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Back to school?

23/ 8/2007

While children in Britain are preparing to go back to school, an estimated 80 million children in India will not have this option according to a report published by Indian children's charity the Child In Need Institute (CINI).

Children stuck in desperate circumstances are forced to take menial jobs from sorting litter, to working in industries making consumer goods destined for the British market, including leather items and plastic flip flops according to the reports which marks to mark the beginning of Child Labour Awareness Week.

.Many are children are working in hazardous conditions for very long hours for as little as £2.50 a month.

The continued use of children as domestic servants is highlighted in the report as a particularly serious area of concern.

Dr Chaudhuri, the founder of CINI, said: "I know of lots of middle class families in India which have taken in children, often as young as 7 or 8 to help with the washing, ironing and childcare. They feel they are doing the child and his or her family a favour, providing them with somewhere to stay, food and a small income.

"We obviously still need to get across the point that if children from poor families are going to get the skills they need to lift themselves out of poverty, they need to be studying not working" he added.

The CINI founder is ambivalent when commenting on the Indian government's role in trying to ensure education for all children. He says: "The Indian government has brought in an impressive array of legislation on this issue, including laws made last October banning children from working as domestic servants, but we need to hold them to account for implementing these laws."

Disagreeing vehemently with the idea of work being the only option for children born into abject poverty, Dr Chaudhuri says the failure to provide them with a stable life and a secure future lies with society – and its failures to look into their cause. He says: "Working children are being deprived of their childhoods - and it is important that we all take responsibility for helping them get educated, rather than taking the easy route out by pretending the situation is hopeless. We hope that Child Labour Awareness Week will help bring the issue of child labour to the forefront of people's minds and get them thinking about practical support that they could give to organisations that are working to ensure every child gets the benefit of an education."

"To date, CINI has helped more than 10,000 child labourers go back to school, or get registered at school for the first time in their lives – so we know that by motivating parents and children, providing good quality teaching and supplying two nutritious meals a day at education centres, it is possible to give children the start they need to reach their potential as productive young men and women."

To find out more about CINI's work with child labourers and how you can help support the charity's campaign for Child Labour Awareness Week, see www.ciniuk.org