Role of education in reducing child labour: Evidence from rural Bangladesh

This paper explores the hypothesis that the level of education of children and their parents plays a major role in reducing child labour. Data were generated from a sample survey of 3809 children aged 10-14 years living in 150 villages in two rural districts of Bangladesh. A significant inverse relationship was found between child labour and years of schooling. Age and education of children, parental education, land ownership of household and fathers' occupation were the determinants of child labour force participation. Child's years of schooling is the variable that has most influence on the probability of participation in the labour force, followed by father's and mother's education.