Essay on Child Labour

10 minute read
Essay on Child Labour

Essay writing is an integral part of various scholastic and competitive exams like SAT, UPSC, etc. Generally, the essay topics in such exams are extempore as they aim to test the student’s writing proficiency as well as analytical and problem-solving skills. For essay writing, topics can range from social issues to current affairs or contemporary problems on a global level. Amongst the different essay topics on social issues and awareness, an essay on Child Labour is a common question you might get in your exam like causes of child labour. This blog brings you a detailed guide on how to write an essay on Child Labour, key tips and tricks along with useful essay samples and article on child labour.

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What is Child Labour?

Before actually dwelling on the essay on child labour, let us first explore and understand what does this term means. The term “child labour” is typically described by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as work that:

  • deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and is destructive to their physical and mental development. It refers to employment that is risky and damaging to children on a mental, physical, social, or moral level; and/or
  • interferes with their education by denying them the opportunity to attend school; forcing them to leave school early, or causing them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

Child Labour in India

As per the International Labour Organisation, Child Labour is defined as:

“Work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.”

Referred to as a social evil, child labour in India is an imperative issue that the country has been tackling for years. While writing an essay on child labour, it is important to familiarize yourself with the topic and its related aspects so that you will be able to formulate it in a better way. Toiling in mines, factories or doing petty jobs to earn some pennies, you might have come across many children left out in the world in harsh situations just to get some money and feed their families. What are the causes of child labour? Does this peril arise from the need to earn the bread for one’s family or is it beyond just this factor? Let’s first explore the key causes of Child Labour:

  • High unemployment and poverty levels which lead to poor families sending children to work
  • Inadequate laws and rules and regulations against child labour
  • Violation of the existing labour laws on child labour
  • Access to compulsory education is still limited in rural areas
  • Increasing numbers of dropouts of school students from poor communities and areas

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What to Include in an Essay on Child Labour?

Now that you have an overview of why child labour is prevalent in a developing country like India, the next step is to note down the key pointers you must explore in your essay and article on child labour. Below we have enlisted the major factors you must include in your essay on Child Labour:

  • Give an overview of what child labour is [add the definitions provided by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) or UNICEF] and mention the prominent countries it is prevalent in, etc.
  • Include the key causes of child labour as well as its harmful impact on a child’s development as it deprives children of their basic fundamental right to education as well as tampers with their holistic development, a balanced childhood and impacts them physically and mentally. 
  • Elaborate upon the child labour law statistics and laws in India and on a global level as well as provide suitable examples of social workers and organisations working against child labour like Kailash Satyarthi in your article on child labour.
  • Before concluding your essay on child labour, suggest steps and policies that can be carried out against eliminating this social peril.

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Essay Writing Tips

Apart from the pointers mentioned above, here are some useful tips to help you craft an analytical and insightful essay on child labour and article on child labour:

  • Before starting your essay, bifurcate the maximum time you are given into outlining, writing and revising your essay and article on child labour as well.
  • Highlight/underline key pointers throughout the essay
  • Mention authentic and factual data from verified sites
  • Analyse the laws or measures taken by the government for the eradication of child labour. 
  • After completing your essay, proofread it thoroughly to minimise the scope of any grammar or spelling mistakes.

Essay on Child Labour in 100- 150 Words

Now that we have familiarized with the key points and factors to include in your essay on Child Labour, take a look at the following sample to understand the format of the essay:

Childhood is truly the greatest and happiest phase of everyone’s life, during which one learns about the basic strategy of life from parents, loved ones, and nature, as it has always been repeated in bedtime stories, ads, and by our adults. Childhood is the most memorable stage of life, and everyone has the right to experience it from the moment they are born. Children have the right to play with their friends, go to school, feel their parents’ love and care, and experience nature’s beauty.

Children are regarded as the most valuable asset of their country, yet their parents’ lack of understanding and poverty makes them the country’s weakness rather than its strength. Even after the government’s awareness initiatives and the future welfare of the society for the child’s well being, the majority of children living in poverty are forced to do daily child labour. Children are a nation’s power, but certain people are continuing to try to damage it and the country’s future in order to make a quick buck by illegally involving growing children. They’re tampering with the morals of youngsters and innocent people.

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Essay on Child Labour in 200- 250 Words

It is not inaccurate to assert that child labour is a human rights violation that has turned into a scourge to society, with substantial concerns impeding the country’s growth and development. Child labour refers to youngsters aged five to fourteen who work on a regular basis. Many children in underdeveloped nations are compelled to work long hours for very little compensation in order to survive.

Poverty, parents, society, low salaries, unemployment, poor living conditions and understanding, social injustice, lack of schooling, backwardness, and inadequate regulations are the main reasons for child labour around the world. Having said that, child labour is prevalent in developing nations due to poverty, a lack of educational awareness, and limited educational options.

