Home |Telangana| Activists Urge Centre State Govt To Provide Vocational Skills For Child Labourers
Activists urge Centre, State govt to provide vocational skills for child labourers
The child labour problem, particularly in this age group, is rampant in erstwhile Warangal district with such children working in hazardous occupations.
Warangal: Child rights activists urged both the Union and State governments to consider setting up vocational training centres in the districts to prevent child labour (in the 14 to 18 year age group), and help them find employment.
The child labour problem, particularly in this age group, is rampant in erstwhile Warangal district with such children working in hazardous occupations. A total of 615 children (70 percent of them aged between 14 and 18) were rescued under ‘Operation Smile’ in the combined district last month. While 190 children were rescued in Mulugu district, 178 were rescued in Warangal Urban district.
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The number of child labourers/runway children rescued is 100 in Jangaon district, and 58 in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district. Officials also rescued 51 children in Mahabubabad district and 38 in Warangal Rural district. The children working in the combined Warangal district were mostly from Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra.
“Operation Smile-7, a programme aimed at freeing child labourers and reuniting runaway children was implemented successfully in erstwhile Warangal district this year. Every year, ‘Operation Smile,’ conducted in January and ‘Operation Muskaan,’ conducted in July in every State in coordination with the Central government and all State police departments have been proving to be fruitful. However, we need to set up vocational training centres in each district to offer skill development programmes,” Mandala Parashuramulu, outgoing chairman of Child Welfare Committee (CWC), combined Warangal district, told Telangana Today.
“The State government, which is implementing many welfare schemes for the benefit of the different sections of society should also look into the perturbing social issue and help the children get vocational training or education,” he said and added that the State government with the help of the Central government or the other State governments whose children are working in Telangana should set to the vocational training centres and schools. He also urged the government for the implementation of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme for the rehabilitation of child labourers working in hazardous occupations.
“The identified children are to be withdrawn from these occupations and processes and then put into special schools in order to enable them to be mainstreamed into the formal schooling system,” Parashuramulu said.
“Due to poverty, parents, mainly from other States, are sending their children to work in the hotel industries, brick kiln units, automobile workshops, construction sector and other hazardous industries. The Ministry of Labour and Industry has also registered cases against employers who employ child labourers under the age of 18 years, identifying them as child labourers, protecting their rights, identifying missing children and handing them over to their parents. However, we need to rehabilitate the rescued children and provide education or vocational training to them” said founder president of Society for Public Welfare and Initiative (SPWI) Dr Suresh Devath.
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