HYDERABAD: While rescue operations against child labour have been going on in the state, where hundreds of children are reportedly rescued from brick kilns, bangle factories and similar places, the mechanism for their rehabilitation is still something we need to strengthen, admitted officials from the Department of Labour.
To ensure that the state is child labour-free, the State Resource Centre (SRC) was formed in June this year with a special focus on eliminating child and adolescent labour. While the SRC has been working from the state to village level, with nodal officers appointed at all levels, their focus now will be on efficient tracking of rescued children and, specially, adolescents.
“We are looking to work in sync with all the policies in place for the care and protection of children. It includes the Right to Education (RTE) Act, Protection of Children against Sexual Offences etc. The adolescent population, which is 34.21 lakh and of which 10.21 lakh (Census 2011) work as labourers, are out of the purview of these acts,” said Varsha Bhagavi, state coordinator for SRC.
While RTE Act mandates free and compulsory education, it is only up to the age of 14, whereas adolescents fall in the age bracket of 15 to 19 years. The SRC has been working to integrate these adolescents into bridge schools, for those who are dropouts. Besides this, Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour (PENCIL), an initiative that was launched by the Home Ministry, Government of India will soon become functional.
“We are waiting for the Home Ministry to register all the project directors and nodal officers. Their specific login ids and passwords are awaited. Then, every child labour intervention will be posted on the portal,” informed Varsha. This national-level tracking system will also help in following up cases of those who belong to migrant families based on their Aadhar cards. The SRC is also in the process of setting up Telangana-centric standard operating procedures in accordance with the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules.
Activities of SRC thus far
Formation of monitoring committees
from state to village levels
Appointment of project directors in all 31 districts
50 special training centres as part of the National Child Labour Project are functioning in the state
A total of 1571 children and adolescents are enrolled—746 boys and 825 girls