Untitled - Terre des Hommes

employees and, at least the occasional raid that seems to have had some impact. Certain sectors, such
as match and bidi production, have seen a shift to home-based production, which is much more
difficult to regulate, in response to the child labour laws. In the factories that still employ children, a
common story is one where the owner receives a warning from a community member about an
upcoming inspection, leaving him enough time to send the children home and thus avoid any
consequences of violating the labour laws.
Due to the fact that many children’s births are not officially registered, the age of children who work
in contravention of the labour laws needs to be proven by a medical procedure, which amounts to
checking the development of the collarbone, as it closes around this age. There are many pending
cases of violations of child labour laws where the authorities are having difficulties proving that a
child is under the age of fourteen.
The Goa Children’s Act has introduced greater protection measures for children; taking an unrelated
child into a hotel is no longer allowed, so everyone must show ID when checking-in and background
checks are done on people who want to set up children’s homes or charities 101 . Reasons for the weak
implementation of the comprehensive children’s act were identified as a lack of awareness about the
act’s provisions and a lack of political will 102 .
Education
In addressing child labour, the government of India has initiated a number of programmes focused
on education. The National Child Labour Project (NCLP) runs special non-residential schools for
children removed from work. These children are provided formal and non-formal education along
with vocational training, a stipend, nutritional supplements and regular health check-ups, so as to
prepare them to join regular mainstream schools (From: NCLP website
labour.nic.in/cwl/ChildLabour.htm). These schools are generally run by NGOs active in
corresponding districts. This initiative has been criticized for the low participation rates of girls and,
due to its non-residential nature, for only being able to service children who live close to the school.
The government has been criticized for not taking this initiative seriously and for a lack of proper
supervision or careful selection of the NGOs chosen to manage the schools; this is leading to a low
quality of education in NCLP schools.
The State Child Labour Programmes identify child labourers and admit them into residential bridge
schools, aimed at mainstreaming the children into the formal education system. These programmes
have also targeted the families of potential child labourers, aiming to improve their socio-economic
position. Compared to the NCLP, this is a capital-intensive programme, with a high-monetary output
per child. It has been criticized for not focusing exclusively on child labourers, but rather on all outof-school
children and hence overlooking regions where child labour is a pressing issue. Again, the
low participation of girls is a problem.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) programme is a major initiative, started by the
government of India in 2000, which aims to achieve universal primary education for six- to fourteenyear
olds nationally by 2010. It is being implemented in partnership with the state governments and
aims to strengthen the capacities and infrastructure of existing schools, as well as to open new
schools, improving access to education (From: Education for All websites (ssa.nic.in,
www.educationforallinindia.com/ssa.htm).
101
Ms. Audrey Pinto (Stop Child Abuse Now India)
102
Ms. Albertina Almeida, Ms. Nishtha Desai (Children’s Rights in Goa)
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