India has made rapid progress towards the universalization of school education, hand in hand with a decline in child labour. Despite progress, child labour persists in the country, just as school attendance and completion rates reveal gaps in educational attainment. This report addresses a timely need for new research to help decision-makers and…

Secondary education has been a relatively neglected area in India, both at the level of policy and research. Statistical data at the secondary level of education reveals a bleak picture in terms of enrolment and completion rates. This article explores the underlying reasons for the dismal scenario at the secondary level of education by situating…

In this paper, using the "2005-2006 National Family Health Survey" dataset from India, we study the likelihood of a school-age child working, combining work with schooling or being idle, rather than attending school full time. Our analysis finds that with the inclusion of household chores in the child labour definition, boys are…

Despite rapid economic growth in South Asia, strong inequalities persist and children pay a heavy price. This publication examines latest trends and data on children in the eight countries of the region. It highlights what has been achieved in the 25 years since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child--and what remains to be done.

This paper analyses the effectiveness of non-formal schools for working children in Jalandhar, Punjab, India, in mainstreaming child labourers into the formal education system through incentivised, informal schooling. Using a family fixed effects model and sibling data as an equivalent population comparison group, I find that the non-formal…

This paper uses household level data from National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) of India, the 55th (1999-2000) and the 61st (2004-05) rounds, to show that even with a significant wage incentive for schooling of urban children, the school drop out rate and child labour incidence are not small over this period. The parents' level of education…

This paper uses household level data from National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) of India, the 55th round (1999-2000), to show that for urban male children there exists significant wage incentive for schooling, though school dropout rate and child labour incidence are not so small. The parents' level of education plays an important role in…

This book contains nine papers devoted to the psychological experience of youth employment and its role in shaping future employment experiences and expectations. "Introduction" (Julian Barling, E. Kevin Kelloway) emphasizes the diversity of young people as a group and the diversity of individual youth's employment experience. "The…