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    Addressing Child Labour in SAARC: The Synergy of Education, Health and Economic Growth Towards SDGs
    (John Wiley and Sons, 2025-11-09) Muthugala, H; Magammana, T; Perera, A; Bandara, A; Jayathilaka, R
    Child labour remains a critical socio-economic challenge in the SAARC region, closely linked to sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study investigates the determinants of child labour by examining the roles of education, health and economic growth using a robust methodological framework. The analysis captures the non-linear country-specific relationships between these variables and child labour, employing advanced methodological approaches, including multiple polynomials, stepwise and simple polynomial regression. The findings reveal a complex interplay of factors, with each variable showing positive and negative effects on child labour in country-specific contexts. Improved access to education generally reduces child labour, but disparities in quality and affordability can have the opposite effect. Health improvements significantly lower child labour rates, yet unequal healthcare access perpetuates exploitation among vulnerable groups. Economic growth shows dual effects: it promotes adult employment and alleviates poverty, yet unregulated expansion in specific sectors can heighten the demand for child labour. This study makes a novel contribution by integrating socio-economic determinants with child labour within a regional framework, providing actionable insights while aligning with SDGs 3, 4, 8 and 8.7. Key policy recommendations include fostering regional collaboration, ensuring access to free education, enacting and enforcing new laws, improving healthcare infrastructure and promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth. These measures align with global SDG commitments but aim to secure a brighter future for the region's children by achieving these goals by 2030.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    ACADEMIC SUCCESS OF PERSONS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT AND BLINDNESS IN THE TERTIARY SECTOR: EXPLANATORY MODEL
    (Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu, 2022-01-14) Suraweera, T; Bandara, S; Wickramarachchi, C; Dewage, N; Gunawardana, T; Nanayakkara, N; Yapa, E; Thelijjagoda, S; Jayathilaka, R
    Ensuring universal access to education is an effective and sustainable means of empowering people with visual impairment and blindness. Literature confirms that blindness of a person is not a barrier for learning, yet past research brings about a range of diverse obstacles for productive engagement in education due to universities being designed for the sighted persons. Given that the persons with impairment are looked after comparatively better in the western world than in the developing nations for realising their challenging academic goals. Purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a comprehensive study on the academic work of persons with visual impairment and blindness in the tertiary sector. This population included recent undergraduates and those who have completed a university degree. The two distinct outcomes presented are; (first phase) the critical factors influencing the academic performance of persons with visually impairment and blindness and, (second phase) an explanatory model that characterizes the construct ‘the academic performance’. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, purposely selected eleven key informant interviews were utilized for the first phase for the qualitative investigation. Thematic analysis was used as the main method of data analysis. The Second phase employed a sample survey. Fifty respondents who had studied in universities during the 5-year period from 2015-2020 were selected through snow-ball sampling. Exploratory factor analysis was used as the main data analysis technique. The key findings of phase one revealed that external support, physical environment, motivation to learn, instructional strategies, ICT and English literacy are major contributory factors to academic performance. The second phase of the quantitative analysis derived five composite factors. Of these, the factor labeled “Motivating influences” appears to be mostly contributing to the academic performance of persons with visual impairment and blindness. While education is a lifelong endeavor of a person, these findings can contribute to make a substantial change in the quality of life of this community in the long run.