As a result, keeping children in schools can often prove to be more difficult than getting them to enrol in the first place. In many cultures, entrenched social patterns play a significant role in forcing children into labour. The harder and more hazardous jobs are likely to be given to the poor, the disadvantaged, the lower classes or castes or to ethnic minorities or Indigenous children. Currently 140 million children aged between 6 and 11 do not attend school and potentially a similar number of children drop out early. Primary education must be universal and compulsory with programs that attract and retain children.
Legislation has a vital role to play in fighting child labour.
Laws and their enforcement will not defeat child labour on their own but it will not happen without them. Given that poverty is the underlying reason why children enter the labour force or families sell their children into 'bonded' labour, economic alternatives need to be developed to assist poor families and communities. Group credit schemes, such as the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, have proved very successful in providing opportunities for those people who would generally have no chance in receiving help from mainstream banks. Encouraging ethical standards for business National and international companies should be encouraged to develop a corporate responsibility charter or Code of Practice for dealing with child labour. For instance, the Abrinq Foundation for the Rights of Children in Brazil, financed by the private sector, calls positive attention to Brazilian businesses that do not employ children and that support child development activities.