More than 8,000 children including 70 per cent girls are engaged in child labour in the garment sector in Delhi, a recent study has found out.
The study ‘Hidden Workforce’ conducted by the non-profit organisation, Save the Children, was launched by the Delhi Government’s Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department on Friday.
The report found out that a significantly higher number of children were engaged in household-level work with 87 per cent children working in home settings and only 13 per cent worked in Addas (household-based units where unrelated adults and children work together).
Due to this, despite the reported reduction in overall child labour over the past decade, there has been a comparative growth of child labour in the informal sector.
Minister for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Delhi government, Sandeep Kumar said: “It is perturbing and shameful that children’s engagement in informal labour, including in the garment industry — which has also contributed to the rising rate of school drop-outs — continues to be a sad reality in the national Capital.”
“There is an urgent need to tackle the situation and we can achieve this if the social organisations work in co-ordination with the government. Our government is working on a scheme to eradicate child labour and we aim to achieve it within the next five years,” he added.
According to the report, child labour in the garment industry is one of the rapidly growing unorganised workforces in cities like Delhi, owing to sub-contracting and outsourcing of work.
Findings from the report also highlight the decreasing priority of education among families and children working in the garment industry.
Almost 55 per cent of the children who are engaged in child labour have never attended school and many among them are not interested in getting a formal education.
Almost 100 per cent of the students said no to attending schools on a regular basis and said that they want to continue working.
The organisation is now working towards the rehabilitation of these children and trying to pull them out of the labour industry.
In Delhi, children are engaged in garment units in areas like Gandhi Nagar and Geeta Colony in East Delhi, Chandni Chowk and Chandni Mahal in Old Delhi, Okhla, Madanpur Khadar and others.
