The Hindu Business Line : No room for child labour

Bhola (name changed) left his mother, siblings and their ramshackle hut in Himachal Pradesh and came down to Chennai to work. He takes care of a partially paralysed senior citizen, and his chores include wiping away the constant dribble from his mouth and feeding mashed food with tremendous patience. Bhola, all of nine years, sits quietly by the old man's wheelchair with a `wipe cloth' tied to his waist.

From October 10, though, life might change for Bhola and children like him when the Government's ban on employment of children below 14 in homes, hotels, roadside eateries, resorts, and spas comes into effect. Early in August, the Labour Ministry announced that it was adding these jobs to the list of hazardous occupations in which child labour is banned under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.

And the penalty for violators is a jail term ranging from three months to two years and/or a fine of Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000. The decision was taken on the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Committee on Child Labour.

The ban is meant to come to the rescue of thousands of children who are often subjected to physical violence, psychological trauma and sexual abuse when they work in homes and hotels. The Committee stated that children employed in roadside eateries and highway dhabas were the most vulnerable, especially to sex and drug abuse.

Though child labour has been banned in hazardous industries such as bidi-making and glass manufacturing and regulated in other occupations for two decades, a 2001 Government census puts the number of working children at over 12 million. Not all of these children work in hazardous occupations — many work in homes, clean tables at hotels, serve at dhabas or teashops, help in mechanic shops and stores or sell knick-knacks at traffic signals.

Thomas George, Communication Officer, UNICEF, says the issue is a complex one and cannot be solved with a simple ban. "The ban is a welcome move because it makes hiring children punishable. Earlier, there was the loophole of regulation and people got away with all kinds of exploitative practices. But the Government has to ensure that the implementation and rehabilitation systems are in place." He says there are sufficient provisions in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and other education programmes to provide schooling for children. "It is just a question of matching the beneficiaries with the schemes. The Government has to implement the provisions on a war-footing for this ban to be really effective."

But ask Devi, a housemaid, whose twin girls are in Standard X, and one can see why it's not enough to merely guarantee compulsory and free education. Devi explains that while the education at the local Corporation school in Chennai comes free, she needs money to buy new uniforms, textbooks and shoes every year. "Getting them admitted into another school for the tenth standard was such a trial because we had to get all kinds of certificates, including a caste certificate, from various government offices."

And, this involved a whole lot of payments, both official and unofficial. "I have to borrow money from my employer at the beginning of each academic year," says Devi. Her son dropped out of school after Standard X because the family didn't have enough money. "My husband is alcoholic. I had to send my son to work because I couldn't pay for his books and uniform. But because he is earning too, the girls can continue studying."

Micro finance

Waiting for help: A child worker at a restaurant in Visakhapatnam - K.R. DEEPAK

Empowering women in poor families could be one way to stop parents from sending children to work. T.R. Gopalakrishnan, micro-finance consultant with UNESCO, says, "Research has consistently shown that families with access to micro-finance send a larger number of children to school. Poverty involves a wide gamut of issues.

Let's begin by addressing its most basic: the lack of resource. Various yojnas are already in place. Let the Government now take steps to teach the people how these schemes can benefit them."

Another momentous task involves changing the mindset of people who employ children, as many of them are from urban, educated families who believe they are helping the child by giving him or her a job and a home.

Jaya Viswas says the seven-year-old girl she hired "brought laughter into the house. She kept me company when my children were at school, and entertained my sick mother-in-law with her chatter." But when she was 16, her mother took her away to be married. "And that's when I realised I looked upon her as one of my own children." Jaya is among those who are sceptical about the benefits of the ban. "I gave the child a happy, comfortable home; a better one than her parents could have provided," she says.

Ananya Ghosh from Kolkata doesn't subscribe to this view, even though her driver is someone who joined their household at age six as a cleaner. She realises that abuse and ill-treatment are not the only factors. "I hired children as domestic help because I believed I was helping them by providing a safe home environment, food, clothes.

But over the years I realised that I wasn't helping; I was making it difficult for them to even imagine a life other than working for some family," she says.

Child safety remains an issue, and the ban will show results only if it is combined with other strategies for rehabilitation, including expansion of the formal and non-formal education systems. The Labour Ministry said in its notification that it was considering strengthening its rehabilitative scheme, the National Child Labour Project, which already covers 250 districts where child labour is endemic. Preventive and rehabilitative plans need to address the reasons why children are forced to work — child labour exists not only because of poverty but also because of discrimination, societal attitudes, lack of quality education and perceptions on the value of education.

Support systems

The non-formal education system serves as a bridge for out-of-school children to enter the mainstream. The concept, in existence since the 1970s, was later linked to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the National Child Labour Project.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a Central Government initiative in November 2001, attempts to provide elementary education for those between six and 14 years of age by 2010 by partnering with State governments, local bodies and the community.

According to the programme's objectives, every child should have been in school or in an education programme by 2003. The SSA framework provides strategies for specific groups such as girls, SC/ST students, those with special needs, and out-of-school children.

Its Alternative and Innovative Education Scheme focuses on working children, bonded labourers, street children, deprived children, and children of migrant and sex workers.

The idea is to set up bridge courses, back-to-school camps, remedial teaching centres, residential camps, drop-in centres and halfway homes. Strategies also include outreach workers to establish rapport with the children, a counsellor to provide emotional support and a doctor to cater to their health needs.

The National Child Labour Project is run by the Labour Ministry and, according to its Web site, over four lakh children have benefited so far. It was launched in 1988 to provide non-formal education to children rescued from hazardous industries. Voluntary agencies and Panchayati Raj institutions are involved in setting up the schools. Children are provided vocational training, supplementary nutrition, health check-ups and a stipend of Rs 100 a month to prepare them to enter proper schools.

Childline (1098) is a 24-hour toll-free number that children or adults can call for help or to report abuse or ill-treatment of children.

The emergency service is backed by a round-the-clock support and intervention service.

It's available in about 66 cities. It focuses on street children, child labourers in the unorganised sector, domestic help and all children in need of care and protection.

More Stories on : Children & Parenting | Labour Reforms

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
No room for child labour

Life with Meniere's

Celebration — With a pinch of humour

Carry on, Munna Bhai!

Paying a `blood price'

Peace reigns supreme...

A beautiful life

101 Pilgrimages