Govt must check girls’ school dropout rate

At the state-level Consultation on Abolition of Child Labour and Attainment of Children's Right to Education, Yogendra Mathur, Chief, Unicef, Gujarat state, presented a brief report on the status of children in Gujarat and their rights. He spoke to DNA about the key points the state and non-governmental organisations involved with kids should consider and implement.

Have the 'Beti Bachao Andolan' and other regulatory measures helped save the girl child?
I am glad to say that the impact of joint efforts of the government and many NGOs has been positive. In India, the death rate among girl child in the age group of 1-5 years is 50 per cent more than boys. According to the 2001 census, Gujarat had 883 girls less than six years old for every 1000 boys. However, after the initiation of 'Beti Bachao Andolan' and implementation of girl child schemes, the girl child ratio seems to be on a positive track. But we will get a definite figure only in the next census. Efforts are being made to help the girl child in every possible way.

What are the areas of concern in terms of helping children in Gujarat?
The government of Gujarat and many NGOs are working to save the girl child, take action to prevent exploitation of children, check infant mortality, encourage literacy and thus ensure overall development of the child. The 'Nirogi bal varsh' celebrated this year has helped focus on complete development of a child.

What according to you should overall development include?
Overall development of a child includes the child's health, education and emotional development. Gujarat's economy is on a roll, but according to Unicef, Gujarat ranks 6th among 15 major states of the country in human development.

So, the two other factors of human development, health and literacy of the future of tomorrow are our main concern as children form 36 per cent of Gujarat's population. Incidentally, human development depends on three factors: expectation of life, literacy and economy.

What measures have been taken to abolish child labour?
To abolish child labour, all of us - the government, NGOs and the common man - have to strive together. Education is important and the Gujarat government and local NGOs are working to provide it.

We have a good ratio of children enrolling in schools; however the ratio of dropouts in Gujarat is high - 63 per cent students leave school between class 8 and class 12 (Census 2001). We also need a shift in employment strategies, like an unemployed villager should get the job at a tea stall where a kid has been employed to do the odd jobs.

We have a law to prevent child labour. However, we need serious measures to implement it, and for this everyone's cooperation is needed.