For many parents, sending their children to school is not an option. Education is expensive and sometimes the nearest school is too far away. Some parents feel that what their children will learn is irrelevant to the realities of their everyday lives and futures. As well as being a result of poverty, child labour also perpetuates poverty. Many working children do not have the opportunity to go to school and often grow up to be unskilled adults trapped in poorly paid jobs, and in turn will look to their own children to supplement the family's income.
International law protects children's rights to childhood.
Across the world, children are involved in a wide range of work. In towns and cities for example, they beg, work in bars, restaurants or as domestics in other people's homes. In factories they make products such as matches, fireworks or glassware. In brick kilns, children are often forced to work with their families to repay money loaned by their employer. The work is often dangerous and extremely harmful to the child's physical and mental development.