CHILD LABOR VS EDUCATION: A COMPARISON

  VS

CHILD LABOR:

Child labor nowadays is a very sensitive and chronic issue prevailing in our society. Though many human rights organizations are working for its elimination, yet almost daily we see some incidents where little kids get beaten by their landlords or owners of the houses in which they work to support their families.

According to Wikipedia,

 “Child labor refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful,”

United Nations defines child labor as:

“Work carried out to the detriment and endangerment of a child, in violation of international law and national legislation. It either deprives children of schooling or requires them to assume the dual burden of schooling and work.”

Almost every school of thought agrees that we must give every child the right to go to school rather than working to earn for his family. But current education system is a huge question mark on the face of our society.

EDUCATION:

Main purpose of our education system is to get a good degree with good grades.

There are so many expectations from our school going children, i.e. to get good marks, to perform well in the class and exams, to excel in every curricular and extra-curricular activity. We want our kids to be masters of everything. Teachers also want a 100 percent result from all the students in their class. Parents and teachers both forget about the individual differences of students. The system wants every kid to outclass in every field, forgetting that it is unnecessary that a person good in math must be superb in every subject. Every kid has a strong point. But instead of bringing his strong points to the limelight, we just criticize him for not polishing his weak areas.

Heavy school bags, stress of getting good grades, emphasis on performing well rather than learning to be a useful citizen, admission criteria of universities, so and so forth. These are all a burden on our kids so much heavy, that young kids are having psychological issues. They are thinking of running away from their houses. We have also seen some such cases where kids have committed suicides for not getting highest marks in the class or not getting admission in the universities of their choice.

COMPARISON:

 In a way our education system is going hand in hand with child labor.

·       Burden is different, but it is still there.

·  Mental stress is different, but it is still there.

 ·       Social pressures are different, but that too is still there.

So,

Ø What is better?

Ø What is the difference?

Ø How can we make a difference?

Ø What could we do for the betterment of our next generation?

These questions need answers and it is high time to think over it.

Think. And think harder as it is a matter of our future. We must take a step forward now. Or else we will regret. Forever...