Speech on Child Labour: As the world grapples with a multitude of problems, our children hold the key to a brighter and better future. At least this is what we believe in but our sense seems to be clouded as we involve small children in profit-generating economic activities. Yes, many lose their conscious and their sense of empathy seems to be absent while putting the country’s future at stake by chasing shallow monetary goals through wrongdoings.
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Long and Short Speeches on Child Labour for Students and Children in English
Child labour is a long-standing unresolved issue. It is a menace that every country wants to get rid of. It is a sensitive topic and a speech on child labor needs to be written in an informative, kind and proactive manner. You may write a short speech on child labour which coveys the basic idea or write a long informative speech on child labour which delves deeper into the ‘whys’ and the ‘hows’. Long Speech on Child Labour is helpful for students of classes 7,8,9 and 10. Short speech on child labour is helpful for students of classes 1,2,3,4,5 and 6.
Short Speech on Child Labour 200 Words in English
My warmest greetings to everyone present. I would want to thank all of you for taking out time to be here with me.
Today, I wish to shed some light on a topic that has always been a difficult one to talk about; that is, Child Labour. Child labour is a disease that continues to affect our society to date. It is a menace that is deep-rooted and has led to a shackled society. A society where children are forced to replace learning with earning, joyous life lessons with complaints and childhood with premature adulthood.
Child labour is a grave concern. According to the international labour organization, around 33 million children in India alone are engaged in the practice of child labour. The reasons are pretty evident yet the reforms and measures to create more stringent laws and spread awareness seem to be missing. There is a need to bring an inexorable decline in child labour but this will not be possible until the root cause of this menace is treated.
Poverty, debt, illiteracy, corruption, poor implementation of schemes and laws, failed family planning, etc., are some of the reasons why child labour has become a permanent problem. The solution to these problems is not immediate. Reform has to be done gradually and consistently. It is particularly inhumane to make kids work at factories and put their lives in danger at an age where they should bask in the sun and lead a worry-free life.
As you complain about the minor things in life, there are thousands of barefoot kids that toil day and night in horrendous mine temperatures surrounded by explosives and toxic gases. What did they do to deserve this? Is it not your duty to help them?
I’ll leave you to think about it and with this thought, I would like to end my speech.
Thank you.
Long Speech on Child Labour 600 Words in English
A Very good evening/afternoon to everyone present.
By the medium of today’s speech, I wish to attract your attention towards a very urgent topic-the problem of child labour. I would want to discuss what it exactly means, what is being done to overcome it and what is it that we can do to bring about the required change.
Child labour is the illegal practice of involving children in gainful economic activity. It is illegal because children between the age of 5-15 years are not yet ready to work. This is the prime time to form a skill, a personality and to develop through informative experiences but when a child is forced to work instead of learning, they are stripped of all these essential and crucial processes. It is as if asking a child to forget childhood and embrace adulthood forcefully. These forceful expectations lead children to be forever damaged and disturbed by gruesome work experiences and the missed chance at having a childhood in addition to the personal loss that follows.
To deal with the problem at hand, we need to understand where it comes from. Only grassroots-level work can help us free our society from this evil practice. Poverty is the first and foremost reason for the encouragement of child labour. Families that have an ample number of people but only one or two bread earners start pushing their children into the workspace. Since these children are basically unskilled, they are hired at minimal or no wages by big firms and factories. Their delicate hands are used in technical and dangerous glasswork. Their infectious energy is used to break rocks and pick up heavy bricks and construction rubble. Their complacent nature is exploited and they are made to do menial domestic work. The worst of them all is child trafficking. It sounds startling and is very uneasy to accept that more than 1 million children in India are engaged in forced prostitution!
As poor debt-ridden families earn the starvation wage, children either attend school scantily or not at all. Every child below the age of 14 years is allotted free primary education which can be substantiated with vocal education yet who will send their kids to school if they are struggling to survive? How will they ensure a conducive environment for their child’s learning if they cannot even ensure a piece of bread for them?
Failed family planning and loophole filled laws have not given any relief to these poverty-stricken households. Even though child labour is illegal and education is compulsory, no one looks into the implementation of these laws and ideas. Influential people are scared of losing their cheap workforce. The clauses in the child protection act that mention allowance for child labour under the family business is being heavily manipulated and exploited. These feeble voices fail to ring any sentiments in their employer’s ears. Grief-stricken and helpless, many times parents sell their children or abandon them forcing them into this horrible life trajectory that crosses out their chance at a happier and wholesome childhood and future.
This is the stark reality, this is the true scenario that echoes through many Indian villages. The solution is not immediate. It requires a conscious effort from these families, the government and each one of us. As long as we employ underage children to work at our houses or keep quiet about such an incident, we cannot expect to see a significant change in this direction. One-third of the Indian population is below the poverty line and is unemployed despite the growth in the IT sector. Growth fails to create jobs for this unskilled sector and all these problems culminate to destroy the childhood of innocent children.
In the end, I would just like to request everyone who is present here to give this issue thought and proactively try to be the change they wish to see.
Thank you!
10 Lines about Speech on Child Labour
- As per a statement on Wikipedia, more than 217 million children across the world are working, majorly full-time.
- According to Census 2011, 10.1 million children in India are working as main or marginal workers.
- The main cause of child labour in India is poverty, social backwardness, lack of educational resources, lure of getting cheap labour and lack of awareness.
- In India, the law forbids children to work in a hazardous environment.
- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan and Maharashtra are known as the biggest child labour employers in the country.
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act of 2015 protects the rights of children against child labour in India.
- Under the Juvenile Justice of Children Act in 2015, keeping a child in the bondage of employment is considered a punishable and criminal act.
- Any person violating the rules or laws protecting children against child labour are punished with a long term in prison.
- Organizations are advised to carry out a regular workplace risk assessment and check the age of children before hiring.
- We can eliminate the practice of child labour by spreading awareness of family planning, the right to education and supporting NGOs who are working for the welfare of children.
FAQ’s on Speech on Child Labour
Question 1.
What is child labour?
Answer:
Child labour is the illegal practice of involving children in economic activity.
Question 2.
What are the reasons for child labour?
Answer:
The major reasons are poverty, debt, failed family planning and educational gaps.
Question 3.
Why is child labour a huge problem?
Answer:
It is affecting the mental and physical health of millions of children. It strips them of the basic human right to a normal childhood and basic education.