COIMBATORE: Hundred and twenty children, aged nine to 14, hailing from a remote village near Guwahati in Assam, who were rescued from arecanut farms near here, are now trying to make up for lost time at two special schools.
National Child Labour Project (NCLP) director Vijayakumar rescued them from in and around Thondamuthur area a month ago. All of them have been put at two special schools set up by NCLP with teachers knowing a smattering of Hindi. At the time they were rescued, the children only spoke Assamese.
Vijayakumar told Express that around 400 families comprising of 2,000-odd members were lured to Thondamuthur by agents and engaged as labourers at the arecanut farms on meagre wages.
“We had to face stiff resistance when we went to the farms to rescue the children. The farm owners physically stopped us from carrying out our duty. However, things were sorted out after the police assured them that they would be spared from legal action if they allow the child labourers to be moved to special schools.” At one special school, Express found 10-year-old Farida reading out Tamil and English alphabets.
She recited a Bharathiar song and Athichudi. Other students repeated it in a chorus.
The telltale black stains on the children’s palms, however, told the tale, of exploitation, and hard labour – it was their job to peel arecanuts all day long. The special school has now come as a welcome relief.
To help them gain in confidence were Ananthi, the caretaker, and Manonmani, a teacher. The children are fed, provided with textbooks, and uniforms. It was an emotional experience to see them striving to speak in Tamil.