One in three child workers illiterate: Study

“Close to 1.4 million child labourers in India in the age group of 7-14 years cannot write their names. This means one in three child labourers in the said age group is illiterate,” an analysis of Census data by CRY- Child Rights and You said in a statement.

This is the grim reality of children who work for more than six months in a year. Even for children who support the family economy by working for less than six months in a year, which is very common in India, the situation is equally, if not more, worse. 

According to the statement, a shocking 2 million of these marginal workers have compromised their education as well. The situation is also reflected in the state figures. While 45 per cent of child labourers in Bihar are illiterate, in Rajasthan and Jharkhand the figure stands at 40 per cent.Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have about 38 per cent child labourers as illiterate. 

There is a high potential of early school drop-outs and those not learning at school to remain outside the world of employment, it said. These children when grow remain at a risk of not having secured jobs and thus remain trapped in the intergenerational cycle of poverty and deprivation, it said.

The numbers stated earlier contradict this assumption and is an evidence enough that this needs to change, for main as well as marginal child labourers, the statement added.