Allover the world children are considered an assest of any nation.Even in the countries like India,child education is included in Fandamental Rights.Indian constitution protects child education according to Article 21-A.
India is one of those countries where child labour are in large number.generally, age group 6 to 14 is considered the age of compulsory education.But the large strata of children are child labours and out off education stream.Many international organizations like UNISEF,UNESCO,ILO.World bank,IMF are continuously stressed on the problem of Child labours and their education.
To fight against this social evil,India and U.S. came together on 31th Aug.2002.They agreed to fight against child labour in collaboration.Their agreement is INDUS Project.The responsibility of inplimentation of INDUS is on Govt. of India and ILO on the behalf of U.S.Govt.
ORGANISATION OF THE UNDUS : At initial stage,this project is started in states like.Maharastra,UttarPradesh,Tamilnadu,Madhypradesh and Delhi.Five districts from each states are selected for the project.
At district level.Collector is the head of INDUS.Under his chairmanship a committee NCLP is formed.
TARGET GROUP AND METHOD OF IMPLEMENTATION : INDUS is basically a pilot project.At initial stage,survey is conducted to find out the exact number of child labours in that particular district.NGO''s are widely participited in survey.Lator on a planned strategy is dicided.
----1000 child labours from the age group 5 to 8 are admitted in the school through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
-----2000 C.L.from the age group 9 to 13 should be enroled in transition schools and pre-vocational training centres.
-----1000 C.L. from age group 14 to 17 should be selected for vocational yraining and provide stipend to them.
-----In order to increase the income of their parents,form small seving groups as much as possible.
In this way,nearabout 4000 baneficiaries are selected through the survey.
OBJECTIVES OF INDUS :
+ To find out C.L.working in hazardous establishment
+ Create social force against this method.
+ Provode needbase educationto child labours.
+ More emphasis should be on practical work and not theory.
+ Provide aditional income sources to the parents of child labours.
+ Special knowledge management system should be developed for C.L.
During last 3-4 years,INDUS has seriously improved the level of C.L. and their parents.Trainings from grassroot level to officials created atmosphere against C.L system.Still huge number of C.L.''s are out of schools and struggling life on the road.
Only a project like INDUS is not sufficient to eradicate this evil.But sustainable social force is very essential.Every responsible citizen must treat C.L. like their own kids.Because,when we say that children are the hope of future,should not negelect these CHILD LABOURS !