Friday, August 18, 2006
Solution to child labor problem - Democratize education!
Some issues are true catch 22s. Child labor is one of them. It is tragic to see it in our daily lives. In this age where human capital is at a premium, this is a major potential squandered.
So, its no wonder India has recently extended ban on child labor in chousehold and hospitality. While the intention is noble and the move is welcome, the catch 22 part of it is, now what?. Where will the estimated 16.4 million Indian children go?. Views on the news is mixed. While everyone agrees that just this law is insufficient, some argue that this is a good start and you have to begin somewhere, while others believe this will be disastrous.
In all this, we are missing the real issue. Child labor is the symptom. The real issue is human resource development. There is an opportunity cost for the country as a whole if these children do not realize their potential.
So, how do we achieve this?. Nurturing human potential is capital and time intensive. The government's traditional approach is that of policy, subsidy and regulatory which is at best ineffective. We must explore a radically different approach..
Democratize education!
In today's knowledge economy, we should look at how to equip these children to use knowledge and skill to raise their potential. For this, we need to lower the barriers of education so that it is freely, easily and quickly availble.
1. Decentralize education: Narayan Murthy articulated best recently that education needs to be decentralized. The power should shift from government dictating education policies to cities, villages, families managing educational goals at their levels.
2. Repackage education: K12 is a good system if you can afford it both in terms of time and money. But in this situation, we need an educational system that is cheap, focused and fast. Cheap in terms of affordability, focused in terms of its objectives and fast in term of time to learn. Children should be able to learn a specific skill in a short time (3 months?) and earn more with it.
3. Incent education: Provide incentives for financing education. Chilren should be able to get financing easily for educational purposes. Employment opportunities should be aligned with education and skill levels.
4. Popularize education: Instead of banning child labor outright, a radical approach is to encourage employment of child labor in a safe and nurturing environment. As an example, for every hour a child works, employers are required to provide education credits (which can get tax benefits). More incentives can be provided to employers where the nature of employment has growth and learning built into it (on the job training). Create a culture where employers feel proud of participation in nation building.
Government policy should focus purely on providing security and preventing child abuse in the work place environment and incenting positive employer behavior.
So, its no wonder India has recently extended ban on child labor in chousehold and hospitality. While the intention is noble and the move is welcome, the catch 22 part of it is, now what?. Where will the estimated 16.4 million Indian children go?. Views on the news is mixed. While everyone agrees that just this law is insufficient, some argue that this is a good start and you have to begin somewhere, while others believe this will be disastrous.
In all this, we are missing the real issue. Child labor is the symptom. The real issue is human resource development. There is an opportunity cost for the country as a whole if these children do not realize their potential.
So, how do we achieve this?. Nurturing human potential is capital and time intensive. The government's traditional approach is that of policy, subsidy and regulatory which is at best ineffective. We must explore a radically different approach..
Democratize education!
In today's knowledge economy, we should look at how to equip these children to use knowledge and skill to raise their potential. For this, we need to lower the barriers of education so that it is freely, easily and quickly availble.
1. Decentralize education: Narayan Murthy articulated best recently that education needs to be decentralized. The power should shift from government dictating education policies to cities, villages, families managing educational goals at their levels.
2. Repackage education: K12 is a good system if you can afford it both in terms of time and money. But in this situation, we need an educational system that is cheap, focused and fast. Cheap in terms of affordability, focused in terms of its objectives and fast in term of time to learn. Children should be able to learn a specific skill in a short time (3 months?) and earn more with it.
3. Incent education: Provide incentives for financing education. Chilren should be able to get financing easily for educational purposes. Employment opportunities should be aligned with education and skill levels.
4. Popularize education: Instead of banning child labor outright, a radical approach is to encourage employment of child labor in a safe and nurturing environment. As an example, for every hour a child works, employers are required to provide education credits (which can get tax benefits). More incentives can be provided to employers where the nature of employment has growth and learning built into it (on the job training). Create a culture where employers feel proud of participation in nation building.
Government policy should focus purely on providing security and preventing child abuse in the work place environment and incenting positive employer behavior.
# posted by Bala Girisaballa : 2:31 AM
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I am not sure pushing down the curriculum to village or even district level will help (I guess I don't agree with Mr. Murthy). I don't think most of these administrations have the skill level to do any thing more than just physically manage schools.
I think the main issue is access to education, i.e. affordability and number of quality schools, and methodology of teaching. For that experimentation should be allowed and encouraged and government should encourage private schools and vouchers program for the needy because the govt is unable or unwilling to handle the load (beyound just talking about it year after year).
But then there is another apparent easy solution – reservations in universities and quotes in job market!!
I think the main issue is access to education, i.e. affordability and number of quality schools, and methodology of teaching. For that experimentation should be allowed and encouraged and government should encourage private schools and vouchers program for the needy because the govt is unable or unwilling to handle the load (beyound just talking about it year after year).
But then there is another apparent easy solution – reservations in universities and quotes in job market!!
Balaji, not sure exactly what you mean by "democatise". Economic prosperity is the best incentive for eductation. Nothing else will work. All your suggestions may AID, but will not solve the problem. Earlier it was not so clear that education will result in jobs and prosperity. Nowadays, because of better economic conditions, the link is clearer. So you find even the poor trying their best to send kids not just to schools but to tuition centres. Once prosperity reaches towns and villages, this will happen there too.
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