Hyderabad, February 22: At least 13.60 lakh children aged between 5-14 years are working as child labourers in the state.
Besides, the number of girl child labourers is higher (7,25,456) than that of boys (6,37,883), said Chandana Khan, principal secretary, school education.
She was the chief guest at an exchange visit on ‘child labour free zones and right to education’ organised by M V Foundation here on Monday.
She called upon all NGOs to assist the state government in implementing the Right to Education Act to provide better education to children.
“According to Census 2001, parents of at least 3. 70 lakh children aged between 5-14 years were not willing to send their wards to schools in Mahaboobnagar district which has the highest number of child labourers. In Kurnool district, there are 3.44 lakh students not attending schools,’’ she said.
Chandana Khan said that exchange offers between various NGOs of different countries were an opportunity to strengthen capabilities towards establishing child labour-free zones.
Child labour-free zones are geographical areas where all children are systematically withdrawn from work and integrated into formal, full time schools. “No distinction is made between different forms of child labour in the process because every child has the right to education,’’ she explained.
National convener of MVF, R Venkat Reddy, said the aim of exchange visits was to provide NGOs with a common orientation on the concept of child labour-free zones through extensive field visits and the visits will be an inspiring learning experience for the partners in action.
–Agencies