many times i’ve seen these ads and other communications urging us to eradicate child labour….
while i’m all for the eradication of child labour in hazardous environs like cracker industry, matchbox industry and the likes… taking these kids out of the other not so harmful jobs will be disastrous to them, their families and the society in general…
politicians are busy harping about free and fair education upto high school… but if one takes a look at the bloody govt schools around kids would rather not study there… leaking roofs, cramped rooms (sometimes no rooms), no benches, encroached land,etc are commonplace… its not like there’s no money… though there might not be enough money to implement 100% education, the money that is being released is being channeled off illegally by people at every level in the system… starting from a minister to the peon/clerk in the school…
midday meal schemes were introduced to keep the kids in school… but this was also tampered with big time and the groceries that were bought were of low standards… there was more stones and sand in the food than the food itself…
when it comes to the teachers teaching in these schools, the lesser said the better… many of them are there only because it is a ‘government job’… just for the perks… not denying that there are lots of dedicated teachers whose sole aim is the social cause… but there’re only a handful of them… very few schools actually impart education… most of these are those that have been adopted by NGOs or corporates
bottomline is, if children are to be removed from their jobs, there’s a need to have a strong support system before doing so… establish a strong support system which has transparency and is actually free… a system where every penny paid by us towards the ‘education cess’ reaches the purpose it is meant for… a system where teachers are well paid and hence would teach well… a system where teachers themselves are not trying to make a quick buck…
otherwise the results will be disastrous… we’ll see kids on the roads begging, stealing or falling into crooked ways like drugs… we already see lots of kids doing industrial glue on the streets (saw a few in e-city)… any attempt to take kids from their livelihood will make this more rampant and out of hand… alternatively, there can be people (honest ones) who can keep a check on the working conditions of these kids so that they’re not exposed to anti social elements and other hazards… please let the kids earn their living if it is not a hazardous environment… the country is not yet ready to support every kid that will be taken out of his/her job
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