The differential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on society needs to be acknowledged. While some of us are practising social distancing and exploring work from home options aggressively in the hope of a better tomorrow, there is a possibility that a substantial number of children would emerge as victims of such apparently positive measures. One impact would be an increase in the number of child workers.
Along with the health crisis, and the economic and labour market shock that the pandemic has generated, the vulnerability of millions to child labour is another issue that merits serious attention.
Already, there are 152 million child labourers worldwide. Despite the prohibition of engagement of children below the age of 14 in all occupations, India alone is home to 10.1 million child labourers in the age group 5-14 years (Census 2011). If the state governments do not take immediate and accelerated efforts to address this issue, we are going to lose the battle of eliminating all forms of child labour by 2025, a commitment under the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
All over the world, the quantity and quality of employment is deteriorating rapidly because of COVID-19. The subsequent economic shock will increase both unemployment and underemployment. Besides the number of jobs, there is also the possibility of downward adjustment to wages, social security and working hours. The effect will be more on informal sector workers, including self-employed, casual and gig workers, and migrant workers who are more vulnerable to adverse labour market outcomes.
Around 90% of India’s workforce is in the informal sector. As per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) weekly tracker survey, the impact of COVID-19 has already pushed the urban unemployment rate to 30.9% (as on April 5, which was 8.21% on March 15). Estimates show that about 400 million informal workers in India may not get back their livelihood status for a longer period in the near future.
Without adequate credit or savings to withstand financial setbacks, and without adequate governmental support, these households will be left with no other option than putting their children in the workforce to aid survival.
The children of farmers and agricultural labourers in India are at even greater risk. As government restrictions to movement and gatherings have been imposed during harvesting and marketing time, in the absence of helping hands, children will be the fallback option to assist parents in the fields.
As on Tuesday evening, the COVID-19 pandemic has infected over 25 lakh people in 185 countries, resulting in more than 1.7 lakh deaths. In India, around 19,000 COVID-19 cases have been identified and the death toll has crossed 600. This will inevitably leave many children without one or both parents or other caregivers. Orphaned children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking and other exploitation like forced begging, or child labour. In such families, there is also the likelihood of older children dropping out of school to support their younger siblings.
As governments are obligated to respect the right to education of children, UNESCO has recommended that countries adopt a variety of hi-tech, low-tech and no-tech solutions to assure the continuity of learning during this period. Most of the focus has been on online learning platforms, even though nearly half of the world has no internet access.
Thus, for many children, the COVID-19 crisis will mean limited or no education, or falling further behind their peers. This will induce a large number of children to discontinue their study even after normalcy is restored. There is a high probability of many of these out of school children getting involved in child labour.
The millions of children who will be victims of the COVID-19 pandemic need immediate attention from states and communities. The starting point should be the parents. First, coordinated policy efforts should be taken to provide employment and income support to all informal sector workers to stimulate the economy and labour demand. These measures will cushion enterprises and workers against immediate employment and income losses and reduce the probability of children being made to enter the workforce.
As a direct measure, states should prioritise efforts to continue education for all children, using all available technology. Financial support or relaxation of school fees and other related school expenses should be given to those children who wouldn’t be able to return to school otherwise. Governments should also enact measures to ensure inclusion of children with disabilities. States can reach out to local NGOs working on children with disabilities and engage with them at every stage of the response.
School authorities need to ensure that every student will have free lunches at home until schools open. Special efforts should be taken to identify children orphaned due to COVID-19, and arrangements of shelter and foster care for them should be made on a priority basis.