The National Child Labor Project (NCLP) would be “involved/merged” with the Samagra Shiksha scheme, said by the central government in March this year, in rehabilitating and facilitating mainstream education for child laborers rescued from workplaces. An obstacle has occurred. of the Ministry of Education.
According to a communication from the Ministry of Education last month, detailed guidelines and procedures for merging the two schemes are being worked out in consultation with the Ministry of Labor and Employment and state governments will continue to identify and protect child workers. The children rescued or identified as child laborers will be brought into the mainstream through Samagra Shiksha either directly in schools or through special training centers run in the district through Samagra Shiksha.
Official sources said Coimbatore and Tiruppur were among the 15 districts in the state where the NCLP, a 100% central government-sponsored scheme, was operational. Over the last five years, 47,355 children have been helped to join mainstream education after being rehabilitated in the special centers of NCLP in the state.
In 2020-2021, there were 465 children in 27 special centers operated under NCLP in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts. “We have not opened any new centers this year, though a new academic year will start soon as NCLP has now merged with Samagra Shiksha,” an official said.
About 90% of the child laborers or children identified in both the districts were from the families of migrant workers coming from other states.
“Language is a big problem for these children. They cannot immediately join regular schools. Moreover, schools are not ready to admit these children immediately after they are released from the workplace,” the official said.
In a memorandum to the state government, the Tamil Nadu NCLP Employees Union said that apart from helping many children to continue with school and higher education, the scheme also provided employment to a large number of people, especially teachers, cooks. or worked as an assistant. hub
The wages of about ₹3.6 lakh to these workers and ₹2.30 lakh given as monthly stipend to the rehabilitated children for the last two years were yet to be paid by the central government.
“The scheme has two components – rescue and rehabilitation of child labour. Enforcement can be effective only when proper arrangements are in place for the rehabilitation of children. By merging both the schemes, the government is looking only towards rehabilitation. The association has appealed to the state government to take up the scheme and implement it. The government should consider sourcing funds for the scheme through international organizations like ILO or UNICEF, it suggested.