1: Child labor 2: Environmental pollution (air or water) - Research Paper Example

Children in these countries are engaged in a variety of occupations that could potentially put their lives at risk or damage their vital organs irreparably. The International Labor Organization points out the predominance of child labor in six major areas: Child domestic labor Children in hazardous professions Children in predominantly home-based export-industries Child trafficking Bonded labor Child labor in the urban unorganized sector (Child) While these features are common to most of the South-Asian countries, countries of relatively higher educational standards have been seen to provide their children with better living conditions, which include a choice to not work, as is can be inferred from the following figures: Country Working Children(5-14 years)[millions] Total no.

of Children(5-14 years) [millions] Youth Literacy (%) Bangladesh 5.05 35.06 63.6 India 12.6 253 76.4 Nepal 1.660 6.225 70.1 Pakistan 3.3 40 65.1 Sri Lanka 0.475 3.18 95.6 (Child) One clearly sees the correlation between education and the prevalence of child labor, countries that have a higher rate of literacy displaying a propensity to give their children a better standard of living, with Sri Lanka being a case in point. Reactions of the governments to this menace have however, failed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were set by the United Nations.

They have mostly centered on treating the problem as a part of the greater problem of poverty. This, while it enables a tackling of the problem from its roots, does not yield specific results. The pace of the eradication of child labor also slackens because of such broad-based measures. Countries like India and Pakistan, even though they are developing countries and have a fair pace of development, fail to allocate enough resources to education and the eradication of child labor. It is only recently that the government of India has come up with proposals for the improvement of the situation, by allocating the educational sector a greater share of the fiscal pie (Union).

Apart from this governments across the region focus on creating committees for legislation and impose bans on various problem areas such as the banning of child labor in hazardous professions. These measures, though well-intentioned, get mired in the politics of the region and do not get properly implemented due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. The need of the hour could be the participation of the private sector. A partnership between the private and the public sectors could be vital in infusing the efforts of the governments of the region with the enthusiasm that the NGOs operating for the cause of children display.

There is also a need for greater political will in implementing the legislations that have been made in this area. Governments of the regions shall have to make a concerted effort in spreading awareness about the need for education and about the dangers of children working in glassworks, bangle-making, fireworks and so on and so forth. This, however, needs to be done quickly, since every moment delayed is a moment of a precious childhood lost. Works Cited Child Labour and Responses in South Asia.

IPEC Subregional Information Centre on Child Labour. Web. Accessed on 13th April, 2011.