An evening with Prof Shantha Sinha - From Child Labour to Education: Innovations from the Pandemic

On Friday, March 11, we had a fascinating and thought-provoking session by Prof Shanta Sinha. She spoke about child rights and how we must safeguard them.

About Prof Shantha Sinha

Shantha Sinha is Professor (Retd), Department of Political Science, University of Hyderabad, former Chairperson National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Government of India, Founder Secretary Trustee of Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation (M V Foundation) and India’s leading child rights activist of international repute.

She is recognised worldwide for her outstanding contribution towards the elimination of child labour and protection of children’s right to education. She received the Ramon Magsasay Award in 2003 for community leadership and the Padma Shri in 1998.

Prof Sinha firmly believes that ‘no child must work and every child must attend full time formal day school’. She has spearheaded a social revolution for withdrawing over 10 lakh children in the 5-14 years age group from child labour; stopping over 20,000 child marriages and then ensuring that all these children are admitted into government schools. She has pioneered the program for bringing children back to schools through residential bridge courses. The 1500 villages where MVF has intervened, have achieved a retention of 99% of all children in schools up to 10th class. Every child is tracked by MVF until they finish 10th grade.

Prof Sinha was the first Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2013. In this capacity, she addressed issues concerning violation of children’s rights in relation to child labour and child trafficking; rights of children in areas of civil unrest; children’s right to education; juvenile justice system; corporal punishment, child abuse and violence on children; child malnutrition and so on.

About the child labour problem

According to a report by ILO and UNICEF, titled 'Child labour global estimates 2020' - the closure of 1.5 million schools due to the pandemic and lock downs in India have impacted 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools and added to the risk of them slipping into child labour and unsafe migration. accounts for About 70% of children in child labour is accounted for by the agriculture sector with about 112 million followed by services with 31.4 million (20%) and industry with 16.5 million (10%). Nearly 28% of children aged 5 to 11 years and 35% of children aged 12 to 14 years are in child labour or are out of school.

Importance of child well being

Prof Sinha expressed her happiness at her long association with ICFAI which has also awarded her an honorary doctorate. She began by emphasising that there is a clear linkage between child wellbeing and democracy. India made a lot of progress in the decade leading to the pandemic but during the pandemic, children suffered heavily. While there were various innovations on the ground to help children, the government could have done much more.

The importance of rights

Rights are important in any democracy. There are some key principles we must keep in mind while discussing rights:

Equality: The poor and the rich are both entitled to the same quality of education.

Universality: Rights are applicable to all.

Social justice: Sometimes, affirmative action may be needed for people to access what they are entitled to.

Responsibility of the state: The state has the duty and the obligation to safeguard and enforce the rights.

Why child labour exists

Child labour is not the result of poverty. It is the result of the state’s inability, deficit and complacency. Children cannot be duty bearers and take up the responsibilities of the family by trying to become bread winners. The State must provide for children and protect them in various ways. One of the main causes of the deprivation of children is the lack of societal outrage when we see them being exploited. Every day, we see children on the road, doing some physical work or working at a tea shop. Instead of doing something about it, we “unsee”, i.e. look away and ignore the problem. Or we try to rationalize by thinking that we must have been good in our previous birth and that is why such a fate has not befallen us!

Impact of the pandemic

In the last decade, we made exponential progress in reducing child labour. Even girls began to attend school in large numbers and started doing better than the boys in terms of retention. The Right to Education Act was passed. There was a drastic reduction in child labour. The mindset of the poor also started to change. Parents began to aspire for a better life for their children.

Covid reversed all these gains. We do not have statistics. But it seems that after schools were closed during the pandemic, there has been an exponential increase in child labour. Schooling is very important for children and not just for giving education. The school provides a safe space. It prevents child labour and early marriage for girls. Girls can insist on completing their education and resist the pressure to get married early. Nutrition is important for children. Schools have an important role to play here. There is evidence to indicate that attendance in schools goes up when mid-day meals are provided.

During the pandemic, there was a loss of livelihood for many daily wage earners. They had no access to food. Under these circumstances, children became vulnerable. Unfortunately, the problems of children drew hardly any attention from the government.

When the schools reopened later, they were unfit for conducting classes. After their closure during the pandemic, school buildings had seen no maintenance. They were in a dilapidated condition and crumbling in many cases. The government fooled itself into thinking that it had solved the problem by introducing measures such as eLearning and automatic promotion without holding exams. Most poor children neither had a device nor internet connectivity to access eLearning. The result was a huge learning loss whose consequences will be felt in the long run.

