OneWorld.net (U.S.)

The Vellore Institute of Development Studies (VIDS) has urged the Tiruvannamalai district administration, which had been organising excursion-cum-medical camps for rescued child labourers, to form child rights clubs that could help them become free citizens in the society.

In a memorandum sent to Tiruvannamalai district Collector Sathyaprata Sahoo, VIDS founder-director Jegadish Gandhi lauded the efforts made by the district administration and suggested that the rescued children be involved in cultural, sports and educative events, besides social gatherings, to facilitate social harmony among them.

Steps should be taken to conduct public hearings for the rescued children, besides subjecting them to group dynamics (interaction with normal children), to understand their ordeals and aspirations, the Collector said.

The concept of ’participation and partnership’ should be energised at all levels inside and outside the learning centers, he said. In order to empower rescued children socially, self-supporting skill formation programmes could be initiated in the district, he added. The administration should give top priority to the parents of the rescued children in self-employment schemes.

Gandhi has also advocated the formation of special task teams, with the help of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), service organisations and student volunteers, to conduct a social audit in this regard, besides tracking down new traps laid down for children across the district.

Moreover, NGOs and research institutions should undertake surveys across remote parts of the district to identify new forms of child labour in occupations and industries.

The administration should also take steps to conduct sensitisation workshops for field-level workers and NGOs on the need for successful convergence strategies to eradicate child labour practices.

Stories on the rescue and rehabilitation of child labourers should be prominently serialised in the local media and through public forums like youth clubs, women groups, SHGs and chambers of industry and commerce to create more awareness on the issue, he stated.

The need of the hour, Gandhi said, was an empowered child partnership with sensitised social partners to create a new generation of child labour-free society. Source: New Indian Express