Child labour among school going children increased in lockdown period in West Bengal

The lockdown has impacted every body and a survey has discovered that youngster labour among school going children has increased by a sizeable 105 p.c throughout it West Bengal.

The variety of youngster labourers among ladies in the state exceeded these among the boys. While among the women the quantity increased by 113 per cent, among the boys the rise was 94.7 per cent, stated the survey.

The survey was collectively carried out by the West Bengal Right to Education Forum (RTE Forum) and Campaign towards Child Labour(CACL) and printed on Saturday.

As per the speedy evaluation carried out among 2154 children and their households throughout 19 districts of the state, the variety of youngster labour among the school going children belonging to the 6-18 years age group has gone up by 105 per cent in the course of the lockdown period.

“Though the percentage of child labour among school going children has decreased for those in the 6-10 years age group, it has increased both in 10-14 years and 14-18 years age groups,” the examine revealed.

Also reported in the course of the lockdown have been about 42 incidents of kid marriages.

During the lockdown period, which began on March 25, 2020, solely 29 per cent of the children who have been attending faculties (pre-primary to Class XII) may entry on-line schooling help.

The share accessing on-line schooling was discovered to be the bottom among the scholars from the junior lessons. It is 21.5 per cent among the scholars of pre-primary and first stage. The highest in this respect was from among the scholars of senior lessons. The determine was 53.2 per cent among college students belonging to the upper secondary stage, the examine stated.

It was discovered that 54 per cent children utilizing on-line means to proceed their schooling in the course of the period used WhatsApp to attend lessons.

“Around 49.5 per cent of the children surveyed do not have any option to access online education facilities. And 33 per cent of the children do not have access to smartphones or computers at home,” it stated.

Out of the 2154 children surveyed in the 19 districts of West Bengal, 173 have been disabled, the report acknowledged.

“Around 37.5 per cent of school going disabled children are accessing digital or online education support,” the survey stated.

On the standing of kid safety in West Bengal, the report stated 57 per cent of children surveyed have been discovered to have gotten meals thrice a day whereas 17 per cent of them have been surviving on both one or two meals every day.

“Around 10 per cent of the children belonging to the age group of 2-6 years old are not receiving supplementary nutrition from the Anganwadi centers during the lockdown. And 40 per cent of school students from classes I to VIII are not receiving mid-day meals from their schools,” the examine stated.

It has been discovered that 11 per cent of the children who fell sick throughout this lockdown period couldn’t entry any medical therapy.

Since the start of the lockdown in West Bengal solely 3.06 per cent of the children coated in the evaluation had obtained their immunisation photographs and drugs.

“Only 8.8 per cent of the families surveyed had access to all items to protect them from COVID 19 soap, sanitizer, gloves and masks,” the survey stated.