Context:
The Centre does not have any data on child labour in the country and a reason for this is the drying up of budgetary provisions meant for the National Child Labour Project (NCLP).
Relevance:
GS II- Welfare Schemes
Dimensions of the Article:
- What is Child Labour?
- About National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme
- Objectives of NCLP
What is Child Labour?
- Child labour is the term used to describe the exploitation of children for any type of job that prevents them from having an equal opportunity to receive an education and have a typical childhood.
- The victimised child is then typically employed for physically, socially, and cognitively destructive employment.
- To meet the government’s development goals by 2030, the use of child labour must be ended.
About National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme
- The NCLP Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme .
- Since 1988, the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme has been carried out by the Ministry of Labour and Employment with the goal of rehabilitating child labourers.
- The NCLP rescues or removes children between the ages of 9 and 14 from employment and places them in NCLP Special Training Centers.
- Through strong collaboration with the SarvaShikshaAbhiyan, children between the ages of 5-8 are directly connected to the formal education system.
- A dedicated online portal named PENCiL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) is developed for better monitoring and implementation.
Objectives of NCLP:
- The Scheme seeks to adopt a sequential approach with focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations & processes in the first instance.
- Under the Scheme, survey of child labour engaged in hazardous occupations & processes has been conducted.
- The identified children are to be withdrawn from these occupations & processes and then put into special schools in order to enable them to be mainstreamed into formal schooling system.
- Project Societies at the district level are fully funded for opening up of special schools/Rehabilitation Centres for the rehabilitation of child labour.
The special schools/Rehabilitation Centres provide:
- Non-formal/bridge education
- Skilled/vocational training
- Mid Day Meal
- Stipend @ Rs.150/- per child per month.
- Health care facilities through a doctor appointed for a group of 20 schools.
-Source: The Hindu
