It is generally believed that schooling is an antidote to the problem of exploitation of children. Yet there are life-worlds where children's work cannot be equated with child labour, and school and work need not clash. In the context of universalising elementary education, where children from diverse socio-cultural milieus are being drawn into the ambit of schooling, it is imperative to rethink received notions on this issue. Triggered by a study of government schools in Andhra Pradesh, this paper reviews the literature and argues that there is a dominance of middle-class, white, male urban childhood as the ‘norm’ in developmental psychology, education, welfare policy and legislation for children, influencing not only expert opinions, but also cultural practices and attitudes. It then goes on to presenting other life-worlds which bring out diversity in childhood, challenge the notion of the school as a benign space and the role of global political and economic and international welfare forces in perpetuating myths on childhood as well as the exploitation of children.
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