More than 168 million children are trapped in child labour. More than half of them, 85 million, are in hazardous work. This persistence of child labour is rooted in poverty and lack of decent work for adults, lack of social protection, and a failure to ensure that all children are attending school through to the legal minimum age for admission to employment.
The World Day Against Child Labour this year will focus particularly on the importance of quality education as a key step in tackling child labour. It is very timely to do so, as in 2015 the international community will be reviewing reasons for the failure to reach development targets on education and will be setting new goals and strategies.
On this year’s World Day Against Child Labour we call for:
- free, compulsory and quality education for all children at least to the minimum age for admission to employment and action to reach those presently in child labour;
- new efforts to ensure that national policies on child labour and education are consistent and effective;
- policies that ensure access to quality education and investment in the teaching profession.