World Day Against Child Labour 2026: A CSR Guide for Indian Companies

Every year on June 12, the International Labour Organization marks the World Day Against Child Labour. For most Indian companies, the day passes as a social media post and a short internal note from HR. The deeper conversation what corporate CSR can actually do to strengthen the country's response to child labour usually does not happen.

This article is for the CSR teams, sustainability heads, and HR leaders who want to take the conversation further. It explains what World Day Against Child Labour is, how the Indian regulatory framework treats child labour, where Schedule VII of the Companies Act allows CSR funds to be deployed, and how companies can design CSR programmes that genuinely contribute to child welfare rather than only marking the day.

The intent is practical, not preachy. Anti-child-labour CSR works best when it is integrated into education, skill development, and family welfare programmes not when it is a standalone awareness campaign. This article walks through how that integration can be built, what to look for in implementation partners, and how the resulting programmes can be reported in BRSR and annual CSR disclosures.

---

What is World Day Against Child Labour

The World Day Against Child Labour is an annual observance led by the International Labour Organization since 2002. It is observed on June 12 each year, with a different thematic focus chosen by the ILO to highlight a specific dimension of the global challenge.

The day is part of a broader international framework that includes the ILO Conventions on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (Convention 182) and the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (Convention 138). India ratified both Conventions in 2017, which placed additional commitments on the country's policy and programme architecture.

For corporate India, the day serves three purposes. It is a moment for internal reflection on supply-chain practices and CSR allocation. It is a public communication moment for companies to share their child welfare commitments. And it is an annual checkpoint to assess whether existing CSR programmes are doing enough on child rights.

The Indian Regulatory Framework on Child Labour

Indian companies operate within a clear legal framework on child labour. Understanding this framework is the starting point for designing aligned CSR programmes.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 was amended in 2016 to prohibit the employment of children below 14 years in any occupation, except where the child helps the family in non-hazardous work outside school hours. The Act also prohibits the employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years) in hazardous occupations.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 mandates free and compulsory education for all children between 6 and 14 years of age. This Act creates a structural counterbalance to child labour by ensuring that children of school-going age have a legally protected right to be in school.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 provides the institutional framework for protecting children in difficult circumstances, including children rescued from labour situations.

The Factories Act, the Mines Act, and several sector-specific labour laws add further provisions restricting where adolescents can work, even after they reach the minimum employment age.

For CSR teams, this framework matters because it defines the contours within which CSR programmes can operate. Programmes that strengthen school enrolment, reduce drop-outs, support adolescent skill development, and improve family livelihoods all sit within this legal architecture and reinforce it.

What the Numbers Say

According to the 2011 Census of India, approximately 10.1 million children between 5 and 14 years were classified as working children, a significant decline from 12.6 million in 2001. The trend has continued to improve. The National Sample Survey and Periodic Labour Force Survey data show that the proportion of children in work has fallen meaningfully over the last decade, particularly in the 5 to 14 age band, supported by the expansion of school access under the Right to Education Act.

Globally, the ILO and UNICEF jointly estimated 160 million children in child labour as of the 2020 update, with progress having stalled in some regions during the pandemic years. The ILO has called for accelerated action through 2025 and beyond to meet the Sustainable Development Goal target 8.7, which calls for an end to child labour in all its forms.

These numbers, drawn from official government and multilateral sources, frame why the topic remains live for Indian CSR. Significant progress has been made, the legal architecture is in place, and structural support has expanded. The remaining challenge is sustained implementation in specific geographies and communities, and that is where corporate CSR can play a meaningful role.

Schedule VII Alignment for Anti-Child-Labour CSR

Companies operating under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 deploy their CSR funds through activities listed in Schedule VII. While Schedule VII does not have a standalone "anti-child-labour" line item, several existing categories provide direct alignment with child rights and welfare.

Schedule VII (ii) — Promoting education is the strongest alignment. Programmes that support school enrolment, reduce drop-out rates, run remedial education, support government schools through infrastructure, learning materials, or teacher training, and run bridge schools for out-of-school children all reduce the structural pull factors into child labour.

Schedule VII (ii) — Promoting employment-enhancing vocation skills, especially among adolescents and women allows companies to deploy CSR for skill development programmes for adolescents in the 14 to 18 age group. Well-designed adolescent skilling programmes reduce the likelihood of distress employment in the same age band.

Schedule VII (iii) — Promoting gender equality, empowering women, and measures to reduce inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups allows for programmes targeting adolescent girls specifically, who face heightened risk of dropping out, early marriage, and informal employment.

Schedule VII (iii) — Setting up homes and hostels for women and orphans supports residential care and rehabilitation programmes for children rescued from difficult circumstances.

