Dimapur, June 12 (MExN): In a concerted effort to address the issue of child labour or workers in Dimapur, the Dimapur-based NGO, Prodigals’ Home, has registered 50 students in the non-formal school run by the organization. This initiative for child laborers has been enabled under the newly-implemented National Child Labour Project (NCLP).
Among the many children who have been receiving education is Suraj Das, a 12 year old boy who works in a garage. On World Day against Child Labour, Suraj shared his story.
“I could not go to school as my parents could not provide for my schooling and asked me to start earning to supplement our family’s income”, the shy but experienced auto garage worker quipped when queried why he dropped out of school. There are a significant number of invisible Surajs in the fast-growing commercial hub of Nagaland. But callous to the plight of these child labors, Dimapur continues to grow and in its wake, force children to cope and ‘grow up’ prematurely or face starvation. Suraj dropped out of school after class 2 as his parents could not meet the costs of his education. Straight out of school, he was forced to work in a garage and began with meager earnings of Rs. 5 to Rs.10 a day. That was two years ago. He is now 12 years old and earns, in his words, “enough”.
He is paid a fixed salary of Rs. 900 a month which he hands over to his mother. “I don’t know how much my father earns because he is a daily wage laborer and spends most of his time and money on drinks”. Fortunately, his mother is employed in a ‘plastic factory’ and earns Rs. 1, 500 a month.
But many like Suraj who are enrolled in non-formal schooling are irregular in attendance. With school timings being from 8 am till 10 am on weekdays, several garage managers say that it interferes with the children’s working hours. “I work from 8 am till 5 pm and sometimes beyond. I get an hour’s rest during lunch hour”, Suraj said.
NCLP caters to children under the age of 14 working in garages, rag pickers and those who do not attend school or are without any economic engagements at home. Prodigals’ Home is one among the 20 NCLP schools being run in Dimapur by various NGOs and institutions. And as the brief moment of the day to commemorate their existence is over, Suraj Das join other children and becomes just another ‘child labor’ as he struts off to work.
A victim of circumstances, the echoes of his aspiration to become an expert in ‘computer’ might just remain a distant dream as the vicious cycle of poverty slowly engulfs his dreams and aspirations of many others like him in similar or worse situation.
