THE CAST- BASED EDUCATION SYSTEM OF 1953 OPPOSED BY AND ACHIEVEMENT OF ITS ABOLISHING BY PERIYAR, ECHOED IN INDIAN PARLIAMENT
The excerpts of the speech made by Ms.Kanimozhi, DMK Member, Rajya Sabha by participating in the debate on Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012,
Ms. Kanimozhi said, “I definitely understand the intentions of the government in bringing forward this Bill. But, we should also think whether the intentions are being actually carried out. The intent might be to prohibit children from working. But, there are amendments which have been brought in this which actually go against the intention of the Bill and we have to understand that. We should also understand that.
Child labour is cruel, exploitative, socially and morally dangerous and it should be eradicated entirely. I am sure everybody has the same opinion. I also like to bring to the notice of this House what happened in Tamil Nadu in the early 50s.
A system of Kula KalviThittam was brought by Rajaji. He said that after school, children should go back home and do what their fathers and families were practising, practise the same occupations, the same kind of work which the parents were practising. It was actually a caste-based education system. You go back home and learn and continue with what your parents, family and caste did. There was a big opposition in Tamil Nadu against this. He was actually made to resign because of this Kula Kalvi Thittam, which he brought in the early 50s. After that, Kamaraj, who took over as the Chief Minister, scrapped this. So, I would like to remind you that a Chief Minister was made to resign because the entire State and, especially, the Dravidian leaders (with the foremost opposition by Periyar E.V.Ramasamy) were against this. They made sure that the system was scrapped, and I hope that history will not repeat itself in the Central Government.
I would like to bring this to the notice of this House. We are talking about dropout rates in schools. Of course, my friends were taking credit for something which happened in 2010 in Tamil Nadu. The dropout rate was brought to 99.3 per cent. I am not talking about child labour at all. If Tamil Nadu does not have child labour, I am the happiest. We know of the dropout rates in schools. It is just not because the children cannot go to school. Now, the emphasis is on private schools. In many States, even in Tamil Nadu, many of the parents think that private schools are much better than Government schools. The Minister is here and I take this opportunity to bring it up and to make sure that the public education system is improved. I am not talking about the Central Government-run schools only. I think, the Central Government should assist them to make sure that these schools are up to the mark. There are instances of the Government closing down the State Government schools. This should be stopped to make sure that education is made affordable to everybody and not that everybody has to send their children to private schools to get the best education.
One more issue is there. Do we really care about educating our children or are we trying to bring out concrete blocks similar to each other from our education system? I was talking to a child once as to why he hates school system so much. He told me about the education system and how exams here are like. This education system here is like asking a bird, a fish, a dog and a snake to climb a tree and then say that the one, who can climb the tree the best, is the best. That one gets the highest marks. What does a bird, fish or dog gain by climbing a tree? Nothing! But then most of our education system is aimed at doing that. They do not care about the children who have difficulties in learning. So, these children drop out. We do not care about helping them. We do not care about reaching out to them. These children turn towards working because they have no choice for their future. So, they immediately take up a job because the society and family condemns them as useless. I think, education has to be inclusive to stop child labour.
Apart from that, we also have to understand one important thing. This Bill says that children can go back home and help parents. How many parents are really aware of what is hazardous to the children and what is not? Not many parents are that aware or equipped enough to understand what can be hazardous to a child. There are so many such parents. We know that parents do not willingly or knowingly send their children to work in fireworks factory or cotton yarn factory. They do not know what will happen to their children, how their children’s health will be affected. But they still send them because they are not aware. We know what happened in Kerala because of Endosulfan; how many unborn children were affected. So how many parents are really aware as to how pesticides will affect the children? Would we allow our children, in our homes, to do that? We will not.
Today, the school curriculum is so difficult for every child. If you expect a child to come back from school and help you in the kind of occupation you have been carrying out, how will the child finish the homework which is so much? How do they prepare for the tests? Practically, every school believes in having a test every second day. How do they prepare? So you are actually encouraging children to drop out from schools and take up jobs. Child labour is one of the most important things. We cannot, actually, segregate child trafficking and child labour; they are inter-connected.
Children, who are trafficked, are mostly employed as cheap labourers in construction sites, domestic works and factories and sold for child prostitution. During the period between 2010 and 2014, there were 3.85 lakh missing children, which means more than 77,000 children go missing every year and among them, 63 per cent are girls. More than 40 per cent of them remain untraced even till today, over the years. So this Act should recognise these facts and should provide for rehabilitation of children and adolescents rescued.
On the one hand, the government is pushing for schemes such as Skill India and Skill Certification, and the same Government is indifferent to the plight of child labourers. We cannot say that a child is a child only till 14. Science has accepted and, all over the world, it is accepted that a child is developing emotionally till the age of 18. So we cannot take the childhood away. We cannot make the child to go and work just because they have crossed the age of 14. And working atmosphere is not easy for any child. No employment is going to be considerate. We have seen how they have been exploited. We have seen the abuses, and, especially, when it is a girl child, we have also seen cases of sexual abuses happening. I think our children have to be protected.x
“A system of Kula Kalvi Thittam was brought by Rajaji. He said that after school, children should go back home and do what their fathers and families were practising, practise the same occupations, the same kind of work which the parents were practising. It was actually a caste-based education system.”
