Several renowned brands that we shop from daily make use of child labour
to curate their products.
For example, in Bangladesh, poor children under the age of 14 work an average of 64
hours a week! The difficulties they face in their everyday lives at such an innocent age
must be unimaginable. At a time when these children should be going to school and
growing up making memories to cherish, they are forced to work in factories while
living in ridiculous conditions.
Many small factories employ numerous children in different hazardous roles, as they
can be employed for a much lower salary than adults. These children who work in
factories at such a young age, are forced to prepare for a hazardous future filled with
medical conditions affecting their physical health, let alone the mental trauma they
endure. For instance, children welding at heavy engineering workshops may suffer from
loss of vision and more. A child who washes cars, although may not be affected
physically, will suffer from the torture of earning a living at their mere age.
Worst of all, this is not even the child’s fault as they simply need to earn money to fill
their family’s empty stomachs. In other cases, unfortunately, these children have no
choice but to succumb to their fates, working far away from their families without any
experience of the real world.
Did you know that the crackers that you burst on Diwali are most probably made by
children who are younger than you? The gunpowder that they work with causes them to
suffer from several diseases, even fatal, like cancer. Step into their shoes for a moment,
and see for yourself whether or not you would want to do the same for the rest of your
life?
Now, let's talk about the solutions that there are to this problem. The Indian government
has set up the National Child Labour Project which helps children who are working shift
to special training centers where they are given education and meals at flexible timings.
I am sure this has helped many children live their lives as they are supposed to because
in this scheme, they also state that it is prohibited to employ any child below the age of
14, even for domestic help, thus promoting a positive upbringing for the young minds of
our developing country.
Hence, let us work together towards stopping child labour permanently as children are
not machines but humans after all.