CHENNAI: The lockdown has resulted in several thousand students being out of classrooms and at risk of finding themselves in the predicament of engaging in bonded labour. As schools reopen, the government has said that almost 90 per cent of students have returned in most schools in classes 9-12. This means that there could be at least two lakh children in the State, who are out of school and at risk of being forced into child labour.
Teachers in government schools have attributed the aforesaid absenteeism to two reasons: (a) the shoddy logistics making returning to school difficult or, worse, (b) children finding employment opportunities. And while a five per cent drop-out rate in schools might seem minimal to some, in effect this means that thousands of children are at risk of being dragged into exploitative labour.
Trapped into labour
The headmistress of a government-aided higher secondary school in Chennai said that many of her female students had accompanied their mothers who worked as domestic helps. “Now, some of these girls have started working at a few houses themselves. They said that they cannot quit work abruptly as they had received an advance amount on their payment,” she said.
“Staying at home alone poses a threat to their safety. So, children often accompany their parents to work in the field. Here they are asked to do small jobs in return for small payment and slowly get dragged into a tricky debt cycle,” said Kandasamy Krishnan, Executive Director of Foundation for Sustainable Development.
“In May last year, we found 31 child bonded labourers when we rescued 415 bonded labourers from a brick kiln in Thiruvallur,” he said. Krishnan said that while there is currently no statistics to show the number of children hauled into exploitative labour during the lockdown, “the figures will emerge only as schools reopen.”
Government’s role
MA Britto, director, Vaan Muhil, and co-convenor, shout for freedom coalition, said that while getting children out of labour may pull them out of it temporarily, the demand for exploitable labour continues to linger. “The conviction rates are extremely poor in cases of bonded labour rescue. The government should enforce laws to set an example in every case where children are exploited,” he said.
PM Nair, IPS (Retd), who has worked extensively against human trafficking, said that children being out of school is not the fault of the parents, but of the community and the government. He said a four-pronged approach should be taken to bring out-of-school children back – government action to ensure attendance of teachers, breakfast in all public schools, officials inspecting neighbourhoods for child labour and amending the list of hazardous jobs in which children should not be engaged.
“Last year, the government rescued 11 children from a silver cleaning unit. When we found them, they didn’t have any nail as acids had dissolved them. However cleaning silver was not listed as a hazardous job,” he said.
What can be done
PK Ilamaran, the leader of the Tamil Nadu Teachers Association, one of the largest union of government teachers in the State, told Express that the ‘most-efficient’ strategy to increase enrolment and prevent drop-out has been door-to-door campaigns. Geetha Ramakrishnan from the unorganised sector workers association told Express that children too have to be enthused into coming to school.
“They need to have a reason to come to school, as their minds have completely been taken off education during the lockdown,” she said. She said that her experiment of engaging local children in spreading awareness did well to sensitise parents in rural pockets.