MADURAI: After the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan last week probed the alleged exploitation of a few school dropouts in Dindigul by Siva Textiles, education officials have concluded that the mill has employed 22 dropouts from Komberipatty Government High School. The educational officials from Dindigul had launched the inquiry after the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) wrote to Puja Kulkarni, State Project Officer, SSA, detailing that Siva Textiles in Velvarkottai in Dindigul district employed the children during holidays and later withheld their salaries to keep them employed.
“After we received a direction from our State Project Officer, we inspected Komberipatty Government High School records of the students. We were shocked to find that the 22 students were working at the mill,” P Murugan, Chief Education Officer, SSA, Dindigul, told Express. After sending a detailed report to Puja Kulkarni, Murugan has also submitted a copy of the report to deputy labour officer requesting to rescue the students from the mill.
James Victor, secretary, Serene Secular Social Service (SSSS), an NGO that campaigns against the ‘Camp Coolie System’, had earlier submitted a fact-finding report to the UNICEF stating that nearly 18 students from Kampiliyampatty village dropped out from the school because they were employed by the private mill. “We are happy to learn that the State government has reacted positively on this issue,” said a senior UNICEF officer requesting anonymity.
A senior Komberipatty Government High School teacher said that each year a minimum of 10 students from nearby villages would drop out and go to work in the textile mill.
“But this year as 22 students from Kampiliyampatty village alone stopped coming, we called their parents for a meeting last month.”
The parents said that mill supervisors had withheld their children’s salary and forced them to work for one more month.
“Then we contacted S Kavitha, vice president of Pilathu panchayat and requested her to rescue those children from the mill,” the teacher said. M A Britto, co-convener, the ‘Campaign Against Camp-Coolie System,’ Tirunelveli, said: “Our sample study on the ‘Camp-Coolie System’ in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Virudhunagar and Sivaganga districts two years ago found nearly 30 percent of children work in spinning and textile mills in Dindigul, Coimbatore and Tirupur. A decline in agriculture in rural areas has deprived the people of agro-based job opportunities. Hence, they send their children to mills,” Britto said.