'300 schools shut after Centre halts NCLP' Move pushed volunteers, supervisors of these schools to an uncertain future

MP | 22 Nov 2022 | KOLKATA: State Labour minister Moloy Ghatak hit out at the Centre for its decision to stop the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), leading to the closure of 300 NCLP schools in the state which had pushed the volunteers and supervisors associated with these schools to an uncertain future. 

The Ministry of Labour and Employment vide a notification on March 14, 2022, had merged the NCLP project with the Samagra Siksha Mission. The NCLP project started in 1988. 

"The rehabilitated working children associated with these 300 schools have been incorporated under Samagra Siksha Mission (SSM). But the 3000 odd volunteers (teachers) of these schools along with 56 supervisors have been pushed to a bleak future with the central order stating clearly about their non-inclusion in SSM. 

The department's Principal Secretary on June 27 has written to the concerned official of the ministry urging the inclusion of the volunteers and supervisors , but there has been no response from the centre as yet,"Ghatak said during a query related to child labour by Trinamool Congress MLA Apurba Sarkar at the state Assembly on Monday. Each of the 300 schools had 10 volunteers on average. 

Ghatak reiterated that the number of child labourers in Bengal is much less than the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra. 

As per 2011 census data, the number of child labourers in Bengal was 2,34275 while UP, Gujarat and Maharashtra had 896301, 250318 and 496916 respectively. 

The number of children rescued after inspection related to curbing of child labour was only 6 in Bengal in the year 2021, Ghatak said. In reply to a query from BJP legislator Bishnu Prasad Sharma of Kurseong regarding the alleged sale of 10 tea gardens belonging to a particular group, Ghatak said that all legislations associated with tea gardens are central. 

"We have been organising meetings from time to time to ensure that the workers of the tea gardens get their wages. 50 per cent of their bonus has already been cleared," he added. 

 http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/300-schools-shut-after-centre-halts-nclp-499902