Any solution to such a problem cannot be centralized. We need decentralized solutions developed at the level of the Gram Panchayat. At that level, the problem is not about numbers and statistics but real people with names. Each child has unique needs. So centralized solutions are not appropriate. An example of innovation during the pandemic is the village centres where learning was kept alive. These centres were set up by NGOs and Gram Panchayats working together.

Q&A

On her journey

A large part of Prof Sinha’s journey has been about fighting social norms. The social norms in the country have not supported poor children going to school. On the contrary, their going out to work has been rationalized. Prof Sinha and her team had to change the script. Realizing that in every person, there is moral space, she began to appeal to their inherent goodness. Gradually, people began to admit that child labour was unfair. Prof Sinha made people understand that it is not poverty which causes child labour. It is the argument that poor children have no option but to work that causes it!

On the plight of children across the world during the pandemic

Globally, all children have suffered during the pandemic. Almost all governments failed their children. But western societies recovered faster. They did not have to deal with problems like hunger. They also had a system in place which worked well during normal times. It was possible for them to make the necessary adjustments and remedy the situation. In case of India, a properly functioning system did not exist even before the pandemic. When the pandemic broke out, the system collapsed.

On children working in agriculture

Agricultural labour was not earlier banned under the law. There was a feeling that it was ok for children to work in the farms. Only in 2016, the law was amended.

On children in family business

There is the belief that it is ok for children to work in their traditional family business at home, before and after school. But this is again a wrong argument. If children are made to work like this, they will not be able to do their homework and participate properly in the classes, leading to dropouts. Poor children deserve to have the same opportunities as rich children.

Children should also not be forced into the family business. They must be given the choice. After the age of 18, if they want to join the family business, it is fine. But it must not be forced on them when they are children. We should not romanticize tradition and culture. We must find out what children really want. Otherwise casteism and incompetence will be perpetuated.

On understanding the context of the poor

Every child wants to be in school. But the culture of literacy has been denied to them for hundreds of years. We have not really reached out to them effectively. We have to help poor children and their parents. Poor parents for example cannot pack the schoolbags pf their children properly. We should not punish children if they do not bring a book to school or are absent during a festival. We should be sensitive to the needs of children. We must appreciate that the context of the poor is very different.

On the importance of vigilance groups

There is a need for vigilance groups and watchdogs. The Gram Panchayat can play a big role here. Prof Sinha gave the example of a girl who was trafficked to Pune. Thanks to the gram panchayat and the tracking, the police was informed quickly and she was rescued. The poor girl unfortunately died 5 years later due to AIDS. Panchayats can make proposals to the government and get funding. But B Schools such as ICFAI have to assist them in this regard.

Prof Sinha narrated an interesting example to show how removal of child labour can benefit society. In Sankarapalli, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, when children were removed from agricultural work, there were very positive outcomes. Demand for workers increased and the wages went up from Rs 9 to Rs 60 per day. As the wage rates increased, farmers began to use tractors. The workers are now freed up to do other jobs which will be more productive. What this shows is that when we remove a layer of oppression, there will be progress and development.

The reason children are used for domestic work is not their poverty. It is because we prefer children. We can make them work hard and pay them less. We are the cause of the problem. We should call the 1098 helpline so that such children can be rescued.

On how to get children back to school

Prof Sinha shared vividly her personal experience. It is important to contact every person in the village and find out who are attending school and who are not. In every generation, the youth wants change. So, it is important to leverage youth power. Prof Sinha also tries to build local institutions such as teachers’ forums so that the work goes on through the year. (It is unfortunate that the government instead of investing in institutions is giving out doles.)

We must appeal to the moral space of people. It does not pay to criticize them or argue with them. Prof Sinha believes in approaching families and employers again and again till the children are allowed to attend school. No one has a monopoly over goodness. We all have good in us. We must appeal to this nobility. When the child finally goes to school, Prof Sinha and her team celebrate the event and thank the employer with a Vidhyadhaan ceremony.

On the opportunities for social entrepreneurship

There are many opportunities for social entrepreneurs to work in this space. The role of traditional donors who were mostly foreign foundations has decreased sharply. They have moved to Africa. Today, most of the funding is coming from the CSR departments of corporates. It is important to work closely with them.

On the future roadmap for the MV Foundation

MV Foundation does not intend to replicate the work it has done so far. The Foundation has already developed a model and influenced policies and achieved the desired outcomes. The Foundation intends to spend more time in enabling other organizations who want to do similar work and in advocacy. The Foundation is also collecting data and investing in research so that any pleas it makes to the government are robust.

We thank Dr. Vedpuriswar for bringing out the highlights in the form of this note