Help provide formal school education for child labourers

Child labour is on the rise due to poverty, inequality, illiteracy, parental apathy and lack of government policies which makes families desperate for whatever meagre salary a child can obtain. According to statistics, 62% of child labour is stimulated by parents of impoverished families. India has the highest number of child labourers in the world, a 12.4 million and the state of Telangana has 0.60 million working children. Ranga Reddy District has 47170 children employed. In urban RR District, Telangana, just three municipalities Balanagar, Serilingampally and Qutbullapur employ 8965 children as per our survey. This number however does not include domestic child workers. If domestic children are included this number will be more than double as per an unofficial estimate.

Chord follows a rehabilitation process to turn these child labourers into productive citizens of society. To begin with, we conduct survey to identify the areas where child labourers are abundant followed by rescuing and motivating them about the importance of education. We focus on remedial classes for these children along with teacher recruitment, training and curriculum development. By encouraging them to participate in extracurricular activities, we transform their personalities completely. All our efforts bear fruit when we are able to mainstream them. To get them successfully enrolled in formal schools is our ultimate motive.

The benefits arising out of our program covers not only the children but also their families and the society as a whole. We produce 420 first generation literates every year. These children are motivated to pursue high school education. This plays an immense role in curbing trafficking of children into bonded labour /domestic labour and flesh trade. It also provides dignity and identity to socially oppressed and under privileged children. Ultimately, the community is sensitized about the importance of formal education.