Let’s provide a sunny future for all children

The social imperfections of child labour in the name of India has finally come into light through the Noble Peace Prize recipient Kailash Satyarthi. As his very name suggests, he has persevered a lot for the children of India in an attempt to bring attention to the abusive issue of child labour. The staggering statistics suggests that about 50 million children in India are involved in child labour, which confirms the intensity of the problem and the urgent need to save these children.

The persistence of these children as they face the harsh realities of life when they are at such a tender age is truly a call for concern. People believe that child labour is due to illiteracy but child labour intensifies this very problem as children are in fact, unable to attend school and this prevents them from being taught life-changing skills that could help them stand up for themselves.

The children who do not attend school become a liability for the society as they grow up, due to the very same illiteracy. Thus, literacy of children not only reduces poverty but also provides employment to many other people such as teachers. And the children who are forced to work tend to be extremely underpaid, which results in having to work at several places at once just to make ends meet. Child labour is a ruthless problem that has marred the hearts and souls of innocent children.

Satyarthi has indeed proved to be noble at heart by continuing to fight towards his philantropic cause. All of us see it happening, but only few of us actually have the spirit to be able to stand against such an indelible social evil. I stand by Satyarthi and agree that we should all boycott the use of products that involve child labour. This includes incense sticks, fire crackers and other products. Another reason for increased child labour is due to the fact that factory owners are desperate for cheap labour with the increasing factory maintenance costs. And for that, the government plays an important role in curbing this as these children form tomorrow’s India. We should all support Satyarthi in this quest of trying to provide a sun-lit future for all children, not only locally, but also globally.

-The reader is an Indian pupil based in Dubai.