Experts doubt MGNREGA’s adverse impact on child labour

NEW DELHI: Contrary to what a World Bank working paper has suggested, Indian experts argue that country’s rural job guarantee scheme does not have much influence on child labour and on school enrollment.

Experts argue that linking dropout rate and child labour to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is bit of a stretch and argued that the employment guarantee scheme does not offer job cards to anyone below 18 years of age and the reference to grade seven needs to be seen with a pinch of salt as by that grade a student is less than 14 years old.

“The pressure to publish papers is high world over, and linking MGNREGA to all possible outcomes is beyond my understanding,” said Himanshu, a professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

“The quality of schooling and below par teachers in parts of the country has played a role in school attendance. That’s an established outcome,” added Himanshu.

India currently has near universal access and enrollment in elementary schools courtesy two of its flagship schemes – the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-DayMeal. SSA later became part of the Right to Education Act that was passed in 2009 and came to force from 1 April 2010.

Arup Mitra, a professor at Department of Economics, Institute of Economic Growth said that MGNREGA at an early stage may have some impact on older adolescents but its cannot be a long term impact. For economic gain some older students would have joined the job guarantee scheme on behalf of their parents as monitoring of government schemes is not robust: “Engagement in income generating activities is considered to be beneficial as it enhances experience as well but families generally assess the cost and benefit, and must have realized that it cannot be at the cost of schooling for a longer period of time.”

“In situations where returns to education are very low because of poor quality of the education offered to the children, the dropout rate turns out to be high,” he added.A labour ministry official, who declined to be named, said the rural job scheme is massive and initial teething issues are not uncommon but it aiding child labour in large proportions looks difficult to believe. The school system in several states has been offering economic benefits including cycles, dress and then there is the school meal program.

The introduction of MGNREGA during its early days may have effected students’ dropout from schools and increased the entry of child labour, a World Bank working paper has said. “We find that fewer children enroll in schools in primary grades due to the introduction of the program and their likelihood of being employed increases. This is surprising especially because the schooling aspirations for children have become stronger in the country and large strides have been made in ensuring universal enrollment in primary schools. The drop in enrollment is driven by low quality private schools implying that school quality affects enrollment choices when the opportunity cost of attending school shifts,” the paper said.

THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IN SEVERAL STATES HAS BEEN OFFERING ECONOMIC BENEFITS