Bhubaneswar: Stepping up its efforts to eliminate child labour from rural areas, the Odisha government has set a target to make every gram panchayat child labour-free by 2029.
Officials said a roadmap has been prepared for a statewide campaign scheduled to begin on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. The 44-day campaign will continue till Children’s Day on November 14, focusing on awareness, school re-enrolment, and action against child labour.
As part of the campaign, special Gram Sabhas and Palli Sabhas will be held in every gram panchayat. Local elected representatives, School Management Committees, women’s self-help groups, Anganwadi and ASHA workers, along with villagers, will take part.
The meetings will focus on identifying children involved in labour or those who have dropped out of school. Villagers will also take a collective pledge to make their panchayat free of child labour, followed by awareness rallies.
The School and Mass Education Department will play a key role in identifying children who are no longer attending school.
Officials will use available data to identify children who have dropped out, never enrolled, have irregular attendance or belong to migrant-worker families.
Special School Management Committee meetings will be held between October 10 and 16 to verify the details.
Teachers and committee members will then visit the families of identified children between October 26 and 31. They will counsel parents and work towards getting the children re-enrolled in school.
If officials find that a child is engaged in labour, the case will be reported to the local labour authorities between November 1 and 6. Field inspections will follow, with legal action to be taken wherever necessary.
Children with disabilities and orphaned children will also be linked to suitable government welfare schemes.
A second round of School Management Committee meetings will be held between November 7 and 13 to assess how many children have returned to school. The findings will be compiled and submitted in a report.
The campaign is aimed at bringing schools, local communities, and government agencies together to identify children at risk and help them get back to education.
