ODIYA SCHOOL FOR MIGRANT’S CHILDREN

In a first of its kind initiative for children of migrant labourers working in brick kilns, a special Odiya medium school was inaugurated in Peddakondur village of Chottupal mandal by the Rachakonda police on Saturday.

Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat and district collector Anita Ramchandran inaugurated the ‘Ituka Battila Valasa Karmikula Bala Balikala School’ which will accommodate 182 children from Classes I to V. School uniforms, books, pencils and steel plates were distributed to the children.

The school will have four teachers from Odisha appointed by the Peddakondur village brick kiln owners association. Posters on child labour in Telugu, English, Hindi and Oriya languages were released on the occasion.

Ms Anita Ramchandran, collector of Yadadri-Bhongir district, said that the mid-day meal scheme, would be extended to the school and migrant workers would be given rice at `1 a kg under the government scheme. Mr Mahesh Bhagwat said that this was a first of a kind partnership project in the country for vulnerable children.

Under Operation Smile 3, the police rescued 804 children from forced labour in Rachakonda in 2017, while so far 120 children from Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, Orissa, AP, Telangana working in hazardous industries have been rescued in the Rachakonda commissionerate in 2018.

The Worksite School programme will be implemented in Rangareddy and Medchal districts too for vulnerable children and natives of Bolangir, Koraput, Naupada, Kalahandi districts in Odisha with the help of other stakeholders. “After five months of Worksite School, these children can continue their education on returning back to Odisha. This is done in partnership with the Odisha government,” commissioner Bhagwat said.

In 2017, the Rachakonda police rescued 350 Odiya child labourers from brick kilns in Peddakondur village of Chottupal and Chikatimamidi village of Bommalaramaram mandal.