State Govt taking measures to end child labour in districts

The Bangla Government has announced its plans for providing educational and vocational training to children who attend various residential schools in the State. The Labour Department has published a notification for converting one school in each district into a residential school.

Residential schools have already been made operational in the districts of Uttar Dinajpur, Nadia, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Bankura and Paschim Medinipur. Many other districts are in the process of opening residential schools to eliminate child labour.

The proposed budgetary allotment made by the Labour Department for the operation of such schools is Rs 53 lakh for the financial year 2019-20. This is much higher than the previous financial year’s budget for the same purpose, which was Rs 35.49 lakh.

The Labour Department is in the process of regulating the working conditions of adolescents with respect to the type of work in order to prohibit children below 14 years from working in any hazardous job and maintain surveillance on the deployment of child labourers in hazardous industries. This is according to the provisions of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2016.

Source: Millennium Post