The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : A boon to child labourers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 18, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

A boon to child labourers

R. Arivanantham

66 teachers and other staff are working for the Project in Krishnagiri

Photo: N. Bashkaran

Learning is fun: Students learning craft-making at a special school in Luxmipuram, near Thaly in Krishnagiri district. –

KRISHNAGIRI: Twenty-nine special schools for rescued child labourers are functioning in the district under the National Child Labour Project with a student strength of 963, including 472 girls.

Most of the children are rescued from stone quarries, eateries, mechanical sheds and brick kilns. They are now undergoing a bridge course. They are paid a monthly stipend of Rs.100 and it is credited to the student’s account. It will be handed over to them when they are admitted to mainstream schools.

Officials of the Project are helping their families get ration cards and other facilities.

The district administration is requested to give priority to the families of these children while providing welfare schemes of the government, says S. Priya, the Project Director, Krishnagiri district.

She told The Hindu that officials and volunteers of Non-Governmental agencies are facing a lot of trouble while rescuing children from their work place.

Many a times government doctors are refusing to give certificate to determine the age of the child.

In some cases the employers themselves are getting certificate from doctors prior to appointing them in their establishments through clandestine dealings.

The tools required by these schools are sponsored by the UNICEF under the Activity-Based Learning method.

“Even if government grant is delayed, we never fail to provide food and other basic necessities to the children. Leading business organisations sometimes help us by way of sponsoring meals under the corporate social responsibility scheme.”

C. Shankar, formerly a student of a school under the Project, scored 1113 marks in Plus-Two examination and is pursuing MBA in Vellore Institute of Technology with full scholarship. N. Meena who got 473 marks in Standard X examination is continuing her study in Plus-One.

More than ten students are working in Bangalore after finishing Plus-Two, says Ms. Priya.

During this academic year, 60 students will appear for the Standard X public examination.

A total of 43 teachers, 23 vocational teachers, 28 support staff and five office staff are working for the Project in the district.

The monthly salary bill of the teachers and staff comes to around Rs. 1.5 lakh. Food and other maintenance expenses of the special schools come to around Rs. 1 lakh.

Delay in releasing the grant by the Union Ministry of Labour for salary and other expenses of the Project has not affected its routine functioning in the district.

During last October, the Union Ministry released Rs. 22 lakh out of the pending amount of Rs. 98 lakhs. The pending Rs. 70 lakhs is expected to be released in March.

Ms. Priya says that officials from the Ministry have promised to release the pending funds before the end of this financial year.

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

Tamil Nadu