Child-and-adult-labour-in-the-export-oriented-garment-and-gem-polishing-industry-of-India

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Conclusions
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the relatively high wages of the child labourers, the existence of poor and inadequate primary
education facilities in Tirupur, poverty of the parents who either are unemployed or who
have low income jobs or who have a sick family member, and migration of the family to
Tirupur. In the case of migration children were withdrawn from school and they never
enroled again in Tirupur.
The 'push factors' which partly caused child labour in the gem polishing industry of Jaipur
were: the recent migration of families to Jaipur, increasing wages of child labourers, and the
socio-cultural context of parents: their positive attitude towards work and their negative attitude
towards the existing primary education facilities in Jaipur.
Although poverty is an important cause (push factor) of children being sent to work, equally
important causes are: lack of awareness of the negative aspects of child labour and of the
positive role education can play in the improvement of their children's future. In Tirupur it
was observed, however, that the existence of free non-formal education centres and a NGO
who made parents aware of these centres and the positive aspects of education, motivated parents
to send their children to these centres but not to withdraw them from work. In Jaipur it
was observed that the majority of Muslim parents even had a positive attitude towards work,
which led to sending their children to work at a very young age (i.e. 5-6 years) and hence
caused total illiteracy of their children. In Jaipur it was also observed, however, that adults
with some level of education, who had started working at the age of around 15 years, had a
shorter apprenticeship period, grasped the skills earlier and could, because they were educated,
demand higher wages at an earlier time in their career. This implicates that awarenessraising
of the parents of the positive effects of elementary education is very important.
5. The existing primary education facilities in Jaipur as well as in Tirupur are not adequate,
meaningful and attractive for children. If children were enroled, these facilities were not
adequate to keep children in school. This was stronger in Tirupur than in Jaipur.
6. The working girl child, both in the garment and gem polishing industry, is burdened with
more work than the boy child; she is needed in the household whenever she is free and has to
take care of siblings next to her regular job. This has serious repercussions on her health.
Because the girl child is also needed in the household besides her economic activities, she is
often withdrawn from school earlier than the boy child and never has time to play. This
affects her educational and social development negatively.
(on child and/or adult labour in the garment export industry of India)
7. As part of the growing movement in India against child labour, the two largest networks of
non-governmental organizations against child labour - the South Asian Coalition on Child
Servitude (SACCS) and the Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) - have taken up the
issue of child labour in the garment industry in Tirupur. This has already made a discernable
impact on the exporters and their associations who have promised to phase out child labour
in the garment industry.
In India itself the initiatives concerning the issue of child labour in the garment industry have