Department of labour will focus on rehabilitation of children employed at various places and provide them mainstream education.
The department of labour is all set for a makeover of its control room and helpline. As part of its initiative to completely eradicate child labour, the control room will soon start functioning 24x7.
The department, in association with the Bangalore urban and rural district administration, organised World Anti-Child Labour Day at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
Minister for labour and sericulture BN Bachche Gowda inaugurated the event and also flagged off a walk, which followed the programme, from the Gandhi statue on MG Road to Kanteerava Stadium.
The minister, along with the officials and representatives from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who gathered at the function, pledged not to employ children as domestic workers and voice against the menace. They also vowed to educate children who work as child labourers.
Speaking about the initiatives of the labour department, Gowda said, “For the academic year 2011-12, about 57 special schools have come up for child labourers and there are more to come in the near future. The labour department will also keep a check on school dropouts taking to child labour.”
He said the department was focused on eradicating child labour completely from the state. It was targeting to rehabilitate into education the children working at various sweet stalls and other small shops, said Gowda.
“Though we have a control room number to help people report the instances of child labour, it works only for five hours and doesn’t work on Sundays. We are planning to make it functional for 24 hours and seven days a week,” said Gowda.
The control room number is 2245-3547.
Sources said that the five-year initiative to eradicate child labour completely by 2012 will be extended by another five years to 2017.
The department also distributed bags to a few rescued children who have been going to school now.
Over 50 government schools from Bangalore Urban and Rural participated in the function. Over 3,000 students participated along with self-help groups and NGOs.
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