As The Guardian reports, the UN has plans to eliminate child labour by 2020. A research shows that without further measures, there will still be about 190 million child labourers in 2020, and the numbers in sub-Saharan Africa will even increase to about 65 million.
Mining, it [the research] says, is a “magnet” for child labour, with children as young as six digging shafts and scuttling around mounds of rock with little more than a hammer and chisel. Around half of the workforce in Afghanistan’s brick kilns is aged under 14. In Ethiopia almost 60% of children work.
Many children are forced to combine education and employment, and are consequently more likely to drop out, to complete fewer years in school and to achieve lower test scores. The UN warns that child labourers suffer a 17% achievement gap with non-working children in language and maths.