Child Labors In Hotels And Restaurants In Pokhara

Abstract

Child labour remains a serious problem in the world today; even it is major challenge for the Nepalese society. The extreme household poverty is the leading cause of child labour. Hotels/restaurants and tea shops are considered as one of the most hazardous work place specially for children, is common with the hotels/restaurants and tea shops child labourers in Pokhara-8. This study is conduct to analyze the socioeconomic condition, their working conditions, main cause of being labours and problems faced by them. The study is carried out over short period of time and only among the children less than 16 years of age working in hotels/restaurants and tea shops child labourers of Pokhara Valley, are the focus groups. This study is mainly based on primary and secondary data based on purposive sampling technique. A total of 75 child labourers working in hotels/restaurants and tea shops were interviewed. The required frequency tables and percentages are generated with the help of SPSS/PC and MS Excel Programmes. Out of the child labourers interviewed 56 percent are boys and 44 percent are girls. In terms of age group 53.33 percent respondents are 13-16 years of age. Most of the child labourers are from very poor and large family sizes, who earn their livelihood from traditional agriculture.On the other hand they have limited production of land. Majority child labourers are migrants from the remote villages and rural areas. The condition of working place and staying place are not standard as for the human beings for good health. More than half child labourers have to clean the dish, plate glass and cooking's, washing and servicing from early morning to late night. In average they have been working 12 hours a day. The child labours do not get separate rooms for sleeping.Majority of the children get bed to sleep while some are compelled to sleep on the bench and floor. A significant proportion of child labourers are bit satisfied with their current work because of low salary, hard work and rude employments. As implied by the study findings, the existence of child labor is the result of mass poverty, landlessness, unemployment, illiteracy, lack of health awareness, internal conflicts and socio-cultural environment of society. So there is an urgent need to curb poverty in order to prevent the phenomenon of all forms of child labor. The concerned authorities and agencies such as civil societies, INGOs and NGOs have to focus on the aspect of child labor. The mass awareness creation programs against child labor exploitation should be organized from the community to center level. Parent's education in the awareness creation against cause and effect of child labors should be provided to the community through different sector. Message relating to child labor should be included in the curriculum of school and higher education.