EDUCATION

Background

About 13 million children in the 6-13 age group in India are out of school. In Tamil Nadu alone, about 13% of children enrolled in Class I do not reach Class V. The poor quality of education is one problem, but child labour is the other big issue. Children are employed in industries like beedi (local cigarette) making, silk weaving, and textiles, as bonded labour, and as household help.

Hand in Hand considers all children out of school as being engaged in labour. Our aim is to eliminate child labour and get children back into school; to uphold child rights; and to facilitate children’s higher education and vocational training.

Strategy

We have various programmes to tackle the problem of child labour and education at various levels. All work is done in close coordination with the government and we do not create parallel structures. The government-run Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, or Universal Education Programme, has recognised our work and given a grant. Our programmes reach children who have never been in school, who have dropped out of school for six months to a year; and adolescents who have failed the Class X school leaving examination, and therefore dropped out.

We run residential schools, transit schools, and evening tuition centres. We also work for awareness creation, community participation through Child Right Protection Committees, and for renovation of government-run schools and day-care centres. We also help communities appoint trained teachers to the government schools, and encourage them to use new learning aids.