Schedule VII (i) — Eradicating hunger, poverty, and malnutrition indirectly supports families whose economic distress contributes to children entering work, particularly in agricultural and rural settings.

Schedule VII (x) — Rural development projects allows for integrated village-level interventions that combine education, livelihoods, health, and child welfare.

A company looking to strengthen its anti-child-labour CSR response does not need a separate budget line. The existing Schedule VII allocations, designed thoughtfully, can deliver child welfare outcomes alongside the activity's stated category.

CSR Programme Designs That Strengthen Child Welfare

Below are six programme designs that companies can adopt or adapt within their existing Schedule VII allocations. Each is operationally proven, regulatorily aligned, and designed to integrate child welfare into the core programme rather than treat it as an awareness add-on.

 Child Welfare

1. School enrolment and retention programmes

These programmes work with government schools and local communities to ensure that children who should be in school are in school. Components include enrolment drives, attendance tracking, mid-day meal support where permitted, learning materials, and engagement with parents around the value of continued education. Strong programmes track measurable outcomes — enrolment rates, attendance, drop-out reduction, and learning levels — rather than only counting beneficiaries reached.

2. Bridge schools for out-of-school children

Bridge schools support children who have dropped out or never enrolled, helping them catch up on the curriculum and re-enter the formal school system. These programmes typically run six to eighteen months per cohort and are particularly relevant in geographies where seasonal migration disrupts schooling.

3. Adolescent skilling for the 14-to-18 age band

Programmes that provide vocational skills, soft skills, and digital literacy to adolescents who have completed school create a pathway to formal employment when they reach working age. These programmes are typically delivered in partnership with industry skill councils, NSDC-aligned training providers, and government Skill India initiatives.

4. Adolescent girls' programmes

Adolescent girls face heightened risk of school drop-out, early marriage, and informal labour. CSR programmes designed for this group typically combine continued education support, life skills training, menstrual health and hygiene, and family engagement. Schedule VII (iii) allocations cover these programmes well.

5. Family livelihood support

Programmes that strengthen the livelihoods of low-income families reduce the economic pressure that contributes to children entering work. These can include skill training for adult family members, self-help group support, agricultural extension, and microenterprise development. The child welfare benefit is indirect but structural.

6. Awareness, training, and supply-chain practices

Companies can integrate child welfare into their own operating practices through supplier code of conduct provisions, supplier training, due diligence on sourcing, and internal employee awareness. While these activities are typically not CSR-funded, they complement the programmatic work that is.

What Distinguishes a Strong Anti-Child-Labour CSR Programme

Across well-run CSR programmes in this space, four operational features tend to recur.

Continuity over campaigns. A one-day awareness event on June 12 does not change outcomes. A multi-quarter programme that runs through the school year does. The strongest programmes treat World Day Against Child Labour as a milestone within an ongoing programme rather than as the programme itself.

Measurable outcomes, not only outputs. Outputs (number of children reached, number of training sessions held) are necessary but insufficient. Outcomes (enrolment rate change, attendance, drop-out reduction, transition to secondary school, learning level improvement) are what BRSR and serious CSR reviewers want to see.

Geographic and community specificity. Generic national programmes deliver less than focused programmes that go deep in specific districts or blocks. Block-level interventions that combine multiple programme components (school support, family livelihoods, adolescent skilling) outperform broader thinly-spread allocations.

Documentation built in, not retrofitted. Programmes that capture beneficiary records, attendance logs, photographs, and outcome data continuously through execution have stronger BRSR-ready documentation. Programmes that try to compile evidence at year-end always have gaps.

How to Vet a CSR Implementation Partner for Anti-Child-Labour Work

CSR teams selecting an implementation partner for child-welfare programmes should look at five things.

First, the partner's track record on the specific child welfare component being funded — school enrolment, bridge schools, adolescent skilling, or family livelihoods. Generic NGO experience is not the same as specific programme experience.

Second, the partner's documentation discipline. Ask to see beneficiary registers, attendance records, photographs from past programmes, and outcome data from previous cohorts. The quality of past records is a strong signal of how the next programme will be documented.

Third, the partner's compliance and governance position — 12A and 80G registration, audited annual financials, board governance, and CSR-1 filing under the MCA. These are non-negotiable for any partner receiving CSR funds.

Fourth, the partner's geographic depth. A partner with deep relationships in the specific blocks or districts you want to support will deliver more than a national partner with thin local presence.

Fifth, the partner's reporting cadence. Strong partners send monthly or quarterly progress reports with named geographies, beneficiary numbers, and outcome data. Partners who only send year-end reports rarely deliver year-round programmes.

