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 ge nerated from a sample survey of 3809 children aged 10-14 years living in 15 0 villages in two rural districts of Bangladesh. A significant inverse rela tionship was found between child labour and years of schooling. Age and edu cation of children, parental education, land ownership of household and fat hers' 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.