25 pc of kids in North Chennai are child labourers: study

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Child labour is rampant in North Chennai and more than 25 per cent of children in the age group of 6 to 14 in six slums of North Chennai forgo their school and join the workforce to support their family livelihood needs, according to a study by Child Rights and You and Slum Children Sports Talents Education Development Society (SCSTEDS).

Sarah Ramya, manager of CRY said the study in north Chennai revealed there are many small scale industries and allied industries which employ children. These include steel vessel polishing work, fish cleaning work, loading and unloading work, automobile workshop attendee, plastic companies, construction, hotels, sweet and tea shops, textile shops, phone booth and other menial jobs.
“These children are underpaid and they are exploited in all forms. On an average they earn Rs 200 per week which supports the livelihood needs of their families,” says Sarah.
Children from broken families, orphan or semi orphan children, and children from destitute families are highly prone to enter in to work force at their early stage, the study reveals.
The basic facility in the schools such as library, toilets, etc, inadequate support form teacher to motivate children to learn, lack of love and care and failure in making school as an attractive place to learn are some of the immediate causes for children to discontinue schooling, says Sarah.

The biggest issue is that there are few government schools catering to the needs of the children. N Thangaraj says of SCSTEDS says that there are only two higher secondary schools and a primary school run by government. He says there are six private schools but hardly any of them implement the Right to Education Act.

The data from the survey also reveals that these children due to family economical pressure and non availability of schools in their locality discontinue schooling.

“Many children in this age group are working in tea shop, two-wheeler mechanics’ shops, cycle shops, grocery shops, office cleaning, plastic shops, paper shop, house hold work, auto cleaner, etc.

She said almost 58 per cent of children in the age group of 6 to 14 are working in automobile repairing and tea shops.   Lack of school in this area is one of the reasons to discontinue schooling. Among the slums, SM Nagar children have to walk five kilometers to access B Kalyanapuram higher secondary school. Even to access  primary schooling children have to walk 2 to 3 km.

She said children also lose interest in schooling as they have to walk everyday and family economical pressure also adds up. After middle school, children are not able to get proper Higher Secondary Education. Most of the children after 10^th class-drop out and enter into the labor force.

There are also reports of four girls dropping out of one of the school due to verbal abuse of the children from slums. This has also been corroborated by Appu, a dropout, who is now pursuing his education after two years. “The teacher abused my mother while I was in ninth standard. I protested and the officials pressed charges of indiscipline forcing me to abandon my studies,” he says.

The prevalence of child labour is also more prominent in migrant labour population. The small children upto five years are neither looked after by Anganwadis nor by the contractors hence the children roam around on the site and along with older children. Nutrition immunization and pre school education are denied to these children. In every big construction site 25-60 children can be seen roaming on sites. Due to lack of nutrition, they look thin and emaciated, anemic and with skin disorders, cold cough and respiratory problems and jaundice, according to National Alliance for People's Movement state coordinator Arul Doss.

"These children are not admitted to Anganwadis. The women workers cannot take care or breast feed the children since they go to work for long hours hence older children look after the young ones. As per the provision of Contract Labour Act 1970 and Building and other Construction Workers (Regulation of employment and conditions of Service) Act 1996, if more than 50 women workers are employed, crèche should be run by the contractor otherwise by the principal employer and cost deducted from the contractor’s bill, but this is not implemented," he says.

Since the older children look after the young ones, their education is also affected Also, the children playing in hazardous environment in sand and steel, in puddles and uneven surface can lead to accidents and ill health.