This sixth report in the By the Sweat and Toil of Children series examines the economic benefits of the elimination of child labor and the increased enrollment of children in school.


The report focuses its analysis on child labor that prevents children from obtaining the benefits of primary education. The report recognizes the correlation between financial poverty and child labor, but also emphasizes that many children work because their opportunities to enroll in school are limited. The report examines strategies that encourage individual families and communities to choose school over work for their children. These include provision of universal free primary education and a variety of programs targeted at the poverty and attitudes that might otherwise lead families to send their children to work. The report emphasizes that a key to eliminating child labor is broadening the opportunities available to children and to their families, in particular by making schooling a valuable and affordable option.
Print version: 123 pages. 2000.

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