Running Head: A NEW CHANGE !

A New Change

Camryn Benbow

Arizona State University

A New Change !2

Abstract

Child labor is very prevalent in developing countries. Children are forced into child labor

mainly to help support their families who are suffering below the poverty line. Most children

who are child laborers have no time for school, or do not get enough school time because they

are working. These children face serious health issues because of the environment they are

working in. Children also experience mental issues due to child labor. A solution to this problem

is to build a school on site of their working field so the children can attend school for half the

day, and work the other half of the day and still get paid to support their families.

keywords: child labor, family, poverty, school, education, children

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A New Change

Many children in developing countries are victims of harsh child labor. Child labor is

defined as work among children that is depriving them from their childhood, stripping them from

their dignity and potential, and is corrupting their mental and physical health (International

Labor Organization). Even though child labor is a huge source of income to families in

developing countries, children are not in school getting their education that is needed. In order to

resolve this problem, children should go to specialized schools that help them with their labor

while getting paid and still get their education. Many problems come with child labor alone such

as long working hours, kids not being in school, and the affect on their mental and physical

health.

Problems With Child Labor

According to the International Labour Organization, there are 152 million child laborers

around the world. Many child laborers are working because their family is living below the

poverty line in their country. Children have to work to help provide for their families. 44% of the

child labor population in India are working because their families are below the poverty line

(Gómez, P. J et al. 2016 ). A study in Pakistan resulted in their child labor population being 82%

of all child laborers in are working because their families are living below the poverty line

(Naeem, et al 2011). Another reason why child work is because of their parents’ education level

and the education level the adults in that country. If a country has low adult education levels,

then child labor is going to be high. If a country has high adult education levels, then child labor

is going to be low. Also if the child’s parents have low education level, then they are mostly

likely going to work (Rammohan 2014). This means around 152 million children are working
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long hours and are not getting the proper education that is needed. While children are working all

day, they have no time for school. Children work between approximately between 20-45 hours

per week (Ortiz-Ospina and Roser 2019). With kids working these long hours, there is no time

for them to attend school. In other cases, children have to leave school early to attend work. With

this, children are not getting the full education time they need. Many children also get pulled out

of school completely to work full time. With the common age bracket for child laborers being

5-14 (Ortiz-Ospina and Roser 2019), many children who start working at the age of five, have

little to no education when five is the common age to start school. It has been proven in the

Middle East that families who are in extreme poverty force their children out of school to work.

(Bhat 2013). In India, 85% of child laborers do not attend school (Gómez, P. J et al. 2016 ).

Along with long rigorous hours of labor each week, children are exposed to dangerous chemicals

that affect their health. According to the International Labor Organization, there are around 73

million children who are working in hazardous conditions today (International Labor

Organization). The majority children who are victims of child laborers are in the agriculture

industry. This is one of the most hazardous industries for child laborers (Haque, M. R et al.

2015). The Human Rights Watch stated that children working in the tobacco farms are exposed

to pesticides and nicotine (Child Labor). Children who work on cocoa farms in Africa, are

exposed to insecticides, fire and fertilizer (Berlan 2013). The Humans Rights Watch also stated

that children who are working in the coal mines underground, are getting exposed to mercury

which could lead to brain damage. A study was done in Pakistan on children working in a factory

making medical tools. The study results showed that children working in the factory had

chromium in their urine which is about 35 times higher than children not working and going to
A New Change !5

school on a regular basis. The study also resulted in the children working in the factory having

nickel in their system (Sughis et al. 2012). These chemicals can lead to serious health issued such

as cancer and bronchitis. Many children also suffer from mental health problems due to child

labor. Many children who endure child labor experience effects such as ADHD, demoralisation,

anxiety and different behavioral issues (Sturrock & Hodes 2016). A study conducted in the

Middle East concluded that the child laborers suffered from depression, anxiety and separation

anxiety (Thabet et al. 2011). In order for children to still work and make money for their families

while having an education, children should attend a specialized school.

Solving The Solution

Even though they are many child labor laws around the world, many countries do not

take those laws seriously. For example, India passed a law stating children who are under the age

of 14 are only to work in family business and only outside of school hours and the task can not

be hazardous. However, there are over 12 million child laborers in India, and common the age

bracket of child laborers is 5-14. Half of these child laborers are doing hazardous work (Jazeera

2016 ). Because child laborers are not getting the necessary education needed, they should attend

a school where half the day is education, and the other half of the day is work which earns them

money to help support their families. This school will operate seven days a week since half of

each day is education only. This specialized school for child laborers will specialize in the field

of work the children are working in. For example, for children working in the mines, the school

will be specialized for mining students. Part of the first half of the day, children will learn basic

skills that is necessary to get through life such as reading and writing. Afterwards, the children

will then learn necessary skills to execute their work in the work force. Along with these skills,
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the children will also learn an academic aspect to their work force to understand their work more

clearly and efficiently. The next half of the day will be the children executing what they learned

in school in the work force. Children will also get paid for their work so they can still support

their families. While the children are working, adult supervisors will be on the force supervising

the children. The children will also be provided face masks if necessary. The supervisors and the

face masks will also be funded by the non-profit organization. This idea has a concept of an

internship because students are learning skills to execute in the real world. In this case, the

children are learning skills to execute in their field of work to help support their family. Local

employees in Turkey are in favor of child labor because if children start working at a young age,

they will gain the skills they need in the real world (Erden 2019). With this specialized school,

there are many steps to implement this plan.

