Education to Empower Them…

12 June is World Child Labor Protest Day. The International Labor Organization took the initiative 19 years ago to celebrate this day. The purpose of this day is to end child labor under the age of 14 and give those children their right to education. Many organizations are working nationally and internationally to help children achieve their childhood. Even today, child labor is rampant all over the world, especially in developing countries like India and other backward countries. Although anti-child labor laws have been enacted in these countries, the number of child laborers has not declined significantly. World Anti-Child Labor Day is being celebrated on June 12 to create awareness around the world.

We have to think about the Question of “Why are child laborers created?” At an age when they need to get a good education, these children often have to work hard. A similar incident occurred to me a few months ago. Two students, one was in std. sixth and one was in std. eighth. They lost their father a few years ago, and their mother unable to speak & hear. She lost her job in Covid. Though they are small, the situation at home was in front of them. The rent for the house was exhausted for three months, there was not enough ration in the house, so both of them started working. One would take the tea from the hotel to different shops and the other would clean the building. The money earned from it helped his family a little. One of their teachers told me about this. First of all, all the teachers paid their rent together. Then we took groceries to their house, & then we met the children, saw their progress books. We then decided to take care of those children academically. We are going to help both of them till their SSC & also for further education.

Basically, education helps to break the cycle of poverty. In different villages, while working in tribal areas, one thing we realize is that the parents of the children are not educated, so their income is limited and hence it creates the apathy towards education. As a result of all this, their parents take their children to work instead of sending them to school. There they get money and some food. But basically, this cycle never ends. These children need to get proper education to end this cycle.

These are the things where we are paying special attention to them while working for Chaitanya Social Welfare Foundation. We pay attention to how children get the right education at the right age, how they get a healthy diet, and how they get educational facilities. So that these children can learn properly and understand the importance of education and that is why they will educate their children instead of taking them to work for the next generation. Once this cycle is broken it will only help to reduce child labor.

Dipali Tendulkar

Director – Chaitanya Social Welfare Foundation