 The International Labour Organization estimates that children will suffer the worst burden of the global economic and social crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And as a result, 42 to 66 million children will be pushed into extreme poverty. India has a highly unequal workforce with 90% of the working people engaged in informal work. Tens of thousands have been sent back home by several companies during the lockdown. According to child-right activists, this is adversely affecting the economic environment of poor families, forcing their children to enter the labour force. Consequently, a large section of these children are tied up in bonded labour. Further, the pandemic-induced lockdown also pushed for online education. However, the question is whether such e-learning is accessible to all children throughout India? A large section of the country's population still doesn't have access to internet facilities or smart devices. This was another issue which forced children to drop out from their ongoing education and enter labour force, especially in the rural areas. To find out more, Newsclick visited a few areas in Sivakasi, a town in Virupuram district of Tamil Nadu, where children are engaged in the fireworks industry. Hi, Yudhika. It's nine o'clock in the morning and we get up at six o'clock in the evening. Do you have online classes? No, we have WhatsApp plans. We don't understand anything else. We don't know how to concentrate and study. This is our business. If we work, we can do it. If we work, we can do it. We can do it at home as well. We will work there in April. We will start studying in June. We will study day and night. We will study day and night. If we work, we will study. Did you come here when you were in school? Or did you come now? I am coming now. We will come only after five months. We won't come in the middle of the day. We are working here because the leave is coming soon. We are working in the middle of the day. We are studying day and night. How is the school in your house now? How is the corona situation? My mother is not well now. My father is not well. Everyone is suffering. We are working. We don't know how the public will react if we don't go to school. But we are preparing for the public. We will study day and night. We will study day and night. Definitely, lockdown will have a higher impact on children and women. No doubt about it. Because of the previous disasters, they indicate that any damage or any impact that is very high on girls and women in terms of whether it is a man-made or natural disaster. So we have been telling that it will increase the child labour. It will increase child trafficking. It will increase child marriage. So many child marriages have been stopped during this period. We do not know how many of them have gone unnoticed. So in terms of child labour, there is a possibility. See, the government closed the schools. It does not mean that they should not engage with the children. The teacher can go to the house and check whether the child is there. Every day five children or three children or two days a week, they can go and check. They can follow it up. It's not happening. And the children are going to work now. We are witnessing from many villages. They are working now. We are trying to support them to get mainstreamed again. But we can see the impact only after the schools are reopened. Now when you ask them, they will simply say that, okay, once the schools are reopened, we will definitely go. First thing, the second thing, online classes makes the parents borrow loan from others. Just imagine, you need an Android mobile. If you need a quality, minimum you need 5000. Whereas already they have been struggling for their food. See, the National Sample Survey organization clearly said that 51% of the rural families are self-employed. 33% in Alban are self-employed. So half of them in rural, no more than half of them, already lost their income. Whereas we are forcing them to go for online education. Where they will go for money, they gave only 1000 rupees. And of course, appreciate the government. They are giving free rise and all things. But is it sufficient for the families? What about electricity? What about other vegetable and other food materials? Nothing is considered so. That's what we have been asking the government to give monetary support at least for 4 months. Every month 6000 should be given to the families so that they can come out of the economic shock made due to COVID impact. But it's not considered. Now the children are going to the thing. And online classes, it's really a pressure for the teachers, parents as well as students. There are other methods. So the people suggested they can have a small group. They can discuss. The next day they can meet another small group. They can discuss with all protections. Those things have not been covered due to political reasons. So even now what we suggest, the teachers can directly contact their students. Either phone, they can make visits to the village and talk to the parents and understand their situation. Otherwise it will increase the thing. The second thing about the school fees, it's not just online. The school fee, they are not attending the school. But they have to pay the school fees. Whereas they are giving only 30% of the salary to the teachers. Or 40%. I don't know how, from my knowledge, what are the enquiries I had with the teachers. No teacher is receiving 100% salary from the private schools. Just imagine, there is a fee determination committee. They fix the salary. Can you see any school displaying this on their board? Just show me one school, which is displayed. This is the fee determined for different sections. Section 7, this month's amount. Can you show me? You cannot. So what the officials are doing then? See, even the average middle class families, they suffer. They are unable to pay the school fees. And they are forced. Several complaints to whom they will make officials who already knew this thing. So a lot of things have to do. The alternate mechanism has to be considered. Of course it's a good thing. TV, they are using it. But have we ensured all the cable connection to all the families? Right? Ensured the TV, the working conditions. You know, TV in working conditions to all the families. So just like they don't