Putting The Plan in Place and The Problems. There are many possible ways for this

plan to execute successfully. In order for this plan to be put into place, teachers need to be onsite

to the teach the content. These teachers would be credible teachers to teach the reading and

writing portion of the curriculum and the academic aspect behind their work. These teachers

could be substitute teachers looking for a teaching job, retired teachers looking to teach again

etc. For teaching the skills on how to work in the work force, those teachers should be former

child laborers since they have been in that position before. On the work site, there would be a

classroom where the children can learn and interact with one another. With this new school, there

can be some difficulties to put this plan in place. One difficulty would be paying the teachers and

having the funds to build the classroom. In order to fix this problem, the school and teachers can

be funded by a non-profit organization. The non-profit organization will raise funds through
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donations and fundraisers to provide funding for building the classroom on site and pay for the

teachers. For example, UNICEF is a non profit organization that helps children in other get the

necessary education they need. This is different from this solution because UNICEF goes to the

location where the country lacks educational resources. However UNICEF helps out children

who can not attend a regular all day school. UNICEF provides children who are out-of-school

with alternative education options and pathways (“ Quality Education and Learning”). This

program would apply to students who have disables, no schooling in their area, or for some

reason can not attend a traditional school such as child laborers. This program has been very

effective in the areas they attend to. Another problem the owners would be concerned with would

be losing half a day of work which means less products being produced. However, in order to

keep the same work going, the school would separate the kids into two groups. The first group

would go to school while the second group works. Then when the day reaches the half way

mark, the groups will switch positions. Even with some minimal problems, there are many

benefits in this plan for the children.

The Benefits

These specialized schools will benefit the children in many ways, especially in their

education. It might seem impossible to get rid of child labor because these families are living

under the poverty line. However, child laborers aged 10-14 in Indonesia dropped about 16% over

a 47 year span. This drop was caused by the country’s rising living standards, the decrease in

family sizes and change in the agriculture and cotton industries which are the two most common

child labor industries in Indonesia (Kis-Katos & Schulze 2011). Even though the child labor rates

dropped, a vast majority of children are not getting the necessary education they need. If every
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country does this, child labor will still be around. These specialized schools compromises both

aspects from children needing education and working to support their families. These specialized

schools will ensure that the children are getting an education that they need. Even though it is not

a full day of school, the children are still learning. Also, the children will still get to work and

make money for their families. This will also help out some of the struggles children endure

during child labor. With this school, the labor hours will decrease significantly since half the day

the children will be learning in the classroom. Even though the children will still be working in

dangerous conditions, the school will have adult supervisors on site over looking the children to

ensure their safety. The children will also be provided face masks so they will not be exposed to

the dangerous chemicals. As for the children’s mental health, the children would be interacting

with each other during the class room which helps them with their social behavior issues and

they won’t feel isolated. The lively environment in the classroom will also help with the

children’s depression since they will have something to look forward to everyday.

Conclusion

Even though children should not be working and should be in school, child labor does

help out families in need who are living below the poverty line. However, children are not in

school or not they are not getting enough education because they are out working to help provide

for their families. In order to make sure children stay in school and still work to help their

families, children should go to specialized schools that help them with their labor while getting

paid and still getting their education. The school would be on the work site. The first half the day

will be either school or work depending on what group the child is in, then switch once the first

half of the day is over. This school can resolve some problems that comes with child labor such
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as long working hours, kids not being in school, and the affect on their mental and physical

health.
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References

Berlan, A. (2013). Social Sustainability in Agriculture: An Anthropological Perspective on Child

Labour in Cocoa Production in Ghana. Journal of Development Studies, 49(8), 1088–

1100. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2013.780041

Bhat, B. A. (2013). Forced Labor of Children in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Industry. International

Journal on World Peace, 30(4), 61–85. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/

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Child Labor. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights/child-labor

Erden, O. (2019). Child labour and school attendance in Turkey. Forced Migration Review, (60),

59–60. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

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Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2019) - "Child Labor". Published online at

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Gómez, P. J., Alsamawi, A., Yamasue, E., Okumura, H., Ishihara, K. N., Geschke, A., & Lenzen,

M. (2016). Consuming Childhoods: An Assessment of Child Labor’s Role in Indian

Production and Global Consumption. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20(3), 611–622.

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Haque, M. R., Mostofa, M. G., & Islam Mondal, M. N. (2015). Determinants and Effects of

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Anthropologists, 15(1), 77–89. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

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International Labor Organization (IPEC). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/

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Jazeera, A. (2016, July 27). Indian parliament passes contentious child labour bill. Retrieved

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Kis-Katos, K., & Schulze, G. G. (2011). Child Labour in Indonesian Small Industries. Journal of

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10.1080/00220388.2011.561327

Naeem, Z., Shaukat, F., & Ahmed, Z. (2011, July). Child labor in relation to poverty. Retrieved

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Quality Education and Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/esa/what-we-do/

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Rammohan, A. (2014). The trade-off between child labour and schooling in India. Education

Economics, 22(5), 484–510. Retrieved from https://doi.org/

10.1080/09645292.2011.641271

Sturrock, S., & Hodes, M. (2016). Child labour in low- and middle-income Countries and its

Consequences for Mental Health: A Systematic Literature Review of Epidemiologic

Studies. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 25(12), 1273–1286. Retrieved

from https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0864-z

Sughis, M., Nawrot, T. S., Haufroid, V., & Nemery, B. (2012). Adverse Health Effects of Child

Labor: High Exposure to Chromium and Oxidative DNA Damage in Children

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