A ray of hope for labourers' children at Secretariat site

Sarva Siksha Abhiyan officials take survey of migrant workers

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Over 100 labourers’ children at site estimated to be out of school

Separate classes will be conducted for children in their mother tongue

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— Photo: V.Ganesan

BACK TO SCHOOL?SSA officials interact with children of migrant labourers at the construction site of the new Secretariat Complex in Chennai on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: R. Sunil, a 12-year-old child of migrant labourers at the construction site of the new Secretariat Complex, has been out of school for the past two years.

“I want to go to school. But I have lot of friends here to play with and I am happy,” said the little boy, wearing an innocent smile.

He was denied the opportunity to go to school after completion of Class IV, as his parents had to leave a backward district of Orissa in search of better job opportunities.

V.Parvathy, another child, said she had not gone to school after completing Class IV in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.

Children such as Sunil and Parvathy had a ray of hope on Tuesday, as officials of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) carried out a survey of children of migrant labourers who are working on the construction site of the new Secretariat Complex. They would soon sit for classes and learn in a medium comfortable to them.

Over 100 children of the labourers of the construction project were estimated to be out of school.

The survey was undertaken to conduct non-residential bridge course for the children of the migrant labourers, said A.Ponnammal, CEO, SSA-Chennai.

“We have planned to conduct the non-residential bridge courses near the construction site for these children,” said R.Parameswari, District Coordinator, SSA-Chennai.

Separate classes would be conducted for the children in their mother tongue, she added. The children would be taught in Telugu, Oriya, Hindi and Bengali.

Contractors of the project said that most of the migrant labourers were from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.

“Admitting these children in schools of the city is not possible because of the language barrier. Moreover, their parents may have to move to another site anytime. We will work on educating the children till they stay in the city,” said S. Annamalai, an official of SSA.

Officials said that a chunk of the parents were reluctant to reveal details to them. Some of them even prevented the officials from entering the tenements to talk to the children. Some children fled the area on seeing the officials.

“Collecting details from the children and parents is challenging,” the official added.

Mobilising teachers to conduct non-residential bridge courses for these children in their mother tongue is yet another challenging task for these officials, but they said they would try their best in the interest of children.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/15/stories/2010071550540200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Welfare scheme for migrant workers

Security net: Labour Minister P.K. Gurudasan with migrant workers before the State-level inauguration of a scheme for their welfare in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Friday launched a welfare programme offering a measure of social security for the migrant people working in various sectors in the State.

This is the first such initiative in the country, Mr. Achuthanandan said while launching the programme at a function here. “Tens of thousands of people from States such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal are working in Kerala in areas demanding heavy manual effort. They contribute in a big way to the development of the State and Kerala owes this gesture towards them,” he said.

Labour Minister P.K. Gurudasan, who presided, said several large companies involved in road and other construction works in Kerala were engaging workers from other States in large numbers. These workers received none of the social protection measures available for the workers hailing from within Kerala.

The programme, titled Kerala Migrant Workers’ Welfare Programme, is being implemented through the Kerala Building and other Construction Workers’ Welfare Fund Board. Migrant workers have to register their names under this scheme at the offices of the board paying a contribution of Rs.30 a year. Twice that amount will be remitted to each member’s account by the board and the government will contribute the remaining sum to carry out a host of welfare measures for the members.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/01/stories/2010050161680400.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu