THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN...CAN'T WE DO ANYTHING???

You have heard about the French Revolution (1787), the Russian Revolution (1917) and the Chinese Revolution (1911). But do you know about the Industrial Revolution? It had a great impact in Britain especially, in the 1800s. Suddenly there was a big growth in industries. Machines were invented and more and more goods began to be produced thanks to the speed and efficiency of these machines. Lots of factories sprung up. And more and more people were required to work in them. They moved in droves from the villages (where farming no longer seemed to be enough to make a living) to the towns where they thought they would be able to earn better.Reality was very different. The towns were overcrowded, unhygienic and miserable. And, the children seemed to have the worst of it. Today, the world over, there are laws prohibiting child labour. Those days there were no such laws.

Children worked in mines, factories, as chimney-sweeps and coal bearers. Those who couldn’t find work roamed the streets, formed gangs and took to thieving (Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist gives you a graphic account of the lives of such vagabond children). In the mines they worked in cold and draughty conditions, in match factories they worked with poisonous and dangerous chemicals, and often, while working with big machines, they would get their hair, hands or legs caught in them and sometimes die of their injuries.Children as young as four or five years old were sent out to work. And work they did for long, long hours with hardly anything to eat, and certainly no fresh air or play time. Needless to say few of them had any schooling or education. The plight of these children is touchingly brought out in a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning called The cry of the children.

Things improved eventually and laws came to be passed that prevented the use of children for such hard and dangerous work. Sadly, though there are many laws protecting the rights of children to health, education and a decent life, we still see around us children doing menial jobs, dangerous chores and working as labourers.How many times have you seen young boys rushing around the shops serving tea, cleaning the tables or polishing your shoes? Shouldn’t they be in school like us?

                            Think about it and see if you can make a difference in their lives