It is a catastrophic shift for some of the world’s most vulnerable people, undoing years of gains for education and against child labour, and undermining their prospects of climbing out of poverty. The country’s laws prohibit anyone under 14 from working in most circumstances, but its poverty means that it had a large market in illegal child labour even before the pandemic. The rise in child labour also compounds other threats to children resulting from the global recession. Around the world, poverty had been declining for decades, particularly in Asia, allowing more and more children to remain in school. Many of the students forced from the classroom and into work were doing well academically, fuelling dreams of better futures.

Source: bd News24 September 27, 2020 18:45 UTC