Child Labour and Schooling in India
A reappraisal
Highlights
India has made rapid progress towards the universalization of school education, hand in hand with a decline in child labour. Despite progress, child labour persists in the country, just as school attendance and completion rates reveal gaps in educational attainment.
This report addresses a timely need for new research to help decision-makers and practitioners build an improved understanding of how to strengthen the role of education in the elimination of child labour across India. Drawing on quantitative secondary data analysis and qualitative primary data analysis, it offers an accessible and rigorous overview of recent patterns in child labour in India and their linkages with children’s school participation. The report also explores children’s perspectives of their labour and schooling experiences, including in migration contexts as well as during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting school closures. The report concludes with programmatic and research recommendations for further action.
