Project Description
The objective of the Child labor reduction project is to address the problem of child labor in Indian’s brick-making industry. There are over 100 000 million brick kilns in India. Between 65 and 80 of the 23 million workers in the industry are children below 14 years old (Bhukuth & Ballet, 2019).The National Child Labour Project (NCLP) has helped over 3600 children from being exploited in the work environment. It was founded in 1988 and is supported by the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF). The organization helps child workers to get back to school. NCLP targets children working in factories, including brick-kilns. The NCLP provides special schools for children who may feel out of place in regular schools. It also advocates against child labor. The objective of the NCLP is to eliminate all forms of child labour by withdrawing all children engaged in child labor from the area it targets.
Interventions
Vocational Training
Vocational training is one the most effective way of dealing with the problem of child labor. Children who are rescued from Brick kilns are sent to vocational training centers where they can get an education and the skills necessary to make a living. Children who are skilled are likely to get better employment when they leave school.
Education
NCLP is has deployed interventions that help to boost children’s enrolment in school. An estimated 32 million underprivileged children in India do not go to school (Subramanian, 2018). The quality of education provided to the children is poor. India needs to improve the quality of education in poor income communities (Subramanian, 2018). The NCLP has invested in the infrastructure to ensure that children have access to adequate classrooms and toilets. The joyous learning program incorporates extra-curricular activities in order to make school exciting for children. Teachers at the program deploy child-friendly and interactive teaching-learning methods. NCLP hopes that the attractive education system will become attractive to more underprivileged children.
Creating Awareness
NCLP also runs awareness campaigns that help to educate parents on the perils of child labor. Most parents are not aware that child labor perpetuates cycles of poverty in a family. The awareness campaigns help to convey the importance of education in improving the wellbeing of the family. Communities that are well-informed are more likely to resist child labor. The campaigns organized by the NCLP also educate parents on the perils of taking loans from kiln owners who use debts to enslave entire families.
Impact
The project has helped in the fight against child labor in India. The special schools provided by the NCLP have played a central role in changing the lives of children who are rescued from brick-kilns. The NCLP targets specific areas and has a community impact. So far, it has helped over 500 communities by taking away all children under 14 from Child labor.
The project has improved the quality of life of the children it rescues from child labor. It has also helped to address law enforcement gaps in the protection of children. Moreover, the project has reduced the practice of child employment in brick kilns in the areas it has targeted. The project has improved the school environment of underprivileged children in India.
Results
NCLP’s interventions have ensured lower rates of child labor in brick kilns in India. The project has ensured that 3600 children from poor backgrounds have re-enrolled in school after working in child labor. The output of the awareness campaign has been to help underprivileged parents to understand the long-term impact of letting their children work in brick kilns. Finally, the project has improved the health and well-being of underprivileged children by protecting their rights and preventing child exploitation and abuse.
- Bajpai, A. (2018). Child rights in India: Law, policy, and practice. Oxford University Press.
- Bhukuth, A., & Ballet, J. (2019). Family Strategies for Children Working in the Brick Kiln Industry: The Case of Southeast India. In Child Exploitation in the Global South (pp. 37-50). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
- Srivastava, Radhika. (2019). India: Project helps child labourers return to school. Available at https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_27167.html
- Subramanian, V. K. (2018). From government to governance: Teach for India and new networks of reform in school education. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 15(1), 21-50.