Observation of World Day Against Child Labour, 2021: Act now to end child labour (!)

Bureau,Odishabarta

Berhampur:PREM (People’s Rural Education Movement) in association with Educo, an international organisation organised a District level webinar on the eve of World Day Against Child Labor, on 12th June, 2021, The webinar focused on child labor, its causes, effects and solutions. The webinar was attended by 145 participants from various institutions, who are working on child care and protect.

The webinar was panelled by Dr. Jacob Thundyil, President of the PREM organisation, Mr. Ashish Nagori, Project Specialist Child Rights and Governance of Educo, Mr. Sukant Behera, Representative from Educo and various officials of Kandhamal district such as Mrs. Subhadarsini Nayak, District Child Labor Officer in-charge, Kandhamal, Mrs. Rashmita Karan, District Child Protection Officer, Mr. Ashok Kumar Behera, Chirperson,Child Welfare Committee Kandhamal, Mr. Rabindra Kumar Panda, District Childline Director, Kandhamal, and Ms. Sushma Pradhan (10th Class Student), Petarabadi Village, Paratamah GP, Kandhamal.

The workshop was chaired by Dr. Jacob Thundyil, President, PREM.  In his speech he stressed on the importance of education and its role to stop child labour in the society.

Mr. Ashish Nagori-Educo in his speech explained the context and background of state-level, national-level children problems with statistics in a very beautiful way.

Mr. Sukanta Behera-Educo also provided a clear idea of Educo’s goals and objectives, and its work in India particularly in Odisha. He also briefed “In the future, how we will work together to improve the quality of life for our children to protect their rights”.

Ms. Sushma Pradhan, as the Child Protection Ambassador, presented her experience of the problems of children in her area, how children are working as laborers at an early age, child marriage is the result of which they are losing their childhood. She requested all the govt officials to create awareness at the village level and government intervention. She encouraged  all the stakeholders to take initiatives to work for the protection of rights of the children at grassroot level.

Ms. Shubhadarshini Nayak, District Labor Officer in charge, Kandhamal in her session briefed on the various processes, steps and legal provisions to stop the problem of child labor at the government level, to protect them and to solve the problem.

Similarly, Mrs. Rashmita Karan, DCPO, Kandhamal, in her speech, explained how Children are the most vulnerable in the current Corona pandemic. And she advised everyone to engage the children in various creative activities. She also explained in detail the various government programs, schemes for the rescue and rehabilitation of child labor, and how all stakeholders have a responsibility to do so.

Mr. Ashok Kumar Behera, Chairperson of CWC, Kandhamal presented the role of CWC and explained in a very beautiful way how education can keep children away from becoming child laborers.

In his speech, Mr. Rabindra Kumar Panda, Chairprson, Child Line highlighted the Child Line and its role in child protection and how child labour can be prevented with the help of Child Line.

The question and answer session was followed by a presentation in which the participants raised their questions to our guests and received satisfactory answers.

Then Mr. Sudhir Kumar Digal, Program Manager PREM, presented how the program in Kandhamal district, will go forward working with all the stakeholders, line departments etc. The webinar was attended by various private organizations, panchayat representatives, project workers and other responsible officials of Kandhamal district who successfully implemented the program. At the end Ms. Himani Dash, Training Coordinator, PREM extended vote of thanks to everyone in the webinar.

This webinar was a success and was very informative. The participants came up with a number of ideas about different laws and schemes to ensure their rights for children, which of course can help children with their life skills careers.