On a day that is celebrated globally as Anti-Child Labour Day, the education department rescued two boys aged around 13 years who were spotted working in a meat shop at R N Palayam in the Fort City. The team of teachers and education officials then enrolled the rescued children into a government school in the area.
A member of the team that rescued the boys said that they were tipped off about the two boys working in different meat shops in R N Palayam. “I received information about the two boys from one of the teachers working in a government school in the locality on Friday,” said AEEO of Vellore, M. Rajendran. “I asked the teacher to monitor the boys whether they were working on school days. The boys were found working in the poultry shop on Monday and we also confirmed that they were child labourers after conducting an enquiry in that area.”
On Tuesday, the AEEO and nine other education department officials went to the shop and posed as customers, he said. “After a conversation with the boys, we once again confirmed that they were child labourers and were working in the shops for some time. We rescued them and admitted them to Class VIII in the Muslim Middle School.”