Fighting child labour with education
Zambia celebrated the World Day Against Child Labour on 12th June under the theme “In conflicts and disasters, protect children from child labour”. The event brought together government, NGOs, trade unions, UN agencies and the private sector. The objective of the commemoration was to reflect on the progress Zambia has made so far in fighting child labour. With about 1.2 million children in Zambia still engaged in child labour, very little has been achieved apart from putting in place a strong policy and legal framework. The main drivers of child labour have been poverty, high unemployment rate, inaccessible education systems and the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS. Oftentimes, when parents are pressed by immediate need for food, they are forced to make choices for their children for the sake of short term benefits, forgetting the long term repercussions. They choose to take their children to work for a day’s meagre wage at the expense of their education.
Evidence from other countries reveal that the provision of Early Childhood Care and Development Education (ECCDE) can substantially lower the risk of child labour. By having children enrolled in day care centres or preschools, parents are able to keep them away from work and thus reduce their exposure to chemicals and accidents. It is common in rural areas to find women carrying their babies while working in the fields. ECCDE can thus play a major role in keeping such babies away from exposure to occupational hazards. Since children in Zambia start engaging in child labour at the age of five, having children aged 0-6 years enrolled in ECCDE centers plays a major role in preventing them from becoming victims of child labour. For Zambia to succeed in combating child labour, there is need for a holistic approach to the delivery of ECCDE services targeting all children aged 0-6 years as opposed to the current focus on children aged 5 and 6 years.
Primary school education also plays an important role in the prevention of child labour. Although primary education is free in Zambia, there are a number of out-of-school pupils currently employed. The focus should be on improving access by reducing distances to school, improving quality of education and promoting retention. It is important to make primary schooling attractive to the children and parents. Oftentimes, parents see no point in sending children to schools that do not inspire hope for future employment. Research has shown that parents can only send their children to school if the opportunity cost for education is lower than future gains from wage employment. In a country like Zambia were only 10% of the labour force is in formal employment, parents fail to see the benefits of sending children to school. Thus, improving the quality and relevance of education can be an incentive for sending children to school.
Secondary education is also important in the fight against child labour, in that children’s productivity and involvement in child labour are believed to improve with increase in age. Secondary schooling also forms a bridge between childhood and adulthood and therefore there is compelling need for it to equip children with cognitive skills that enable them to secure employment on the labour market. Unfortunately, secondary education is also not free in Zambia, meaning that the direct opportunity costs are higher at this level. Apart from foregoing wages from child labour, the children, often from vulnerable backgrounds, are required to pay money for being in school. As a result, many children drop out of school due to economic barriers and go back to child labour. Thus, the abolition of school fees is important in order to reduce the opportunity cost of education and make it more attractive than child labour. Overall, fighting child labour using education is like killing two birds with one stone – child labour and illiteracy.
By George Hamusunga
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