The Solution: Stronger partnership and harmonization of plans and strategies
Include the prevalence of child labor as a specific indicator in the measurement of the MDGs
Partnership: the driving force behind achieving the MDGs
Translate rhetoric into action
Greater integration of national action plans and poverty reduction strategies
Education: a powerful tool in the fight against child labor

Include the prevalence of child labor as a specific indicator in the measurement of the MDGs
The factors which either push or pull children into child labor cover all the subject areas of seven of the MDGs: eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and ensuring environmental sustainability. Yet, the prevalence of child labor is not considered a specific indicator in the measurement of any of these Goals. UNESCO's Global Monitoring Report on Education for All should include child labor indicators; data identifying children missing from school and their activities. For example, which children are not in school? What are they doing instead of going to school?

Partnership: the driving force behind achieving the MDGs
The eighth Millennium Development Goal on developing a global partnership for development is necessary to enable the international community to respond in a coordinated and sustained way to child labor. Partnership between global networks of non-governmental organizations, including children, Governments, and inter-governmental agencies is the engine that must drive this campaign forward by emphasizing the crucial role universal education, the second Goal, plays in preventing children from entering the workplace.

Translate rhetoric into action
While much more action must emerge on the ground, the rhetoric is starting to change. Andrew J. Samet, former representative to the International Labor Organization on behalf of President Clinton, said at the May 2004 Children's World Congress on Child Labor,

"If a child is a full-time student, that child is far, far less likely to be a full-time worker. It seems simple to me. Child labor and child education are two sides of the same coin."⁷¹

After the second Inter-Agency Round Table on Child Labor, Education and Poverty co-hosted by ICCLE, The World Bank, ILO, UNESCO, and the Government of Brazil in November 2004, Agency France Presse reported,

"International agencies raised pressure on nations which ignore child labor and said the scourge was the biggest hurdle in the way of a global plan for universal education by 2015."⁷²

At the May 2004 Children's World Congress on Child Labor, Ruth Kagia, Head of Education at the World Bank said, at the country level, "Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers are the main platform for integrated action and should include child labor indicators." At the international level, the elimination of child labor should be linked to other programs, for example, The World Bank's Fast Track Initiative analysis.⁷³

Greater integration of national action plans and poverty reduction strategies
Presently, donors require recipient countries to elaborate Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers to reduce poverty and National Action Plans to implement education for all and to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The elimination of child labor and its replacement by universal education is critical to reducing poverty. It is important to ensure coordination during the development of national education plans and Poverty Reduction Strategies so that strategies and activities end up reinforcing and complementing each other. Programs to meet the needs of child laborers must be integrated into education plans and Poverty Reduction Strategies.

Education: a powerful tool in the fight against child labor
Free "basic education" of good quality for all children is the key to ending child labor. Without ensuring universal free and meaningful primary education, the menace of child labor cannot be wiped out. Education plays a dual role in relation to child labor. Firstly, it is a crucial element in the rehabilitation and social reintegration of child laborers. Secondly, it is a powerful tool in preventing children-at-risk from slipping into child labor. To effectively prevent child labor, education must be equal, free and of good quality.

Equal - All children, regardless of gender, ethnicity and religion, must have equal access to relevant education. Schools must be accessible to children in their local areas, or transportation should be provided. Regrettably, more than half of the world's out-of-school children are girls.⁷⁴ Parents often refuse to let their daughters walk to schools miles away from home. Some girls remain at home, while their brothers go to school. If they attend school, girls are almost twice as likely to be tired from the double burden of housework to the extent that their full participation in class is limited. This leads to higher drop out rates. Two-thirds of students who drop out before completing elementary school are girls.⁷⁵ Some children from minority ethnic groups are at a disadvantage in school, for instance, by being taught irrelevant subjects or in non-native languages.

Free - Education must be free of cost. It is important to remove school fees, which practically guarantee the continuing exclusion of poor rural girls. Free education means not only no tuition fees, but also no fees for books, uniforms, lunch and school maintenance. Even these costs are financially unbearable for the poorest families. For example for the poorest sections of society in Nepal, school fees for one child cost a family 40 percent of its earnings. When parents can only afford to keep one child in school, daughters usually lose out. In contrast, in Uganda, after the introduction of free primary education, the number of girls enrolled increased from 1.4 million in 1996 to 3 million in 1999, and girls' share in total enrollment has steadily grown.⁷⁶

The whole or partial abolition of primary school fees has helped to release enormous pent-up demand for education, causing massive increases in both girls' and boys' enrollments. In Malawi, the number of primary school pupils jumped up by 50 percent, from 1.9 million to 3 million, in just one year (from 1995-1996). In Bangladesh, total enrolment in primary and basic education rose from nearly 12 million in 1990 to 18 million in 2001.⁷⁷

Of good quality -The quality of local schools is just as important as (if not more important than) the quantity of schools, particularly for retaining children in school. Curricula must be relevant to the needs and interests of students so that they may reach their full potential. Teachers must be well-trained and fairly paid. The basic infrastructure - including school buildings, bathrooms, electricity and blackboards - should be provided.

Free and quality education should be ensured as a fundamental right, not extended as a privilege. Every country must establish laws protecting children's right to receive free and quality basic education, making it the government's responsibility to resource and deliver it. To make up for failing educational systems, many non-governmental organizations and charity groups offer part-time non-formal education in various countries. However, this can never take the place of formal education provided by the government.

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⁷¹ Remarks at Children's World Congress on Child Labor of Andrew J. Samet, Attorney at Law, Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., Florence, Italy, May 11, 2004.
⁷² From Exploitation to Education for the Children Left Behind: The Role of the International Community in Achieving Education for All, A Panel Discussion, New Delhi, November 13, 2003, Executive Summary, available from http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/HDNet/HDDocs.nsf/0/
c9925f391bdf171485256e1300733fcd/$FILE/Roundtable%20Exec%20Summ.pdf; Internet accessed April 2005.
⁷³ Presentation of Ruth Kagia, Head of Education, The World Bank, at the Children's World Congress on Child Labor, Florence, Italy, May 2004.
⁷⁴ A Fair Chance: Attaining Gender Equality in Basic Education by 2005, Global Campaign for Education, April 2003, p. 43, available from http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/education/downloads/gce_afairchance_full.pdf; Internet accessed February 2005.
⁷⁵ What Works in Girls' Education, Barbara Herz and Gene Sperling, Council on Foreign Relations, 2004, p. 4.
⁷⁶ A Fair Chance: Attaining Gender Equality in Basic Education by 2005, Global Campaign for Education, April 2003, p. 46 available from http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/education/downloads/gce_afairchance_full.pdf; Internet accessed February 2005.
⁷⁷ A Fair Chance: Attaining Gender Equality in Basic Education by 2005, Global Campaign for Education, April 2003, p. 33 available from http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/education/downloads/gce_afairchance_full.pdf; Internet accessed February 2005.