Delhi government to monitor rescued former child labourers in schools
NEWDELHI: To help adapt children rescued from the labour system into the formal education system, the Centre’s Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) branch in Delhi has formulated new guidelines under which its members will be working with the state’s labour department and monitoring these children monthly.
In a circular issued on Friday, Mohinder Pal, deputy director of education, SSA, said that as a part of the new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), their District Urban Resource Centre Coordinators (DURCC) will now be included in the Delhi’s labour department’s district task forces (DTF) set up to rescue children working as labour in all districts of the city. The DURCCS are experienced teachers or retired principals or education officers working with the SSA department.
These DURCCS will work with the labour department’s team and provide monthly records of rescued children to the SSA branch in Delhi. Based on the list, the members of the SSA, along with members of their local school management committees will visit them. “They will visit the parents/guardians of the rescued child and counsel them to get the child enrolled in a school for his/her future prospects,” the circular stated.
If required, the rescued child could be shifted to a special training centre that provides training to out-of-school children. “It is to ensure that the child is not pulled out of the school and pushed again into labour,” Pal said.
The DURCCS will compile reports from their respective districts and send them to the SSA branch. “The process will help the SSA branch collect regular data on the rescued children and ensure the proper implementation of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,1986 and Rights to Education Act in the city,” an official at SSA Delhi said.
In January, the Delhi Commission for Protection for Child Rights (DCPCR) released data showing that over 70,000 children were identified to be living on the streets. Of them, many were rescued from bonded labour.
Sanjay Gupta of NGO Chetna, who works for child rights, said, “It will make a positive impact if members of the SSA are part of the labour department team and monitor these children after helping them adapt to regular schools. Presently, the system lacks monitoring.”