Leveraging Education to End Child Labour: Lessons from India and Bangladesh

Global progress in child labour reduction has stalled since 2016. In South Asia, the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, recurrent extreme weather events and the cost-of-living crisis further threaten to slow or even reverse the progress made. This synthesis report addresses a timely need for new research to help decision-makers and practitioners identify policy and programmatic actions that can support prevention and reduction of child labour in South Asia, with a focus on the role of education. Drawing on quantitative data and qualitative primary evidence from UNICEF Innocenti's research in Bangladesh and India, it offers an accessible and rigorous overview of recent trends and patterns in child labour and explores how these relate to children's schooling experiences in both countries. Implications of COVID-19 for education and labour, and the role of child marriage as a key related outcome, are also assessed. The report also explores children's perspectives of their labour and schooling experiences, including in migration contexts as well as during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting school closures. The report concludes with programmatic and research recommendations for further action at regional, country, and global levels.