Child labour, schooling and fertility in rural Karnataka, South India
Kanbargi, R.; Kulkarni, P.M.
Fertility in Asia assessing the impact of development projects: 110-134
1986
Document Number: 354847
On average children in rural Karnataka spend four hours a day on work, whether household work or directly productive work, and their participation increases with age. Sex differentials were found both in the nature of work, greater household work by girls and greater directly productive work by boys, and in the time spent on work. That is, girls put in longer hours than boys because relatively fewer girls than boys go to school. A significant negative reciprocal relationship between child labour and schooling was found. The most important predictors of child labour were age and the presence of younger children, which both showed positive effects. Age of child and father's education were the primary predictors of time in school, and their effects were also positive. Income and other socioeconomic factors did not significantly affect children's work input. Although no direct relationship was found between child labour and fertility, child labour did significantly affect fertility indirectly by reducing the time spent in school. Since schooling has an antinatalistic effect on fertility, the overall effect of child labour on fertility is positive. Socioeconomic factors such as landholding and father's education proved insignificant in the relationship. Hence it appears that both reductions in the incidence of child labour and increases in the proportions of children going to school and remaining in school will contribute to a reduction in fertility.