To sum up this essay on child labour, this awful and cruel practice is ruining the lives of many innocent youngsters every day. It is a high level of criminal activity that should be penalised, yet it is occurring concurrently owing to insufficient rules and laws, and it has become one of India’s most pressing social issues that must be addressed on a regular basis. It is critical to recognise that healthy children represent a country’s bright future and power, and that child labour harms degrades and ruins children’s futures, as well as the country’s.

Essay on Child Labour in 1000 Words

Imagine the plant you water every day, it has a springing bud that will become a beautiful flower filling your balcony with a mesmerising fragrance. Suppose that you wake up the next morning and the springing flower bud has been completely destroyed and throttled. The amazing possibility of the bud sprouting into a flower is gone. Similarly, when the children in our society are bound to work at an early age snatching away the basic essence of their childhood, their future gets trampled in the same way as the flower bud. 

In simple words, Child Labour mainly refers to the inhuman practice of forcing young children to do menial labour thus depriving them of their basic rights to education as well as holistic physical as well as mental growth. They are bereaved of educational opportunities and forced to become the breadwinners of the family. Hence, children are refrained from gaining the required skills and academic opportunities to grow as matured and learned individuals.

Considered as the little gifts of God, children stuck in the vicious circle of child labour can be seen working at restaurants, households, factories, constructions, etc. In India, you might have come across small children selling pens, candies, flowers and other things on the streets and traffic lights as well. Due to financial issues in their families, they are forced to pursue menial jobs and step into the harsh realities of the world at an early age.

Lack of educational opportunities, inequality, traditional and cultural expectations and stagnant demographic transitions majorly foster child labour in India. As per the 2011 Census, there are 10.1 million working children between the age of 5-14. With more and more children being pushed to work every now and then, child labour has been a constant stigma to tackle. Several interlinked factors contribute to the persistence of this social evil in the country. Skyrocketing prices of the basic utilities and high unemployment and poverty levels are the basic reasons why children are forced to earn for their families.

It’s also critical to comprehend and learn how to distinguish between child labour and non-child work. Having said that, it is important to recognise that not all employment done by children is considered child labour and should be targeted for removal. Participation in work by children or adolescents that does not harm their health or development or interfere with their education is typically considered a positive thing. Helping their parents around the house, assisting in a family company, or earning pocket money outside of school hours and during school holidays are examples of such activities. These types of activities aid in the development of children and the well-being of their families by providing them with skills and experience, as well as preparing them to be useful members of society as adults.

Based on Census 2011, the total child population in India in the age group (5-14) years is 259.6 million, out of which they are either working as a ‘main worker’ or as a ‘marginal worker’. To extract the children out of these harsh situations, the Indian Government has laid down various laws including the restriction of employment of children below the age of 14 in any of the factories or mines.

Despite many government departments and commissions working on the eradication of this practice, it is still prevailing in urban and rural areas. Thus, in order to fight this social evil, we must ensure that children are provided with their basic right to education for free and awareness about the perils of child labour should be spread in rural and urban areas to exterminate it at its roots.

Article on Child Labour

Child Labour is one of the dark social issues that are prevalent in our society. At a tender age when one is supposed to expand their learning horizons, the burden of labour clouds the aspirations of some children. One of the major causes of child labour is poverty, lack of employment opportunities and poor job diversity. Here is an article on child labour:

Child labour is one of the social issues in India. Child Labour is often described as work that deprives children of their childhood, dignity and potential. It refers to labour that is harmful to the physical and mental development of children. One of the major causes of child labour, despite economic growth in India, is the nation faces a poverty problem. More than a third of the country’s population is below the poverty line. Due to poor living standards, low levels of income, and a lack of employment opportunities and poor job diversity, impoverished families send their children to work instead of educating them to contribute to the family’s additional income required to sustain. Children worldwide are routinely engaged in paid and unpaid forms of work that are not harmful to them. More than one out of four children (ages 5 to 17) are involved in labour considered dangerous to them in the least developed countries. The leading cause of child Labour in India is the high poverty rate, where children work to earn bread for a day. As per UNICEF’s report, children from the impoverished and rural parts of the world have no available alternatives such as teachers and schools. Children stuck in the vicious circle of child labour can be seen working at restaurants, households, factories, constructions, etc. In India, you might have come across small children selling pens, candies, flowers and other things on the streets and traffic lights as well. Due to financial issues in their families, they are forced to pursue menial jobs and step into the harsh realities of the world at an early age.

While writing an essay on child labour or an article on child labour, it is essential to highlight its prevalence in a developing country like India and how it can be eliminated to ensure a brighter future for our younger generation. Gearing for a competitive exam like IELTS, TOEFL or SAT? Reach out to our Leverage Edu experts and we will assist you in crafting the best preparation strategy along with providing you with quality study material and guides to ace your exam with flying colours.

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