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 3. Child Labour Eradication -
In the Kanchipuram District children are most commonly employed in the silk industry as weavers and assistants and in agriculture as farm labourers. They are also employed in stone quarries as labourers and in shops as assistants. These are the children who are the focus of our Child Labour Eradication program.
RIDE's Child labour eradication Program has three components: Bridge School Centers, the Rural Entrepreneurship Development Program (REDP) / Vocational Skills Training (VST) and Self Help Groups / Loan Program.
Bridge School Centers provide the released child labourers with an educational, social and emotionally supportive transition from work to the public schools.
Bridge School Centers focus on remedial education to assess and address each child’s learning needs in preparation for transition to mainstream education. They also work on re-instilling in the children productive learning habits and promoting a healthy and positive outlook on the school experience.
Each released child worker will typically participate in the Bridge School for a period of one year before transitioning to public education. Each year over 300 released child labourers participate in the Bridge School Program. Bridge Schools which have been established to date have had significant success in providing a pathway to mainstream education. 95% of students who commence at Bridge Schools complete the program and enroll in public school. Of these graduates 90% are still in attendance at the public school after 12 months.
The REDP and Self Help Groups address one of the main causes of child labour - the parents’ need for alternate sources of income. REDP trains mothers of freed child labourers to start their own businesses in areas they have identified would be successful in their communities. The training also offers the opportunity for the women to learn new vocational skills that will enhance their chances in the local labour market.
Upon completion of the training, RIDE organises Self Help Groups in which the women learn to pool their savings and obtain bank loans, while they develop and strengthen community bonds. RIDE then grants timely, low interest loans from a self sustaining loan fund and provides ongoing support. The Self Help Group funds become the basis of achieving loans to establish new enterprises that will generate income to repay the loan and increase family income.
Mohana’s Story
 Mohana had been working as a child labourer on the silk looms for two years when she was approached by RIDE staff about the possibility of going back to school. At the age of 12 she enrolled in the Bridge School where she learned reading and writing and made many new friends of her own age. After completing the Bridge School program she went on to the local public school. Mohana is now 18 and is doing her 12 Standard + Two at BM Misrelal Girls Higher Secondary School in Little Kanchipuram. She is pictured here in her village of KSP Nagar.
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Lalita was a participant in the Rural Entrepreneur Development Program (REDP) a few years ago. During the one month program she learned about development, developing business ideas and how to start a new business. After the course she attained a loan with the help of her village Self Help Group and RIDE. With the loan she bought two cows. Now she harvests the milk and has a small business selling milk products in her area. She is pictured here with her son Rajaran. 