All 30 former child labourers who were put into mainstream education after being identified by the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) at different stages of their child labour days have cleared the Plus Two examination.
Among them, four have come out with flying colours by securing four-digit marks. M. Vetrikondan (17) has got top scores with 1,053 marks, followed by V. Munieswari (1,037), S. Gunasakthi (1,036) and P. Bavya (1,014).
If NCLP has brought in a big change in the lives of these boys and girls, its sustained effort in transforming child labourers into literates is seen with the family members of Vetrikondan.
For he is the third child of his family to be taken to school after he was found making paper tubes meant for crackers in Sivakasi.
“Poverty forced we three children (along with his elder brother and elder sister) to help our mother to make the paper tubes. Otherwise, my father’s lone income would not suffice us to make both ends meet,” Vetrikondan said.
The two boys and the girl augmented the family’s income at a tender age. “It was until Mary teacher found us working and encouraged us to join NCLP school years back,” recalled Vetrikondan’s brother, M. Raja.
Raja who was the first to be put into the bridge course run by NCLP school in Reserve line, has now completed his degree in Botany after he was mainstreamed. He is preparing for competitive examinations. His younger sister who completed 10th class is married off.
“Those days the school offered us good lunch and also gave us a stipend of Rs. 100 a month that was deposited in our account,” Vetrikondan said.
“We would have toiled in some fireworks factory like our father had we not been identified by Mary teacher,” he said.
NCLP has also arranged for coaching classes for people like Raja to face competitive examinations.
