Education for all and child labour in Kenya: A conflict of capabilities?

AbstractChild labour remains an enormous challenge to the achievement of Education For All in developing countries. This paper explores the subject of child labour in Kenya in the context of the national and global push towards Education For All. Based on a year's ethnography of a poor community in Kiambu district in Kenya, the paper explores the tension between child labour and schooling using the language of capabilities. The capability approach focuses on the freedoms that people have to live the life that they value. As there is a strong relationship between poverty and child labour, this paper argues that there is tension between the capability (freedom) to be educated and other basic capabilities such as being well fed and housed. Therefore, substantively empowering poor communities would be a positive step towards easing these tensions and ultimately achieving Education For All