The document discusses child labour and the right to education in India. It provides statistics on child labour in India and discusses the constitutional provisions guaranteeing free and compulsory education between ages 6-14. It outlines challenges to implementing these provisions like poverty, lack of awareness, shortage of schools and teachers. Solutions discussed include awareness campaigns, expanding the NCLP scheme, increasing the state's role in education, and harmonizing child labour and right to education laws. The conclusion emphasizes fully implementing the Right to Education Act to guarantee all Indian children their fundamental right to primary education.

1. VULNERABLE GROUPS AND LABOUR RIGHTS IN INDIA
Topics- Right to Education in the context of Child Labour: Perspectives, Challenges, Solutions
Name-Vishnu Tandi
Course-BBA-LLB
Year-3rd
College/University- ITM Law School, ITM University, Gurgaon.

2. INTRODUCTION:-
Child labour is a serious problem not only in India but all across the world. Labourer below the age of 14 years is called Child labour. It deprives them of their childhood and their dignity, which hampers their access to education. Children are the future of any country, so they should get proper direction. According to the census figures of 1991 India had 11.29 million child labourers, which constitute 1.34 percent of the total population of our country. In the year of 2001 this number increased to 12.59 percent. Child labour is more a rural phenomenon then an urban phenomenon. In rural areas Due to poverty, poor families send their children to urban to earn money.
In 2000 the ILO estimated 5.5 million children had been forced in labour in Asia, while the Bonded Labour Liberation front placed 10 million bonded children in India alone.1 Poverty and lack of social security are the main cause of Child labour. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares:
“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and Professional education shall be generally available and higher education shall beequally accessible to all on the basis of merit”. Keeping these data in mind, in the Constitution (Eighty-sixth amendment) Act 2002 Article 21-A was inserted to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a fundamental Right. This Article says that every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards. India has also made a constitutional commitment to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14, by adding this provision in article 45 of the directive principles of state policy. Finally this Act came into force from 1st of April 2010 and now it is a legally enforceable duty of the centre and states, to provide free and compulsory education.
PRESPECTIVE:-
Child labour is a broad term and it covers a range and variety of circumstances in which children works.
 Child Labour: Children who are doing paid or unpaid work in factories, workshops, establishments, mines and in the service sector such as domestic labour.
 Bonded Children: Children who have either been pledged by their parents for paltry sums of money or those working to pay off the inherited debts of their fathers.
1 http://www.childlineindia.org.in/child-labour-india.htm

3.  Working Children: Children who are working as part of family labour in agriculture and in home-based work.
 Children used for sexual exploitation: Many thousands of young girls and boys serve the sexual appetites of men from all social and economic backgrounds.
 Migrant children: Millions of families are being forced to leave their homes and villages for several months every year in search of livelihoods. These migrations mean that families are forced to drop out of schools.
 Children engaged in household activities: These children are engaged in taking care of younger siblings, cooking, cleaning and other such household activities.
Above mentioned children in spite of going to school, join the labour and spoil their childhood as well as fundamental right of education. To wipe out this problem, some legal provisions are inserted in our constitution (The Constitution of India).Article 24 of the constitution prevent employment of children below the age of 14 in any factory, mine or hazardous employment. Article 39 of the constitution also requires the state to direct its policy towards ensuring that the tender age of children is not abused and that they are not forced by economics necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength. Recently Article 21A is also added which provides fundamental right of free and compulsory education to children between the age group of 6 to 14 year. The Hon’ble Supreme Court gave certain directions regarding the manner in which the children working in the hazardous occupations were to be withdrawn from work and rehabilitated, as also the manner in which the working conditions of the children employed in non-hazardous occupations were to be regulated and improved upon.2
Right to Education:-
On 12th December 2002, a new Article (Article 21-A) was inserted in 86th amendment of the Constitution of India in order to introduce Right to Education as a fundamental right. India has become one of 135 countries to make Education a fundamental right of every child. This Act is an essential step towards improving each child's accessibility to secondary and higher education. The Act also contains specific provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or any such factor. With the implementation of this Act, it is also expected that issues of school dropout, out-
2 M.C Mehta vs. State of Tamilnadu 1996 (6) SCC-756

4. of-school children, Quality of education and availability of trained teachers would be addressed in the short to medium term plans.3
Act says all government-aided schools have to reserve 25% of their seats for students from economically weak sections (EWS). Private schools that are not government- aided also have to reserve 25% of their seats in Class 1 for EWS students; the government will compensate them. All government schools will have school management committees, 75% of whose members will be parents or guardians of the children. Fifty per cent of these have to be women.4
By judicial decisions, right to education has been read into right to life in Article 21. A child who is denied right to access education is not only deprived of his right to live with dignity, he is also deprived of his right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined in Article 19(1) (a). The 2009 Act seeks to remove all those barriers including financial and psychological barriers which a child belonging to the weaker section and disadvantaged group has to face while seeking admission.5
CHALLENGES:-
At least 26 crore children in the country today are of school-going age. Going by the government statistics, 18 crore children are in school. What about the remaining 8 crore? Though various provisions are made in lieu of child labour and free and compulsory Education but these provisions are not implemented properly. There are many reasons behind it. Fund is a great challenge in its implementation. Money spent for implementation of the RTE Act throughout the country is just half of the amount spent on the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Except from budget poverty is also a big problem. Children from weaker section don’t go to school. Their parents forced them to enter into labour to earn living. Just because of the poverty willingly or unwillingly they have to drop out from the school. There is no doubt that nearly all child labourers come from poor households. It is also true that, owing to disability or disease in the family, adult unemployment, and other immediate needs, poor families depend on labour services of their children for survival. Parents often have no alternative but to send their children to work. There are also cases where poverty at times forces parents to collude with employers and middlemen, and force children into vulnerabilities.
3 India.gov.in
4 Infochange, challenges in implementing the RTE Act, Ramakant rai
5 .lawyers club india, Right to Education-A brief analysis

5. Children and their parents in rural areas are not aware about the RTE and free Education, just because of this unawareness they don’t send their children in school. School is also a problem. In rural area children have to go to school by completing long distance and because of that they don’t want to go to school. People also have a mentality that govt teachers are not qualified and fee of private schools is high which they can’t afford.
SOLUTION:-
Education is a very important part of development. The problems are diverse and hence need innovative and out of box solution. The government of India has taken few initiatives to control child labour and educate them. There is a scheme called The National Child Labour Project (NCLP) which was launched in 9 districts of high child labour endemicity in the country. In this scheme, funds are given to district collectors for running special schools for child. Students of these schools also get stipend of Rs 100 per month. Free medical check up facility is also provided to them. This scheme is very helpful to attract children for education, because they get stipend and free medical facility also. Most of these people are illiterate themselves and therefore unaware of policy changes and unable to comprehended their rights. The government must take step to spread awareness among these people. Many communities do not see this as an investment in their children’s future. ‘If my child is going to eventually work in the fields, what is the use of years of being in school?’ This is the question asked by many remote rural communities. Apart from above solutions, followings steps should be taken-  Every state should make a set of rules for implementation of the righ to Education with the participation of the community.  RTE has put the applicable age group at 6-14 and it has been left to the states to decide whether they want to wide this group. States should include more children under this Act by widening the age group.  States should help centre govt to fill the vacancy for teacher and complete the target of ratio of 30:1.  Govt should provide full facility in govt schools, so that requirement of sending in private school does not arise.  For effective implementation of the RTE Act, states should give some sort of judicial power to the education department.  There is a conflict between the child labour law and the Right to Education Act, although both deal with related issues and promote the overall development of children. It is important to bring them in step, to avoid confusion.

6. CONCLUSION:- When one side a man is planning to make his dream house at moon at the same time on the other side a men is not in position to send his child to school for primary education. India is fastest developing country but still there are a lot of children who never seen the face of school. India needs a strong Act to prevent child labour and provisions for free and compulsory education. India has a RTE Act but it is not implemented properly. There are various reason behind it. We have to take a relook at the landmark passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009, which marks a historic moment for the children of India. For the first time in India's history, children will be guaranteed their right to quality elementary education by the state with the help of families and communities. We should make aware people from rural areas towards education which is a fundamental right of their children, and they are missing this right just because of poverty and lack of knowledge.