School children protest against child labour

DHARAMSALA - Tibetans living in exile and school children staged a protest march here on Friday against child labour.

The march that was organized by a voluntary organization called ‘Human Steps’ was held a day ahead of the World Day against Child Labour on Saturday.

The organizers said the main motive behind the march was to raise awareness among the people to stop the habit of making children do manual labour at an early age.

“Tibetan and Indian schools are joining us in the march against child labour because tomorrow we celebrate World Child Labour Day and we want to raise awareness on this day because still it’s a big issue, not just in our communities, or India, but worldwide and doesn’t get enough attention, still,” said Henniger, the organizer.

“It’s a kind of habit taking children from the streets and performing labour. We want to make people aware of this and encourage them to stop this habit, and give these kids a chance to join school,” he added.

According to Government data, over 12 million children below 14-years of age work as domestic servants, or in other laborious jobs, such as in stone quarries, embroidery units, mines, carpet-weaving units, tea stalls, restaurants and hotels.

The law, according to which violators face a jail term of up to two years and a maximum fine of Rs 20,000 is an extension of a previous ban dating from 1986, which prohibited children from working in jobs deemed ‘too hazardous’ for minors, such as in factories, quarries and mines. (ANI)