EVERY CHILD MATTERS
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and identified globally as one of the most influential child-rights activists, Kailash Satyarthi speaks to Preeti Singh about his switch from being an engineer to a full-time social campaigner in the 1980s, his ongo
n the ’ 80s, you gave up your engineering career and began campaigning against child labour and for child rights. You also founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan at this time. So what impelled you to make such a radical career move and become a social activist? A.
Well, the influence of marginalised children was very close to my heart from my own childhood and my concern grew up gradually. So, that was a kind of an inner call or just that I realised that I am not going to do justice with my passion. And I decided to give up my career. It was not just one single incident, but was a gradual growth of this concern. Like every family, my parents also had some expectations and aspirations from me and when they found that I was good in studies, they wanted me to become an engineer. So I was enrolled in an engineering college and I passed out from there and started teaching in a university.
I trace back the roots of my concern, though, to my own childhood. It was my first day at school. I was fiveand- a-half years old. And I saw a cobbler boy sitting outside my school gate. And he was looking at us expectantly, hoping we’ll ask him to polish our shoes, but we all were wearing new shoes. And I could not understand why this child was not a part our classroom like other children. So, I asked my teacher; asked my family and friends — and most of them tried to convince me that it is not an uncommon practice as poor children have to work to help their families and so on. One day, I gathered some courage and directly spoke to the father of the boy. The boy was of my age. The father was shocked at this question and he said, “Babuji maine kabhi socha nahi [Sir, I have never thought about it]. My grandfather, then my father and I, started doing the same thing since childhood; and now my son.” Then he said that “Babuji aapko pata nahin hum kaam karne k liye hi paida hote hain! [Sir, don’t you know we’re born only to work].” So, there was hopelessness and haplessness both. It was difficult for me to understand this. But I was angry that people are saying something else and for this cobbler, he and his son are non-existent in society and are born to work. In later years, I tried to collect money to help poor children and collected old books from schools for them, and it went on. Until one day, I decided to go for it full-time.
Q. How do you identify areas or sectors where exploitative child labour might be rampant? A.
We know that most of these children work in unorganised sectors. 60% of the children work in agricultural sector alone, and the rest of them work in sectors like brick kilns, stone quarries, small-scale industries in urban setups; then as domestic child labour and on streets, working in dhabas, and some are thrown into prostitution. Some are in carpet-making, bangle-making and so on. These are the areas. Normally, parents who complain to us are those whose children are kidnapped or lured away on the basis of some false promises. And the children are not earning anything or sending any money back home. So it’s through parents or relatives that we come to know about such areas.
Q. Do you think education is enough to curb child labour and what kind of change do we need in our education system to be able to solve this problem? A.
Not really. Although education is really important, perhaps the most important is taking preventive measures. If children are enrolled in schools and receive good quality education or free education and are in child- friendly environments, then a large number of them would not enter the job market. So education is key. If every village has good