Children's day? Not for them

Sudhakar Rao / TNN / Nov 14, 2005, 02:10 IST

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Their nimble fingers will continue to work on hazardous machines of several production units dotted in city.

SURAT: When children's day is celebrated across India on Monday with much fanfare, for many young and vulnerable children in Surat it would just be another day. Their nimble fingers will continue to work on hazardous machines of several production units dotted in the city.
Large number of textile unit's employ a substantial number of child labourers in the city apart from powerloom and other work places.According to an estimate by Pratham, an NGO, about 15,000 children are not going to the school in the city of which 4,000 are child labourers.
These children are aged from nine to 14,who work 10 to 12 hours a day under hazardous conditions. Most of these children are migrants, who come from as far as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa in North to Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in South and Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the Western region.
A National Child Labour Project Society (NCLPS) was formed under the state government to run special schools for these child labourers. The district collector chairs the society and the other members are drawn from the state government, NGO's and the civil society.

Only few months ago, NCLPS identified about 3,500 children working in some of the hazardous industries in the city with the help of NGO's. The school is yet to take off while those dropping out of the pitiable corporation-run schools are increasing.
Once out of the school these children then take to drudgeries at hazardous industries. District collector Vatsala Vasudev says, "We have deliberated over the issue several times with the textile association where children are found to be working. However, they claim that it is the 'thekedars' (middlemen), who bring these children to them."

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