10 million children in India forced to work
10 million children aged five to fourteen are currently working in India. This situation affects their physical, mental and emotional well-being. Children in rural areas are more vulnerable than children of the same age in cities. The situation is even worse for the children of indigenous tribes and castes. The vulnerability and deprivation progresses geometrically for girl children as they are at risk of being married well below the legal age of marriage. In many cases they become child labourers, especially in domestic work, face abuse or are even trafficked in rare cases.
All these children, rescued from various industries like weaving, brick kiln units, rice mills, stone quarries, automobile repair shops and those dropped out of school due to migration, are found to be far behind their physical age in terms of development, schooling as well as learning capacity. They are not only deprived of education, but also lose precious years of their childhood.
The obvious choice of putting the child labourers straight into the traditional educational cycle always fails because they can neither sit in a class with children half their age nor be able to keep up with their education in a higher class appropriate for their age. Much more than this, the untold trauma of lost childhood and permanent insecurity are very hard to overcome..
Our solution: the Special Education Centre.
In such a context, the Special Education Centre has proven to be the most appropriate place for such children. It is a holistic approach of education and training, implemented with our local partner Hand in Hand India. It targets children in the age group 6 – 14 years and focuses on offering child labourers tailored educational, physical, mental and emotional support to ultimately reintegrate the children into public schools.
Initially, the project was launched in July 2017 and is already 77% funded.
Already Already 80 children out of work and into school!
The beneficiaries of this Special Training Centre are 80 non resident children.
A life changing project for all children
This is the 8th Rehabilitation Centre opened by our partner Hand in Hand India. The first 7 have demonstrated their success:
- 100% of the children integrated into a public school following their time at the centre;
- Up to 90% of the children finish their secondary education and can therefore continue their studies or attend a vocational training.
Donate now to support the schooling of 80 children
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