not something to be debated in previous centuries. Historically, children were exposed to long hours of labor in extremely harsh conditions (Sharp 2012).
UNICEF plays a significant role in early childhood development. UNICEF has carried out research that is aimed at “improving international understanding of issues relating to children’s rights; it is also working towards full implementation of the Rights of the Child in developing, middle-income, and industrialized nations” (Dornan & Woodhead 2015, p. 3). The staff at UNICEF are committed to ensuring that partnerships with most of the leading educational centers are strengthened. UNICEF is also championing additional resources and facilitating programs that are in favour of children.
Conclusion
Child labour is unacceptable as it leads to the child missing out on important aspects of growth and development such as education and health services. The child will lead a disadvantaged adult life due to the missed opportunities foregone during childhood. International bodies such as UNICEF are working towards protecting the child from political, cultural, and other aspects that could lead to inequalities.
References
Debate.org. (2017). Should child labor be banned? Debate.org [Online]
Dornan, P & Woodhead, M. (2015). How inequalities develop through childhood: Life course evidence from the young lives cohort study. UNICEF. [Online].
Howard, C, E. (2015). What matters most for children: Influencing inequality at the start of life. [Online].
Sharp, G. (2012). Sociological images: Child labor and the social construction of childhood. The society pages [Online]
Thomas, N. (2015). Children and Politics. Oxford Bibliographies [Online].
Unicef (2015). No to Child Labour, Yes to Education! [Online].
Yoshikawa, H & Kabay, S. (2015). The evidence base on early childhood care and education in global contexts. UNESCO. [Online]
