Growing Child Labor Crisis Due to COVID-19

With many school closures around the world as well as economic pressures, led children all around the world more prone to child labor.

In India, children as young as 6 pick through trash in search of recyclables. This age group of children from 6-14 have been sent by their parents to rummage through garbage collections. This poses major harm to children because these rummages are littered with broken glass and concrete shards.

According to the New York Times, most kids can’t even afford shoes and continue to work even with bleeding feet. “I hate it,” said Rahul, an 11-year-old boy praised by his teacher as bright.” But, because of the pandemic, India’s schools have closed and children have gone to work. 

Poorer families who need the money, use children as a resource for cheap labor. Compared to the United States that have online learning, other places don’t have this technology.

The United Nations estimated that, “24 million children will drop out and millions could be sucked into work.” There has been much progress pertaining to schooling in these countries. However, with the pandemic, “All the gains that have been made, all this work we have been doing, will be rolled back, especially in places like India,” said Cornelius Williams, a high-ranking UNICEF official.