Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Financial aid to erstwhile child labourers’ family for self-employment

— PHOTO: R. M. RAJARATHINAM

Saving reversal: Collector T. Soundiah handing over the cheque to a parent of a former child labourer in Tiruchi.

TIRUCHI: Without being complacent of having provided educational opportunities to the erstwhile child labourers, the district administration has rightly kept an eye on the sustainability of their education. Towards this goal, it has released special financial assistance to the parents of the former child labourers for their self employment.

As economic poverty drives these families to penury conditions, often re-converting the school-going pupils into child labourers, the district administration’s financial support is bound to prove a boon in the initiative of the government to put an end to child labour menace.

The District Collector, T. Soundiah, at a brief function held at the Collectorate recently handed over cheques to the tune of Rs. 64,000, from the Collector’s Discretionary Fund, to 29 parents of the students of the special schools run under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP). The funds were released after identifying the aptitude of the beneficiaries. While some opted for rearing goats; a few others preferred ‘idli’ stall or petty shops.

The programme will bring about a dual benefit – generation of assured income for the parents and thereby checking the re-emergence of child labour menace in their families.

“The periodical conduct of Parent-Teacher meetings in all the 33 special schools functioning in the district helped us ascertain the economic condition of each family, especially after their children, who earlier supplemented the income, were put to schools,” says P. Manju, Project Director, Child Labour Elimination and Effective Rehabilitation Society (CHEERS). When the CHEERS moved a proposal to come to the economic rescue of these families, Mr. Soundiah lost no time in coming forward to provide assistance from out of the Collector’s Discretionary Fund. The inclination of the parents for maximum utilisation of the assistance was well gauged through an interview conducted by PA (Accounts) to the Collector, G. Chandrasekaran.

“A similar experiment last year in favour of about 20 parents proved a big draw and all of them have been happy with their vocation”, Ms. Manju said.

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