UP Labour Dept, in collaboration with UNICEF, educating 26,933 working children

New Delhi: To make Uttar Pradesh child labour free, under the Naya Savera Yojana implemented by the Labour Department in collaboration with the Unicef, as many as 26,933 working children have been provided education as well as vocational training in the span of four-and-a-half-years.

In order to curb the practice of child labour, the government has been engaged in improving the living standards of children working as labourers, providing support to their families. Lives of children employed in hotels, factories, shops and homes in panchayats and urban local bodies have been transformed as they are not only helping their families but also are being connected to the mainstream society by receiving education.

To identify children engaged in child labour and act effectively to provide them education, the labour department implemented Naya Savera Yojana in collaboration with the Unicef in villages of 20 districts.

Working children to be provided vocational training

Apart from Lucknow, the districts covered under Naya Savera Yojana are Kanpur, Agra, Bareilly, Badaun, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Barabanki, Gonda, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Ballia, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur.

Under this scheme, 39,576 working children have been identified in 1197 gram panchayats of 20 districts. Efforts were made to provide them vocational training and educational facilities. Besides, as many as 7561 families of these working children have also been given the benefit of the social security scheme.

Along with improving the lives of child labourers, the government also introduced schemes for rehabilitation of bonded labourers. In the financial year 2020-21, Rs 265.17 lakh was spent under the new scheme for rehabilitation of bonded labourers. It is noteworthy that in the year 2017-18, over 3065 and in the year 2018-19, as many as 1210 bonded labourers were identified.