Commemorate Children's Day And Help Stop Child Labour

By Author: Namrata Joshi
Total Articles: 7
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14th November is considered to be a special occasion in India. After all, Children's Day is celebrated on this day across the country. Children are the future of every nation and they must be protected at all costs. At that impressionable age, they need to be given varied resources to help optimise their potential. But children from marginalised backgrounds are surrounded by many struggles that hold them back and create all sorts of trauma. 

Every day, millions of children go to work to earn a living. They live in an unpredictable and overwhelming environment, which is why their mental, physical, and emotional health is declining. In India, countless children from all backgrounds spend their formative years labouring arduously to earn even the most basic of wages so that they might have access to resources for survival.

The majority of people no longer even raise an eyebrow when children can be seen begging on the streets, working at a roadside stand, doing domestic work etc. On many busy streets, you can also find children shining shoes, sitting at paan shops, and washing dishes behind the restaurants/highway ...
... dhabas etc. They are involved in numerous odd jobs because they are forced to do so in order to survive. Children work at hazardous locations, like factories, heat-inducing sites, labouring under the sun for long hours etc. Even at the risk of their health, children engage in risky activities to make less than the minimum wage. Young children are employed by various unstructured enterprises, including factories that make apparel, crackers, cigarettes, biscuits, and other goods.

Children who work at that tender age are deprived of playing with other children, which is incredibly damaging to them during their formative years. Their psychological and social development is significantly impacted by this. Children develop friendships and healthy connections with others through appropriate play activities, which helps them grow up to be self-assured, sensitive, and caring individuals. 

This Children’s Day, let’s join hands to support Salaam Baalak Trust, a well-known non-profit organisation in India. SBT has spent more than 30 years promoting the welfare of street and working children. The NGO has been carrying out varied programmes to ensure children have access to hot and healthy daily meals, regular education, a safe shelter, proper healthcare facilities, and immense love and care. SBT also runs mental health programmes and life-enhancing workshops related to puppetry, artwork, karate, and other physical activities to help channelise the talents of children. So, to contribute, donate for street children and ensure they have a promising future.