NRIs MUST HELP END CHILD LABOUR SAYS CHARITY
(20 November 2006)

Shoe polishing on the streets in India is often done by children. Image by Lalit Nagpaul.

India has more child labourers than any other country in the world - with most analysts putting the figure somewhere between 75 and 90 million. Children often working long hours in hazardous sectors such as litter picking, leather processing or construction. Indian charity, the Child In Need Institute (CINI) is calling on all NRIs (Non Resident Indians) to play a leading role in helping to eradicate child labour by ensuring rigorous supply chain monitoring and with financial support for the charity's street children programme.

Working with GOPIO (the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin) the charity hopes that the success of the British Asian community can be harnessed to ensure that adequate educational support is made available to India 's most disadvantaged communities, so that they can be provided with a viable alternative to sending their children to work.

The project manager of the charity's education programme, Mr Partha Roy said, "The help we need is two fold. Firstly we need NRI businessmen and women sourcing goods or services from India to ensure that their suppliers are not using child labourers. Secondly, we need financial support for our street child programme to make sure that these young people living in slums, squatter colonies, railway platforms and red light areas receive the support they need to get into full time education."

Poorer families often get drawn into the quick-fix solution of encouraging their young children to take on paid employment. However, this just perpetuates a cycle of disadvantage. CINI is encouraging parents to see education as a longer term investment. A longer period in education, and in particular good literacy, has been shown to result in improvements in children's health, nutrition, self-esteem and future employment options. Educated children are ultimately less of a burden in terms of the cost of medical care, better behaved, and better able to take on more skilled and more highly paid work once they have graduated from school.

Because of the exploitative low wages usually paid to children, the provision of one or two nutritious meals a day at the charity's education camps is often enough to compensate for the drop in immediate income. Mr Dai Jones, recent winner of London's Teacher of the Year award, who has just returned from a visit to CINI's educational projects said "What I found were well organised educational services, with a real sense of awareness of modern views and teaching strategies. I felt that these centres were helping to form well rounded individuals who will potentially be able to play an important role in improving the communities in which they have grown up.?"

Sponsoring a Street Child costs £3 per month for two years, or £72 for a one-off donation. To find out more about the charity's work with child labourers or to discuss other ways in which you can support the campaign, please email info@ciniuk.org or call 020 7358 0309. For further information about the charity's wider work see www.ciniuk.org

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