CURRENT NEWS - June 2007

35 Child workers freed and placed in schools

The first week of June marks the beginning of a new school throughout India. All scholls and colleges are busy with new admissions. In many places, during this period, there are special drives to enroll in schools, children from poor communities and in difficult circumstances.

For us at SAM, the first days of June each year have become important, for it is in this period that we place in public schools child workers whom we identify and motivate during the course of the year.

On 15 June 2007, the CRPF Community Hall within the Collector’s Office campus at Kanchipuram town wore a festive look as 35 child workers who were freed recently were getting ready to join schools and begin a new life. Their Parents, relatives, teachers, friends and well-wishers had gathered to felicitate and make the day memorable for them.

These bonded child workers, 26 of them boys, were aged between 7-14 years and had been engaged in different tough works in and around Kanchipuram. They had been working for a period ranging from 6 months to 4 years. 12 of them were picked up from rice mills, 7 from stone quarries, 5 from silk looms and others from restaurants, brick kilns, small shops and two of them from being ’24 hours domestic servants’.

This year, we spent over Rs.50,000 to pay off their debts and to buy clothes and books for them. They have all been placed in public schools close to their homes in classes III to IX according to their age and educational levels. Their Progress in education, health and other areas will be monitored by our animators. As a follow up activity, they will be organized into Children’s Parliaments and will have periodic motivational sessions.

In the Past years, we were concentrating on child workers in the silk looms alone, but now we have spread our nets wider to identify and free children engaged also in other works. We have recently identified over 500 child workers in pappad (thin crisp Indian bread made of rice and cereal powder) making units at Olimohammadpet near Kanchipuram, but we are yet unable to make a breakthrough to free them, through we have started a play cum Study Centre for them.

See also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6505961.stm
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Some of the child workers freed and placed in schools on 15.6.2007