17 slums free from child labour

[sajiv]

17 slums free from child labour

HYDERABAD: The vortex of poverty ebbs in people into believing that education is a futile effort. Rather, they deem an extra buck could be made by sending their little ones to work. Usually, efforts to rehabilitate slum children from their places of work are met with a barrage of choicest abuse amid stiff resistance.

It is not just parents but children too are tempted to stay away from school because they are used to enjoying with the little money they earn, says Francis D' Silva, director of People's Initiative Network (PIN), a voluntary organisation established by Monfort Brothers of St. Gabriel (MBSG) in 1990.

Surveys
The organisation declared 17 slums they were operating in to be 'child labour free'. This, they said, was verified through surveys by its field staff and feedback from teachers of schools located nearby.

According to them, any child who is not studying is considered a child labour.

PIN, in 2005, launched a child rights movement targeting dropouts and those involved in labour. Their aim was to make slums located on Musi river bed from Chaderghat bridge to Amberpet free from child labour. "Initially, we faced a lot of resistance from families," says K.M. Joseph, chairman of Monfort Group of Schools.

The services of slum leaders and police were utilised to convince reluctant parents of the need for basic education for their children, most of whom were rag pickers or domestic help.

Soon 20 schools, providing education till fifth standard sprouted across the 17 slums, spread over a 10 km radius.

Each of the schools has around 30 pupils and two teachers, who work on a semi-voluntary basis. "To make the children feel the pinch of paying some money for their education, we charge them Rs.5 a month," M.A. George, Pune provincial superior of MBSG.