Child Labor and Education

Child labor has generally been understood to be work that interferes with a child's education and, therefore, has a negative effect on his or her development. In contrast to child labor, child work is an acceptable and, in some cases, even positive form of child employment that does not interfere with schooling and play. This entry briefly reviews the history of child labor and describes international initiatives to eliminate it, including efforts to address underlying causes such as poverty, lack of educational opportunities, and HIV/AIDS. The entry examines efforts to expand educational opportunities for children, including both formal and informal education as well as vocational training. The entry concludes with a look at special concerns relating to vulnerable and marginalized children.

The issue of child labor has been the subject of investigations and studies for more than a century. In Europe, the Industrial Revolution was largely powered by children who were engaged in hazardous work from as young as 4 years old. In the Victorian era, Charles Dickens was a victim of child labor because of family debt. Because of his experiences, Dickens wrote about child labor and advocated for social reform. In his portrayal of rural working-class life in La Terre and in his novel about the mining working-class life in Germinal, Émile Zola convincingly portrayed working-class French families in the 1880s when children were seen as a normal part of the workforce. Gradually, with economic development in the West, hazardous child labor came to be considered a human rights violation and was outlawed. In the developing world, however, child labor still openly exists.