know. These are some of the efforts they are taking here and there. There should be, you know, what we suggest, call the parents in the Zoom meeting. There are education experts, talk to them how we can engage the children during this thing. Government can do that. But they are not willing to do that. So we suggest that they can have a consultation with the education experts in the field and what kind of alternative mechanism they can follow it up. So during this COVID, how they can engage the children, everything could be done, but not done yet. At least now they can think of it. First of all, the role of the teachers should be enhanced. They need to have a direct touch with the children. And also, you know, there are several models. In Andhra, there are Andhra and West Bengal, they are giving dry relations to the children, right? During the lockdown. And they are giving lunch, you know, noon meals. So there will be a link. So not necessarily that they should come and learn, but you know, there will be a link between the school and the children. They can provide noon meal, what is wrong in it. They can maintain the distance, they can take precautions, they can wash their hands, everything. Then they can take the food and they can eat at their home or whatever. Or they can come and take the rations, whatever allocated for them. And also, the teachers should identify the vulnerable children. They know who are all vulnerable. They know the single women-hunted families or single parents. They can say, so that should be monitored. They have to monitor and ensure that all the children, those who are studying in the schools, are still not going to the work, they have to continue. Then we forget about the migrant children, right? The migrant workers from other parts of the country, they came here to work, right? Totally, we forgot about them in 2019 and 2020, 2021. Policy note of education department says that in last year, almost 4,000 migrant children of migrant workers have been identified. Among them, around 3,975 were enrolled in the age-appropriate classes. So, among them, almost 50%, nearly 1,700 people are migrant children. 85 volunteers were encouraged to teach them in Telugu, Hindi, Bengali and Urdu. This is a very, very minimum number. In E-Road, it is reported that more than 7,000 children of migrant workers are not getting access to the education. Thirupur, Koyamuthur, wherever the major pockets of migrant workers, the government is having the data, they have to ensure that these children are getting their education in their language. Several measures have been taken by the government, the SSA Sarasikshabhiyan. They brought books from the Odisha government and they are doing it. That's only a very minimum percentage. Most children are out of the school now. And in every village, the government has every panchayat. The government has formed village child protection committees. They need to activate, they need to send the surplus to them. Please ensure that no child from your village is going to the work because they are local people, village president, village administrative officer, Anganwadi worker, school teachers, NGO volunteers, self-representative from SKGs, they know. So they are going to be assigned the responsibility to monitor the children and vulnerable children. They need to develop a plan of action to support the children for the continuation of their education after the COVID. Now they should have the plan. Children in my panchayat need these supports so that they will be able to continue the education. So they need to develop the plan. And monetary support definitely should be given to the people or they have to link them with government schemes. I'm not suggesting housing. There are other things like Narayaka, 100 days work, that they can link it up and livelihood schemes. They have a national skill development mission they can identify and the required skills can be important to them through training. Then this can be done. And I always suggest to prevent them from the economic shock, they need to be covered with social insurance. Already there are two very good schemes for 12 rupees. For 12 rupees it will be detected from your bank. You will get 2 lakhs, up to 2 lakhs accident death insurance. The second scheme is around 330. So if you pay 330 every year, even if it is a natural death up to 55 years they will give 2 lakhs. So if a person covers under this scheme, the breadwinner dies then definitely they will get this kind of thing. And just go to an example, the migrants died in the train accident. If they are covered under these schemes, the family would have got 4 lakh rupees accident death and for death any death they get the scheme. So they will not be in the economic shock, they can bear to some more time for some more time. Then employing and registering the workers in the belfer boards. So most of the people in unorganized sector, not even 50% of them are registered with the belfer boards. The registration process should be facilitated. The e-governance should be improved, efficiency should be improved. It should be made mandatory that all the unorganized workers should be registered in the particular board, concerned board that has to be run. Then in Tamil Nadu already they have state balanced growth fund. In 105 blocks have been identified as backward blocks based on certain criteria, education, health, industrial. So they have certain criteria. So for these blocks, due to their back awareness, the children from these blocks have high vulnerability to be a child laborer. So they need to have a special program for these children. As earlier said, child development index, whoever is less than the state of coverage, they have to be given a special program. Maybe increasing 100 days old to 200 days old will definitely improve the economic conditions of the family, will result in the reduction of the thing. So all things need to be done comprehensively so that it will be easier for us to tackle the issue. And it's not only the government's responsibility as civil societies, trade, other community-based organizations, whether it's Rajini fans association or any senior association or some kind of traditional structure in the village, whatever, any community-based associations, they can involve and ensure that child labor-free Tamil Nadu.