Contents: Preface. I. Introduction: 1. Needs versus rights? Child labour, social exclusion and the challenge of universalising primary education/Naila Kabeer, Geetha B. Nambissan and Ramya Subrahmanian. II. Alternate perspectives on children, childhood and child labour: 2. The social construction of childhood: a perspective from Bangladesh/Susan Bissell. 3. Rights versus needs: is it in the ‘best interest of child’?/Neera Burra. 4. International labour standards and child labour/Kaushik Basu. III. The socio-economic context of work and school: 5. Social exclusion, children’s work and education: a view from the margins/Geetha B. Nambissan. 6. Modes of learning-labour relations: educational strategies and child labour/Mohammad Talib. IV. Policy context for addressing child labour and education: 7. Educational provision and national goals in South Asia: a review of policy and performance/R. Govinda. 8. Universalisation of elementary education: government policies and perspectives/Dhir Jhingran. 9. ‘Community’ at the centre of universal primary education strategies: an empirical investigation/Ramya Subrahmanian. 10. Government-NGO partnership and children’s right to education in Bangladesh/Keiko Miwa. V. Operationalising the right to education: government and non-government interventions: 11. Revitalising government provision: partnership between Pratham and Municipal Primary Schools in Mumbai/Rukmini Banerji. 12. Filling a critical gap in basic education in Bangladesh/A. Mushtaque R. Chowdhury. 13. Operationalising the right to education: the Lok Jumbish experience in Rajasthan/Shobhita Rajagopal. 14. Schools as institutions for the elimination of child labour: the experience of the M.V. Foundation in the Ranga Reddy district/Shantha Sinha. 15. Family adjustments for mainstreaming child labourers into formal schools in Calcutta: the experience of CINI-ASHA/CINI-ASHA. VI. Concluding overview: child labour and educational failure in South Asia: 16. Deprivation, discrimination and delivery: competing explanations for child labour and educational failure in South Asia/Naila Kabeer. Index.
"The twin issues of child labour and children’s rights to education have become a matter of international concern while gaining prominence in national developmental efforts. The United Nations convention on the rights of the child, which has a higher rate of ratification by the nations of the world than any other UN convention, signals a new global awareness of the importance of this problem.
Within the South Asian context, the issue of child labour is widely seen as a manifestation of poverty, and the child’s contribution to the household economy is seen as vital to meeting the basic needs of poor families. This region has the largest number of child labourers in the world, as well as the largest number of children out of school. A number of different educational models for addressing the requirements of children who are outside the conventional schooling system, have also been evolved in this region.
While highlighting these important issues, this thought-provoking volume discusses a range of pertinent questions including:
What is the nature of the conflict between the right of the child to education and the economic needs of the family and which of these concerns should take priority?
What is the role of the state in this ‘needs versus rights’ conflict?
What roles are played social discrimination (on the basis of caste and gender) and cultural exclusion (tribal and religious status) in keeping children both out of school and out of work?
What is the status of child labour in the context of globalisation and international trade agreements?
What is the meaning and experience of childhood in the region, particularly among poorer families?
With contributions from policy-makers, academics and activists working in the field of child labour, and practitioners involved in delivering education to children who are outside the formal schooling system, this valuable book brings together a range of perspectives concerning the causes of and solutions to the problem of child labour in South Asia. It will be of interest to development organisations, NGOs and human rights activists, as also to students of law, sociology, economics, public administration and development studies."
