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

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Child and adult labour in the garment export industry of Tirupur
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female adults accounted for only 4% and children below the age of 14 accounted for 41% (4,554
children). Of the 41% children, 20% was a male and 21% was a female.
The distribution of child labourers in the area was as follows: in Avinashi Block, 32% of the
total number of workers which was involved in hosiery work, were child labourers; in Tirupur
this percentage was 36%, and in Tirupur Municipality this percentage was 63%. So, the survey
revealed that the majority of the working children in the hosiery industry lived in the slums in the
centre of the city of Tirupur.
Of the surveyed children, who were involved in the hosiery industry, 22% was in age group 6 to
11 and 78% in the age group of 12 to 14. Most of the children started to work at the age of 8 to
10.
The starting wage of a child labourer in the hosiery industry in Tirupur was around Rs 7 per day.
The wage slowly increased as she/he gained experience. Learning a particular skill depended
upon: 1. style of functioning of a company; 2. the kind of record built between the adult worker
and the child worker; 3. physical and mental development of the child.
The total group of surveyed children in the age group of 6 to 11 consisted of 4,316 boys and
4,316 girls. Of the boys, 73% went to school; of the girls only 67%. This enrolment rate is much
lower than the state average, especially for female children. In the 6 to 11 age group, 12% of all
the male children and 15% of all the female children were already in the workforce. The remaining
children in this age group did not go to school and did not work in the labour market: that
was 14% of boy children and 18% of girl children.
The total group of surveyed children in the age group 12 to 14 years consisted of 3,462 boys and
3,302 girls. While in this age group 31% of the boy children and 25% of the girl children were in
school, 62% of both boy and girl children were already in the workforce. In the 12 to 14 age
group 7% of boy children and 12% of girl children were neither in school nor in the (nonhousehold)
workforce.
The children, who 'neither go to school nor to work' were more in number in the age group 6 to
11 than 12 to 14. This finding is interpreted by the researchers with saying that this category of
children in the 6 to 11 age group gradually joins the workforce when they become 12 to 14 years
of age.
The information on health aspects had not been processed before this study was published.
According to the report, Dr. Karuppannan, the Chief Eye Specialist in the Tirupur Government
Hospital has revealed that 80% of hosiery workers had eye-related diseases. He specially
mentioned the child workers, who were also affected. These eye-related diseases are caused by
the cotton dust inside the hosiery factories and the chemical dust coming from the dyeing and
bleaching processes.
The data collected from primary schools revealed that most of the schools in Tirupur lacked adequate
infrastructural facilities in terms of building and adequate teaching and learning equipments.
The sample survey of the schools revealed that in the high child labour incidence areas the
drop-out rate at the primary level (6 to 11) was as high as 50 per cent. In most of the schools the