Guwahati: Complete elimination of child labour in the North East has not been possible mainly due to the lack of awareness among the guardians of child workers, Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights said.
“The government and all stakeholders are keen to eradicate child labour with several schemes initiated for the purpose, but the goal is yet to be reached primarily due to the lack of awareness of guardians,” ASCPCR Chairperson Runumi Gogoi said at the launch of ‘Let’s Clean up the mess’ campaign by World Vision India here.
The guardians were unaware of various schemes, especially the facilities available under the Right to Education, and as such the children were deprived of their basic rights and they continued to toil, she said.
A resolution was adopted a couple of years ago to make Guwahati- a child labour free city- but this mission was yet to be realised, Gogoi said.
Assam government’s Deputy Labour Commissioner D Goswami said that nearly 80 per cent of child labourers in the state was under the domestic workers category with many employers believing that they were doing a favour to the children by employing them.
It was, therefore, imperative to ensure that the civil society was sensitised to rights of children and the various schemes and facilities due to them, Goswami said.
The need of the hour was urgent and implicit implementation of Right to Education and universalisation of ICDS, World Vision India’s head of external engagement Bulu Sareen said.
It was of utmost importance to take the millions of children who would come out of child labour to skill and vocational development structure where they could learn and lead a life of dignity enjoying their full rights, she said.
“The real magnitude and practice of child labour in this region was often eluded and has not yet got serious political attention nor considered illegal by many people,” she said.
“Any child out of school is a potential child labourer and we need to ensure that child labour blow 18 was banned,” Associate Director of World Vision India, Guwahati Program Samuel Theriah said.
As the country was working towards skill development of the youth in a big way and also provides legal mechanisms to eliminate child labour, World Vision India would focus on the need to take stock of the status of children who were working, he said.
World Vision India organised a panel discussion here to deliberate, listen and commit to eliminate child labour from the country with a special focus on the North East. (PTI)