A broom in hand is a burden on shoulders, and a future quietly fading. Across India, millions of children have their dreams buried under bricks, their childhood stolen by circumstance. This is not a story that should exist in 2025.

Despite global efforts and the United Nations’ target to eliminate child labour by 2025, nearly 138 million children worldwide remain trapped in work, with 54 million engaged in hazardous conditions. In India alone, while progress has been made—reducing numbers from 10.1 million in 2011 to an estimated 3.3 million by recent counts—the fight is far from over.​

The Reality Behind the Numbers

Child labour in India is concentrated in agriculture, construction, domestic work, and manufacturing, particularly in informal sectors where enforcement remains weak. Five states—Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra—account for more than half of India’s child labour population.​

These children work not by choice but by necessity, driven by poverty, lack of access to quality education, and economic distress in their families. Every child carrying bricks instead of books represents a broken system where survival trumps childhood.​

Those Hands Should Hold a Pen

The contrast is stark and unacceptable: the same small hands that stack bricks, sweep floors, or work in hazardous conditions should be holding pens, turning pages, and building futures through education. India’s Right to Education Act (2009) guarantees free and compulsory education for children aged 6-14, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act (2016) prohibits employment of children below 14 years.​

Yet laws alone cannot erase deeply rooted economic and social challenges. Families struggling below the poverty line often depend on children’s income for survival. Without addressing these root causes—through financial support, school meal programs, and conditional cash transfers—the cycle continues.​

A Movement, Not Just a Day

This World Day Against Child Labour, the call to action is clear: say NO to child labour and YES to education. Organizations like the Shikhar Dhawan Foundation are working to make this vision reality by supporting educational infrastructure, providing digital learning tools, and creating pathways for vulnerable children to return to school.

Real change requires sustained commitment from governments, corporations, NGOs, and communities. It demands stricter enforcement of labour laws, corporate accountability in supply chains, awareness campaigns that shift cultural acceptance of child work, and economic support that removes the desperation forcing families to send children to work.​

Every child rescued from labour and enrolled in school is a victory. Every pen that replaces a broom is progress. This is not just about statistics—it’s about millions of individual futures that deserve the chance to flourish.

Stand with the movement. Support education. End child labour.

**#WorldDayAgainstChildLabour #ShikharDhawanFoundation #ChiloodNotLabour #EducationForAll