NHRC seeks comments from Delhi Govt on child labour

New Delhi, Jan 3 (UNI) The National Human Rights Commission has sought comments within four weeks from the Delhi Government on a media report that children are still being employed in the capital despite a ban on child labour two months ago.

Taking suo motu cognizance of the December 23, report, the Commission directed that Delhi Chief Secretary and Labour Secretary be sent a copy of the news article for comments.

''If the contents of the report are true, they raise a serious issue of violations of human rights of the children,'' NHRC said.

The newspaper report, based on a survey, said most of the children work well past midnight to earn a livelihood.

The Delhi Government's Labour Department has not rescued even a single child from the restaurants or houses in the last two months, it added.

While the Government was supposed to open 40 transition education centres (TECs) for rescued child labourers, not even a single centre has been opened so far, the report said.

The Commission also took suo motu cognizance of another report which said no trained teacher was available for the disabled in Delhi Government schools.

Citing a survey conducted by the Rehabilitation Council of India and the Human Resource Development Ministry, the report said even though the Ministry had indentified inclusive education as a priority under the Tenth Five Year Plan, Delhi Government schools had failed to accommodate children with special needs.

The report said out of 1,100 Delhi Government schools, only 800 admit children with special needs.

''Besides, 3,000 such children are studying in Delhi Government Schools, yet not a single school has trained special instructors or a resource center for them,'' it added.

Under the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, teaching children with special needs without the aid of a special educator is a punishable offence, the report said.

UNI