Geetha N Bhardwaj for the Millennium Campaign
OneWorld South Asia
17 November 2005: An impressive figure of 4,360 child labourers entered school in the academic year 2005-2006. This feat was achieved under the banner of School Chalo Abhiyan (school enrollment campaign) during July-September 2005 by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) (Save the Childhood Movement).
The BBA activists first carried out an exhaustive survey of 45 villages in 17 districts of four states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, in India. The survey found that 5,300 children between the age of six and fourteen years did not go to school. Most of these children worked either as agriculture labourers or stayed at home to look after their siblings.
The activists met the parents of the children; they informed them about the need for education and convinced them to send their wards to school. Awareness was also generated through rallies and local meetings to get the children enrolled in the nearest government school. Regular interaction with the teachers is maintained to ensure that children do not drop out of school.
Girls Benefit from Education Drive
One remarkable achievement was the enrolment of 201 girls out of 250 children in a primary school in Saharsa district of Bihar.
The school enrolment and retention drive also puts a stop to many of the children being trafficked and ending up in the cities as child labourers; this also proves critical to the safety of girls who may land in a brothel or be hidden as domestic servants.
Background
According to the BBA, Child Labour refers to any work that is mentally, physically, socially and morally dangerous and harmful to the children. It is not merely a problem that affects the lives of individual children; it is also a system engraved in society and perpetuating poverty, social evil, inequity and unfair economic and social norms.
Children who are trapped in the web are deprived of freedom, fun, childhood and forced to work under inhuman conditions. Their dreams are snuffed out at the very inception itself. Do we not observe children toiling hard, stretched far beyond their years, in agriculture, construction, dhabas(kiosks), lock and bangle industries?
Development of a nation is questionable as long as it permits the exploitation of its children. Several initiatives have been undertaken in the past by non-governmental organizations like Reddy Foundation in Chennai, Reddy Foundation and MV Foundation in Andhra Pradesh and Navjyoti, Deepalaya and Prayas in Delhi, to mainstream child labourers into mainstream education systems.
At the institutional level, the National Human Rights Commission has been making a major effort to impact on child labour. Persistent endeavors to generate great awareness and sensitivity in the labour departments of the state have begun to show positive results.
A committee to study all aspects of the child labour situates in the lock industries in Aligarh was constituted by the commission on 2nd August 2000. As a result, 370 schools have been sanctioned under the National Child Labour Project for the 11 child labour-prone districts of Uttar Pradesh. At present 346 schools are operational and 19,807 children withdrawn from work are being provided non-formal education with benefits of supplementary nutrition.
Looking at the linkage between poverty, child labour and education, the Bachpan Bachao Andolan has set up Bal Ashrams in 1998. These are transit homes located at Rajasthan in India, for children released from bondage, and function as schools and vocational training centers.
Education for All Children, Now! A Key To Ending Child Labour
Free and quality basic education for all children is a strategic tool for addressing the root cause of child servitude. Basic education includes both primary and secondary education, and this must be treated as a fundamental right and not as a privilege or a welfare measure. Every country must establish a legal framework to provide education to all of its children. Quoting Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, ‘Children in need are children who cannot wait.’
About 20 million children in India are out of school in the present scenario. A large majority of them are actually child labourers. It is a key challenge for all stakeholders to address all the complex issues surrounding their lives and to facilitate their enrolment in the mainstream education system. Addressing these issues are central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals as well as the Education for All objective.
Source: Bachpan Bachao Aandolan, with inputs from Dr.Nilay Ranjan, Knowledge Coordinator, OneWorld South Asia
Link: http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/122402/1/
