MORE than 1.2 million children in Zambia are victims of child labour, research by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank revealed.

Understanding Children's Work (UCW) coordinator, Furio Rosati said the research established that 48 per cent of seven to 14 year-old children across the country were involved in economic activity instead of going to school.

Mr Rosati said this when he presented the UCW report on child labour in Zambia at the ILO headquarters in Lusaka yesterday.

"Child labour and low levels of education in Zambia is relatively high compared to other countries that have similar income levels," he said

He said child labour was rampant because a lot of people in the country had poor living standards and low levels of income which resulted in children being forced to work.

He said the low level of education among children caused a potential threat to the development of the country.

Mr Rosati said 36 per cent of children worked and attended school at the same time while 12 per cent were only involved in work.

He said the working children performed poorly academically compared to the ones that only concentrated on school.

Mr Rosati stressed that in order for the country to be able to grow it needed an educated population.

He said there was need to put in place a social protection system that would allow children to have better access to education and focus on sensitising the parents of children who were most vulnerable to child labour.

He said there was need to put in place measures that would reduce the numbers of children entering adulthood in a disadvantaged position because they had little or no qualifications.

ILO chief technical advisor Brigitte Poulsen said the Government should prioritise the issue of child labour and move it from a social issue to an economic one because if neglected, it impacts negatively on the development of the country.

Ms Poulsen said that child labour was a national issue which required investments and the involvement of the Government and other stakeholders.

She called on the Government to put in measures that would protect the rights of children especially those in rural areas where information on such issues was not easily accessed.