Indus Valley Times

By Our Correspondent

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 25: Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR), in collaboration with child rights organisations –  Educo and People’s Rural Education Movement (PREM) – on Wednesday organised here a state level consultation on prevention of child marriage and child labour.

The consultation saw participation of over 120 comprising of Child Protection officials, civil society organisations (CSO) representatives, relevant experts, agencies, networks, activists, civil society organizations working on child labour and child marriage issues, government representatives and subject specialists. 

The consultation was graced by Shri Sujeet Kumar, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Government of India as the Chief Guest, Ms. Sandhyabati Pradhan, Chairperson, OSCPCR, Ms. Dibyaa Saswati, Member – OSCPCR, Dr. B.B. Acharya, Tech. Consultant, State Coordination Cell for migrant workers, Office of Labour Commissioner, Ms. Sashiprava Bindhani, Former RTI, Commissioner, Mr. Guruprasad Rao, Country Director, Educo and Mr. Jacob Thudyil, Founder and President, PREM.

Dr. Jacob Thundyil, PREM, set the context of the programme, emphasizing that OSCPCR, PREM and Educo are committed to working together and addressing the issue of child labour and child marriage by spreading awareness among community members and ensuring education for all children.

Ms. Pradhan welcomed all present and expressed that we all need to come together to ensure our children’s protection and development. She said, “OSCPCR, along with CSOs like Educo and PREM has been taking initiatives to address children’s issues. Their mental health is one of our major concerns. Children face increased psychological problems due to child labour and child marriage. To address this, we have been initiating campaigns at state and district level and we need all DCPOs and government officials to work together to address these issues.” She shared about a moving vehicle launched on international children’s day, November 20, 2021 which is travelling through different district headquarters and spreading awareness among all.

Shri Sujeet Kumar, MP applauded the efforts by OSCPCR, Educo and PREM for organizing the event that prioritises children’s issues and vulnerabilities. He emphasized on building child-friendly constituencies and sensitizing elected representatives so that they raise children’s issues in legislative discussions and debates. He highlighted that primary and secondary education need to be improved to keep children in schools and prevent child marriage and child labour. He applauded Odisha government for taking initiatives especially in districts more prone to migration and stressed that it is also important to include PRI leaders in such discussions.

Mr. Guruprasad from Educo shared concerning facts regarding the issue of child marriage, stating  that one in every 3 child marriages happening world over include one child marriage in India. He said, “Every year, around 1.5 million girls are getting married in the country. The need of the hour is drastic attitudinal and behavioural change. To tackle the worsened situation due to the pandemic, we need village level child tracking mechanism, better convergence of different child protection systems for timely response and stronger collective voice.” Educo is prioritising promoting children’s participation at panchayat level and making child-friendly gram sabhas.

Launching of digital campaign ‘Say No to Child Labour’

Dr. Surjya Narayan Patro, Hon’ble Speaker, Odisha Legislative Assembly also graced the event and launched a digital campaign ‘Say No to Child Labour’ which aims at bringing together stakeholders from all walks of lives to come together and commit to discouraging child labour in the state of Odisha. Honorable Speaker himself took the pledge at www.saynotochildlabour.org and called upon all participants to take the pledge and spread the message to create awareness against this heinous practice of child marriage and child labour. He also appreciated the collaborative initiative of OSCPCR, Educo and PREM.

Shri Akash Dasnayak, renowned actor and Chairperson, Mo College Campaign, couldn’t be present physically due to pressing commitments, but shared a video message extending his support and commitment towards the campaign and the issue. Mr. Dasnayak is the ambassador for the ‘Say No to Child Labour’ campaign.

Children’s Participation

Child leaders from the villages of Kandhamal district participated in the consultation and shared the challenges as well as progress happening at the village level with regard to situation of children.

Abhisek Baliarsingh, an adolescent boy from Kandhamal district shared the challenges faced by children in his village, like poverty and lack of infrastructure which compel them and their parents to migrate to other states in search of livelihood. This forces many children to leave schools, depriving them from their right to education and development. He appealed the government to take measures to improve village and school infrastructure by building good roads and also eradicate poverty so that children are able to access education. 

Papuni Nayak, a girl child leader from kandhamal, studying in 9th grade shared about initiatives taken by their group (with PREM and Educo) like drawing competitions, street plays to spread awareness among children and communities on child marriages and child labour. This has been showing improvement in people’s understanding and the adolescent group has also been able to prevent some child marriages from taking place. 

This consultation aimed at strengthening the collective understanding about the issues faced by children and explore ways to advocate together for the complete eradication of child labour and child marriage. This consultation has paved way for further engagement with state actors and promote a healthy dialogue for eradication of all forms of child labour and child marriage.  The rich discussions and inputs from the state consultation will go a long way in building a common understanding and consensus on the issue of child marriage and child labour.