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

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Conclusions
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(on solutions to the problem of child labour in the hosiery export industry of Tirupur and
the gem polishing export industry of Jaipur)
12. The combination of work and a few hours of education per day, is not a solution to end child
labour and improve the quality of their life; after a day of hard work children are too tired to
concentrate in school. The making of homework is disrupted because children, especially
girls, are also needed to help in the household and to take care of siblings. This has been
observed in Tirupur where children were found working in the export-oriented garment
industry and combined this work with non-formal education in the evening.
13. The Government's action plan to eliminate child labour from the gem polishing industry in
Jaipur, has proved to be unrealistic and cannot function as a model to eliminate children
from other industries or areas. The scope of the action plan, implemented by 20 special
school and 50 non-formal education centres, is too limited. Out of 15,000 child labourers,
only 1,000 children under 14 years of age could be weaned from the industry through the 20
special schools. The 50 non-formal education centres which are supposed to give non-formal
education every day to around 1,500 child labourers next to their work in the industry, are
irregularly attended by the child labourers and lack motivated teachers. Thus, 1,000 children
are covered by the programme and around 1,500 child labourers get some non-formal
education, but around 12,500 child labourers do not get any form of protection since also the
Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act and other legislation have been hardly enforced.
Parents got upset because only one child in a family (with often 5 to 9 children) could be
admitted in a special school and the parents had to buy food and school items which were
supposed to be provided by the schools.
It is not known how many child labourers in Jaipur are completely illiterate and how many
combine work in the gem industry with going to a government or private school; no census
has been held to make an estimate of the number of child labourers in the gem polishing
industry in Jaipur.
Further, lack of involvement of the local community, parents and teachers in the decision
making and implementation of the special school, inadequate funds and the absence of a promised
awareness-raising programme and income-generating projects for poor parents of working
children, are the main factors why the schools did not achieve their aims; children were
still found working in the industry after school hours.
Whatever may be the programme to eliminate children from the industry, or to improve
school enrolment, if the local community, NGOs, parents and teachers are not involved in
decision making and implementation, the programme will fail.
(on child labour in general)
Child labour in India will continue as long as:
- the primary education system is not compulsory, not free and inadequate;
- the parents lack sufficient income, do not see the relevance of education due to the non-