A Nexus of Education and Child Labor: Barefoot Teachers in the Brickfield Schools of India

Abstract

Grass roots initiatives like the brickfield schools and the Barefoot Teacher Training program described in this article, led by non-governmental organizations in eastern India, highlight the slow but steady strides taken toward universalizing primary education—a key development goal for the new millennium. The present article showcases the positive effects of early education in addressing child labor and poverty issues and the role of local initiatives in ensuring the right to primary education for the historically disadvantaged. Such interventions have significant implications for other developing nations as well.