The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Drumming up support for campaign against child labour

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Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Drumming up support for campaign against child labour

Special Correspondent

Street plays staged in vulnerable areas by INDUS programme volunteers

— Photo: A.Muralitharan

SPREADING A MESSAGE: Members of Arivoli Deepam Kalai Kuzhu staging a play at Pallavaram organised by INDUS to create an awareness among parents and employers on the importance of sending children to school.

TAMBARAM: To drive home the importance of eliminating child labour and ensuring that all children in the school-going age attended either alternative, transitional or mainstream schools, INDUS (India – United States) programme has been conducting street plays in towns and rural pockets.

A similar play was held in Pallavaram recently. The message of the play, enacted by Arivoli Deepam Kalai Kuzhu, was simple – do not send children to quarries, garages, restaurants or shops, but send them to schools instead. The play began with a continuous beat of drums to attract the attention of shopkeepers and passers by near the Pallavaram bus stop.

Performed by six members of the troupe, it had songs touching upon the essence of childhood and how sending children to work denied them of their simple pleasures in life and fundamental right to education.

Ironically, a number of pavement shops near the venue of the play had children working in them and their employers were seen asking the children to go elsewhere till the play ended.

John William Joseph, Community Worker, INDUS for St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, said that they had rescued not less than 200 children in the past two years in the Panchayat Union.

The rescued children were accommodated in centres providing alternative means of school education and Transitional Educational Centres, before being admitted in mainstream government and aided schools.

The southern suburbs of Chennai have a peculiar pattern of never ending instance of child labour due to the high rate of floating population, he said.

The prevalence of child labour was mostly restricted to Adam Nagar in Pallavaram and Nagalkeni in Chromepet in addition to quarrying units in Tiruneermalai and Tirusulam and hamlets near Kannagi Nagar, Thoraipakkam. Mr. Joseph said studies revealed that the children were paid Rs.50 to Rs.100 a day by their employers.

Their jobs were menial and some of them were asked by their own fathers to pick up empty liquor bottles in bars attached to government liquor shops.

In some cases, the children were the only earning member in a family as their parents would be crippled or unable to find a suitable job. In such cases, Kancheepuram district administration would arrange for finding a suitable job to parents apart from starting a fixed or recurring deposit in a bank, he said.

Appealing to parents not to send their children for work and to employers not to accept children below the age of 14 in their work spots,

Mr. Joseph said if found guilty, people could be fined huge amounts apart from being sent to prison. He appealed to all sections of the society to be more vigilant and report instances of child labour to the nearest police station.

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