What CSR Teams Can Plan for World Day Against Child Labour 2026

For companies looking to make June 12, 2026 a meaningful checkpoint in their CSR year, four practical actions work.

Hold an internal review of existing CSR programmes through a child welfare lens. Of the programmes the company already funds, which ones contribute to keeping children in school, supporting adolescent skilling, or strengthening family livelihoods? Quantifying the existing contribution often surprises CSR teams.

Engage employees with substance, not symbolism. Internal communications on June 12 work better when they share what the company's CSR programmes actually do for children, with named geographies and real numbers, rather than generic awareness messaging. Employee engagement on a substantive programme outlasts an awareness email.

Use the day as a partner check-in moment. A scheduled call with implementation partners on or near June 12 to review progress on child-welfare components of their work signals that the company takes the topic seriously and sets the cadence for the rest of the financial year.

Strengthen supply-chain and procurement practices. Companies that source from agricultural, manufacturing, or unorganised sectors can use the day to review supplier code of conduct provisions and audit practices. This is operational, not CSR-funded, but it is part of the holistic corporate response.

Reporting in BRSR and Annual CSR Disclosures

For listed companies covered under BRSR, child welfare programmes contribute to several disclosure principles, particularly Principle 3 (well-being of employees and value chain) and Principle 8 (responsible and inclusive growth). Programmes designed under Schedule VII (ii), (iii), and (x) contribute to BRSR Core indicators on community development and inclusive growth.

Annual CSR reports filed as part of the board's report should specify the activity head, the focus area, the geography, the implementation partner, and the outcome data where available. Programmes contributing to child welfare can be highlighted within the relevant Schedule VII heading, with the child welfare contribution explained as part of the activity narrative.

The reporting becomes considerably easier when documentation is captured continuously through programme execution. Companies that wait until year-end to assemble disclosure data face the same March rush in their reporting that they face in their deployment.

How Marpu Foundation Works With Companies on Child Welfare CSR

At Marpu Foundation, we work with companies across India on multi-quarter CSR programmes that strengthen child welfare through education, adolescent skill development, and family livelihood support. Our programmes are designed within Schedule VII categories and built for BRSR-ready documentation.

We currently work with corporate partners across 23+ Indian states, with an 85 percent partner retention rate that reflects what continuous programmes and clean reporting make possible. The companies we work with on child welfare programmes typically focus on school enrolment and retention, adolescent skilling, and integrated rural development that combines multiple components at the block or district level.

If your CSR strategy includes child welfare as a focus area, or if you are reviewing your existing CSR programmes to strengthen their contribution to child rights, we would be glad to begin a conversation. The right time to design programmes that deliver outcomes by next World Day Against Child Labour is now, in Q1 of the financial year.

To start that conversation, write to us at connect@marpu.org with a brief note on your company, your focus areas, and your timelines. We respond within two working days. You can also visit marpu.org to see the programmes we currently run across India.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

When is World Day Against Child Labour 2026?

World Day Against Child Labour is observed on June 12, 2026. The day has been observed annually since 2002, led by the International Labour Organization, with a different thematic focus chosen each year.

Can CSR funds in India be used for anti-child-labour programmes?

Yes. While Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 does not have a standalone "anti-child-labour" item, several Schedule VII categories support child welfare programmes that strengthen the response to child labour. These include education (Schedule VII ii), vocational skills for adolescents (Schedule VII ii), gender equality and reducing inequalities (Schedule VII iii), homes for orphans (Schedule VII iii), eradicating poverty (Schedule VII i), and rural development (Schedule VII x).

What is the legal age for employment in India?

Under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016, children below 14 years are prohibited from employment in any occupation, except for non-hazardous family-based work outside school hours. Adolescents between 14 and 18 years are prohibited from working in hazardous occupations as defined under the Act.

How can a company integrate child welfare into its existing CSR strategy?

The most practical approach is to review existing Schedule VII allocations through a child welfare lens. Programmes already running in education, skill development, gender equality, and rural development can usually be strengthened to deliver clearer child welfare outcomes without requiring new budget allocations. Engaging the implementation partner on outcome metrics specific to child welfare is the key step.

How does anti-child-labour CSR connect to BRSR reporting?

Child welfare programmes contribute to BRSR Principle 3 (employee and value chain well-being) and Principle 8 (responsible and inclusive growth). Programmes documented with outcome data (school enrolment, attendance, drop-out reduction, skill placement) provide the strongest input into BRSR disclosures and annual CSR reports.

What should companies do on World Day Against Child Labour 2026?

Beyond communications on the day, the most useful actions are an internal review of existing CSR programmes through a child welfare lens, a substantive employee engagement moment that shares real programme data, a partner check-in to align on child welfare components, and a review of supply-chain practices where relevant.