West Bengal to hold state-level consultation on June 13
Kolkata: As part of its campaign against child labour for promoting child rights the state labour department will hold a state-level consultation in Kolkata on June 13.
The objective of the campaign is to accord visibility to the malaise of child labour and the violation of child rights in public discourse and encourage action across multiple levels of society towards ending child labour, bringing children back to school and connecting adolescents with skilling opportunities in non-hazardous occupations.
The World Day against Child Labour that falls on June 12 focuses on the action taken for the 2021 International
Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.
The departments of Labour, Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Panchayats and Rural Development, School Education, Technical Education, along with the Police and UNICEF will be speaking on different aspects of child labour in the technical session.
Participants from different government departments, civil society organizations, anti-child labour networks along with children and parents including the SHG members will participate in this programme.
To augment the campaign aimed at creating greater awareness, four cluster level consultations in four locations—Siliguri, Malda, West Medinipur and Asansol—across the state were held between June 2 and 10 involving all districts which aimed at securing multi-sectoral commitment for follow-up actions, culminating in the state-level consultation in Kolkata.
Barun Kumar Ray, Principal Secretary of state Labour department stated that the state Government accords topmost priority to the upholding of children's rights, right to education and eradication of child labour in the state.
The Labour department is actively working with other departments of the government as well as various NGOs and stakeholders to create awareness at all levels of society for ending child labour, addressing the issue of drop-out school children, providing hands-on training in various skills to adolescences, who are willing or unable to continue their formal education.
