Ratnapura takes steps to eradicate child labour by 2016, ensuring all children attend school

Wednesday, 18 December 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

To add muscle to District Secretary Sunil Kannangara’s vision of making Ratnapura District a child labour free zone by 2016, a collective effort by the district’s administration comprising district labour officials, provincial education authorities, Department of Probation and Child Care Services, Police and youth parliamentarians supported by the International Labour Organization (ILO), was launched recently in Ratnapura. Under the theme ‘Children must be in school’ the campaign seeks to address the issues pertaining to children’s accessibility to schools while advocating and putting pressure on all stakeholder groups to ensure that children attend school. The cause for alarm arose when Government and ILO statistics revealed that the number of children engaged in child labour in the Ratnapura District is around 4,000.

Research showed that the main reasons why children were taking on employment early in life and dropping out of school was due to the irrelevance they saw in education as a means of enhancing their employability. Entrenched attitudes of parents and lack of will to encourage, was also cited as reasons, with poverty being more an excuse; although it was revealed by some parents who really wanted their children to attend school that given the distance and inaccessibility, sometimes a daily commute would cost around Rs. 120 for a six km trek, making the school going effort unsustainable in the long term. Making children accountable for their future was a first in a series of several workshops, conducted at Sri Krishna Tamil Maha Vidyalaya in Kahawatte. Kahawatte was chosen for piloting the campaign due to its very high incidence of child labour and school drop-out. Students within the age of 12-16 years were urged and shown reasons of the importance of education. The workshop had role plays and other activities which got the children thinking of the vital role education plays in their lives. This half-day session had discussion and interactive activities carried out by Rosemary Fernando, Child Protection and Recovery Officer (CPRO), W.G.R Kumarasiri, Child Probation Officer of Ratnapura, youth parliamentarians Dhammika Prasad, Shehara Fernando and Amila Rajapaksa, as speakers, role models and mentors, who helped the students understand the true value they gain by completing their education. Principal of Sri Krishna Tamil Maha Vidyalaya, Don Bosco, in his opening address to the children urged the audience to persuade their friends who have dropped out to return to school. He emphasised on the importance of learning and having fun without the burden of labour. “Children must be in school” was reiterated by Fernando and W.G.R Kumarasiri, District Child Probation Officer. They both emphasised the positive aspects that help develop a child if they remain in school. Dhammika Prasad, Youth Parliamentarian from Gilimale, who participated as a role model of the area said: “A child today cannot develop to be a responsible and productive member of tomorrow’s society, unless they have some basic education.” The sessions drew attention to the fact that child labour is indeed unlawful and that education of children within the school going years is a child’s right which cannot be violated. Awareness was generated among the children on the 51 occupations that no child should engage in and further taught the hazardous occupations which have zero tolerance legally, while being socially and physically harmful to them. Ratnapura District will see the replication of this youth workshop in all their other 570 plus schools before the end of 2016. Other stakeholders such as parents, education authorities, law enforcement officers, business leaders, media and the district administration will all play a vital role to ensure that due pressure is asserted all round to ensure that Ratnapura becomes a child free labour area with priority given not only to ensuring that children attend school but to make schools easily accessible as well. Additionally, regular youth camps, media briefings, discussion and interactions with business leaders will be part of the advocacy roll-out.