CHENNAI: Without the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), Dr M Moorthi, who works at a primary health centre in Pudukkottai district, wouldn’t have become a doctor.
He is just one of the 1,17,276 people in Tamil Nadu who has returned to education through the NCLP since the programme began in TN in 1986 in two districts.
Despite its successes, the Union Labour Ministry has written to all States and UTs informing that the project will not be extended after March 31, 2022 and will be subsumed under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) implemented by the school education department.
Activists in TN, where the project operates in 15 districts, said with the pandemic pushing more children into labour, the project should be extended, not ended. The State too has pressed the Centre to extend the scheme and release stipends and salaries, irregular since 2016, on time.
As of November 31, 2021, there are 3,861 students in 213 special training centres in TN. Under NCLP, kids engaged in labour and adolescents in hazardous work are identified and enrolled in STCs for a bridge course. They get a monthly stipend of Rs 400 till they are mainstreamed.
‘Special training centre brought me back to education’
Moorthi, who hails from Dharmapuri had dropped out of school after Class 5 in 2005 to work on construction sites. Three NCLP teachers persuaded his his parents to enrol him in the STC. He credits the two-year bridge course, stipend of Rs 150 and follow up from the teachers for being able to join the Salem government medical college in 2011.
“The Special Training Centre is the only reason that I became a doctor. The scheme pulled me back to education and gave me a new life,” said Dr Moorthi. “A study by Campaign against Child Labour, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry found an increase of 180 per cent in child labourers since the pandemic. While the Union government’s letter says to mainstream the children currently in STCs, it is not clear what their plan for the children rescued in the future,” said R Vidyasagar, former child protection specialist with Unicef.
“If a Class 5 student becomes a child labourer and rescued after two years, which class should he be put in? Who will follow up if such children are attending school properly. These are things done by NCLP staff,” pointed out Natraj of Sudar, which runs an STC in Erode.
“Unlike other schools, NCLP teachers have to visit the parents and convince them to bring the children to the STCs,” he added. While the Labour ministry letter said the rescued children can be mainstreamed through SSA either directly or through Special Training Centre operating in districts under SSA, Natraj said without the stipend — an incentive to prevent the child returning to work — and dedicated teachers, the number of child labourers will increase.
Alagujothi, secretary of Tamilnadu Desia Kulanthai Tholialar Sirappupalli Asiriar Matrum Uzhiar Sangam, said the NCLP staff were working for paltry salaries to eradicate child labour. “If the Union government is not willing to continue the project, the State government should fund it,” she said. Officials in State Labour and Education departments were not available for comment.