Imagine this – a childhood devoid of parental pampering, afternoon snacks and midnight lullabies with the loved ones. No school, no books, no toys to play with. Instead, a childhood where you have to work each day to earn your living, fostering wrinkles of tension and carrying the burden of the world on puny little shoulders.
This is the way millions of children in India lead their daily life. While some perish under the tyranny of the label of child labour, there are those who manage to break their shackles and come out of it. On World Day Against Child Labour, we bring you the success stories of two such persons who, though once were child labourers, are now in respectable positions.
For eight-year-old Nisar, who sold ice-creams, work was a way of life. He recalls, “In my village, everyone started working young. I used to spend all my vacations and holidays working and at times even bunked classes to earn some money.” But that was not the only thing that kept Nisar engaged. He went on to hone his carpentry skills by working with wood during school days. He says, “By the time I was in my 10th standard, I was already a known carpenter in my village.”
Nisar, unlike several others, was not forced by parents to take up work. He says, “I wanted to do something for my family and beyond that I wished to do something of my own.” When asked how he bade goodbye to the life of a child labourer, he replies confidently that education drove him out it.
“After school, I got admitted to the Madras University to do my graduation in Anthropology.” Now at 27, Nisar stands tall, ready to achieve his doctorate in anthropology.
But life wasn’t kind to Ruby as it had been for Nisar. Ruby, now a teacher with the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), was pushed to work due to the poor financial condition of her family. With a carpenter father who couldn’t pay her school fees and four other siblings to take care of, Ruby took up work at the tender age of 12. “I worked as a child labourer for a paper company in Coimbatore. My work basically required me to segregate plastics and glass pieces from a heap of junk.”
With a mere wage of Rs 25 a day, sheer need led Ruby to continue with her job for six long months before she was rescued by officials of the NCLP in 2002.
NCLP is an initiative of the Ministry of Labour and Employment in pursuance of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and the National Child Labour Policy, 1987.
The scheme primarily aims at withdrawing and rehabilitating child labourers who are below 14 years of age. With their help, Ruby not only completed her schooling, but also went on to do a teacher training course from PPG College.
Now a confident young woman, Ruby (24), teaches and supervises a class of 26 students who had all been child labourers like her. A beacon of inspiration, Ruby says, “Education is the only weapon that can put an end to child labour. It’s high time that we spread awareness against this crime among the parents and society at large.”
Nisar unwittingly echoes Ruby when he talks about his brush with child labour.
“A fierce determination, perseverance, and above all, only education can help one achieve anything in life. Where there is a will, there is a way, remember?” he says.