Andhra Pradesh - Karimnagar   

Spare a thought for `studying in spare time'

Staff Reporter

LOADED REALITY: Amusement for a school-going boy, burdensome for girls trying to balance heavy sacks on their heads. — FILE PHOTO: K.R. Deepak

KARIMNAGAR: No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in other hazardous employment, says Article 24 of the Constitution. The State and Central governments have passed pieces of legislation to check child labour.

But is the Government serious? Not really. It seems so if one were to take a look at the English textbook printed by the State Government for students of fourth class.

In the book, a chapter `Can I study in my spare time?' talks about employment of a 10-year-old child as a labourer in a factory to help his family and to supplement his education. This chapter gives a pictorial presentation of the child helping his family and studying in a night school after toiling for a few rupees in the factory. At the end, the lesson tells students that the child has studied in night school and become a doctor.

APTF rap for Government

Stating this in a press note here on Thursday, Andhra Pradesh Teachers' Federation (APTF) district president M. Prathap Reddy launched a scathing attack against the Government for publishing such lessons which go against eradication of child labour from society.

Students after studying such lessons would instead learn how to become a child labourer and not a doctor and stop studying further, he commented. "How can the Government encourage children to study in night schools? The very title of the chapter `Can I study in my spare time' is encouraging child labour,'' he bemoaned.

He urged the Government to ban such chapters and come out with books which project eradication of child labour and other social evils.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sivaratri off to a grand start at Vemulawada
Spare a thought for `studying in spare time'

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu