Call to end child labour in Telangana State

Bagh Lingampally: State convener of Sadhana Foundation and RTE Forum CH Murali Mohan jointly conducted a meeting with the presence of many NGO foundations on the World Day against Child Labor in Sundarayya Vigyana Kendram here on Wednesday. They held discussions on the ways to be adopted to prevent children from being used as workers in various private companies like brick manufacturing units and hotels.

Speaking on the occasion, Murali Mohan said, "According to the government statistical figures, there was no child labour in Telangana, but we can see child labour working at every signal corner in Hyderabad. The major reason in the difference between the official figures and the reality is the large number of dropouts in schools. The percentage of regular students going to schools is 48%, which indicates that the rest 52% is joining and dropping out."

Furthermore, he added, "Many governments are getting changed, but there is no change in the position, which exhibits the weakness in the enforcement of the actions."

In his speech, Prakash from MU Foundation said, "As per the 2011 statistical figures, there were 21,647 child laborers in Telangana State, but the fact is that there are nearly 2 lakh children forced to work in the state. We are moving towards a digital world, but still we are unable to bring our children to schools." Furthermore, he said that as there is no opposition to express our problem, people should question.

Anuradha from 'Rainbow Foundation,' Ranganathan from 'Save the Children Foundation,' Vara Prasad from 'Action Aid Foundation', J Pratap from 'Janavani Foundation' were present on the occasion.