Casuality

Bill Gates had once famously said — “If you are born poor, it isn’t your mistake. But if you die poor, then it is certainly your mistake”. Life sure plays out well with oodles of hard work and determination but what Bill Gates stressed here is more derived from the destiny of the individual.

In the huge gene pool that is life, a lot of things, unfortunately, do boil down to circumstances and situations which are way beyond our control. These largely include the demographics and strata that you are born into. Here, we are trying to shed some light on the situation of the poor in India. Well, much has been said about the disparity between the rich and the poor when it comes to the socio- economic divide, and most of you might have already wrapped your head around and nodded to that situation in angst, but today let’s discuss some lesser-known issues or rather problems which are unknowingly brushed under the carpet in the grand scheme of things.

Today we shall talk about two issues, one of which is a cause and the other, its subsequent effect.

India is the second-most populous country in the world, with a population of more than 1.3 billion people, out of which only one-third can read and write. The rapidly growing size of the population, shortages of teachers, books, and basic facilities, and more importantly the lack of sufficient public funds to cover education costs are some of the education sector’s toughest challenges. Add to it, the rural area disregards the need to get educated and most of them get swayed by traditional and local practices. Parental illiteracy also contributes to the lack of interest to become literates. Now, the few who still manage to pass through all these hurdles are thus first-generation learners who come from illiterate families. This makes it incredibly tough for these kids to grapple with school life.

Accessibility is the first step to these resources, and then comes the “building dreams” part which they aren’t up for because they haven’t been guided properly. There is more often than not a denial to learn things which are rather not practiced back home, for eg learning how to speak in English due to the conservativeness and illiteracy of the parents. The inherent poverty and struggles of daily life don’t offer much help to these young minds. It completely erodes their sense of self- confidence and the need to compete and succeed. Underdeveloped human resources due to a faulty education system mean less access to higher (and better education), employment, and stable income, which contribute to maintaining or even elevating poverty.

The evident lack of holistic development by the government in the education sector severely hampers quality and thereby leaves many of the otherwise deserving students unworthy of many jobs later in life. The rich have unfair access while the poor are directly put at a disadvantage. Yes, donation-based admission is common in many places around the world and surprisingly there is a reservation system prevalent in this country to tackle these problems, but one which is terribly misused. The economically backward class and the Dalits still get discriminated against inspite of discrimination being banned by the government ages ago.

Due to all these problems and, the need to contribute to the family kitty early in their life, many of the kids opt out of schooling and education and thereby become the victims of child labour. It’s a known fact that poor parents have more children because they are poor, and need more hands to supplement the measly and meagre amount they get home. But sadly, this is a vicious cycle because children who opt out of education don’t have the skill set to become productive later in life. This is at best a survival technique because less food is certainly better than no food.

I remember teaching drama to some kids in a slum sometime back, and being the inquisitive artist that I was, proudly asked all of them what they did to pass time expecting them to say that they just fooled around all day. I realised I had made a fool out of myself when they replied — “Kaam karte hai bhaiyya”(We work elder brother). I reckon most of them sifted through garbage looking for useful stuff that could be sold, worked in dhabas and tea-stalls, or outright begged for money. Mind you these were little kids, not even teenagers.

India has more than 10 million children working as child labourers in industrial and familial setups (International Journal of Research and Review (ijrrjournal.com) 73 Vol.7; Issue: 3; March 2020). Imagine 10 million children being deprived of basic access to childhood and education and the fundamental right to make something out of their life. Most of them are also emotionally and physically abused which totally inhibits their personality development.

Children of today are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow, but how can we expect them to be leaders when we haven’t showered them with the right nutrients and environment to grow? Who’s to blame? The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child under Article 12 defines “the child” as “every human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, a majority is attained earlier”.

Access to education and child labour are problems that are rooted in the core of society. We must look at it from a grey area because parents also equally want their children to drop out and start working to supplement the family income. Here are a couple of things that come to the forefront ;

1. Since education and child labour are interlinked, the children inside the school should be necessarily provided with formal education so that it is easy to prevent children from the clutches of child labour. The provisions of Article 21A and Right to Education Act should be thoroughly implemented. An analysis of the working of government schools should also be conducted to ensure that quality education is provided and maximum students are admitted to a school.

2. Rehabilitative and reformative activities should be conducted for the children who are found working in hazardous institutions. Provision should be made for ensuring that their mental, emotional and physical health is attained after they are saved from hazardous institutions. Provisions should be made for such children to become self-independent by teaching the craft and getting them the training required to succeed further in life.

• Having said the above, making education free and compulsory on paper is fine, but the fact is that even if it wasn’t, most parents would get their children educated anyway because they know the value of education. We are a good society in that respect. But they can’t, because they’re better off uneducated than starving to death. You can make child labour a crime on paper too, but it will continue to happen because there is no choice. Ultimately, it is capitalism and private investment in manufacturing/industry that is going to end child labour once for all, and with it, the need to drop out of school.Â

Childhood is considered the golden age of life. It’s the age where children are supposed to flourish and learn the alibi of life to prepare them for a promising future. Sadly, lack of education and child labour blots this golden age with stains of exploitation, violence, and physical and emotional abuse amongst others. The long and short of it is — Society loves to take advantage of the oppressed since they have little or no leverage and are easily pliable. Also, Indian labour laws are archaic, weak, and vague and leave plenty of grey areas to enable exploitation.

Lack of education and child labour in India is a vicious cycle and the only form of survival for some. They work to put food in their stomach. If we want to improve this, we need to get their parents educated enough to not have children if they can’t feed them, and make sure they are sent to school. Life is not fair but hopefully everyone who’s reading this is grateful enough for not having run out of food and for having a roof over their head. The least we can do is bring about a change with the privilege we’ve lucked into. It’s a long road ahead but one which will hopefully see the end of the day.

Written by Aditya Ravi