CINI UK LAUNCHES CHILD LABOUR AWARNESS WEEK
(16 August 2007)

While children in Britain prepare to return to school as summer draws to a close, millions of children in the city slums of India will be labouring long hours in arduous and often dangerous jobs or conditions. To highlight the struggles faced by such children, CINI UK is launching its first Child Labour Awareness Week on 20th August 2007. It aims to raise awareness and funds for projects providing basic educational services to child labourers, street children and the children of sex workers, who live in some of India's poorest communities where families must survive on less than £25 a month.

The charity's major priority is to get children away from the world of work and into full-time education, so breaking down the generational cycle of poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and ill-health. Once children are back in the classroom, work continues to ensure they can complete their secondary school education, and to encourage parents and communities to value their children's education.

'' Child labour is an issue because it is so pervasive in Indian society,'' explains Veena Lakhumalani, deputy director of CINI ASHA, the charity's urban unit in Kolkata. '' Child labour is seen as a financial necessity for many families even though the Government of India introduced a ban on it. People prefer to employ children because they are cheaper than adults and do not answer back.''

Veena continues: ''Education is key if we are to break this cycle of poverty and exploitation. Without the skills to read and write children grow up ignorant of their rights. When a child is at school they are better protected than if they are out working on the street or in a workshop.

''Although primary education is free in India, families must pay for secondary school, and so by the age of nine or ten many children, especially girls, drop out as their families cannot afford the fees. They are needed at home to help with chores or looking after brothers and sisters.''

It is estimated that India has more child labourers under 14 than in any other country with at least 75 to 80 million. Education is widely viewed as fundamental in overcoming the poverty cycle, with both central and state governments in India intending to bring every child into school. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as CINI also play an important role in taking primary education to children even in the remotest areas. Yet, according to UNICEF, 20% of Indian children aged six to 14 still are not in school.

CINI has over the years helped more than 10,000 children get back into fulltime education. It reaches out to street and railway children using a mix of drop-in centres, night shelters, sick bays and halfway houses. These provide a combination of safe haven, meals, counselling, medical support, recreational activities and basic education. Children from slums, squatter colonies and red light areas are helped to prepare for mainstreaming into day schools at preparatory centres and education camps. Community-run coaching centres and motivation camps aim to support children already attending school and avert them from quitting.

''We work with children in a range of difficult circumstances – those living on their own on the streets, children from slums where there is a high percentage of existing child labour, children from the red light areas and children living in and around Kolkata's two main railway stations,'' Veena explains.

Most Indian street or platform children eke out an existence as rag pickers, street-vendors, and beggars, in prostitution or domestic labour. Veena adds: ''Many have run away from abusive homes or are attracted by the city's bright lights, while some still live with their families who work at the market or station. It's very difficult for a child used to the freedom and independence of being on the street - they have a strong survival instinct and a classroom is too confining for them. We try to help them with food, clothes, shelter, support and basic education.

''In the red light areas, children of sex workers can come to our coaching centres in the evenings when it is usually the busiest time for their mothers. As they have nowhere to do their homework they can come and get support in the safe environment of one our centres. ''

Children from the slums and squatter colonies often work in tanneries or as rag pickers around rubbish tips. Research has also shown many girls, some as young as six, are sent away from home to work as domestic servants in middle-class homes. ''Domestic workers earn next-to-nothing and studies show they are at risk of physical, emotional and sexual abuse,'' Veena explains. ''But all such work can be hazardous. On the rubbish mounds children are sometimes injured or even killed if they slip after climbing to the top with everything tumbling down on them.''

For more information about CINI UK's 'Sponsor a Street Child programme' or other ways to pledge your support, go to CINI UK's website at www.ciniuk.org or contact the charity by emailing info@ciniuk.org or by calling 020 7358 0309.