GAPing hole

EAR TO THE GROUND

It is easy to reject clothes made by children, courageous to help them become part of the mainstream.

Does one mind admiring the nice silken pouches embroidered with beads and pearls, which have been made by blind children? Hardly. Nor does one stop admiring the works of art painstakingly made by one's children.

But when children engaged in embroidering clothes are thrown out of work, what is the option offered to them and their kinsmen besides begging, starvation and death? And what is the alternative in skill education provided to what they were learning in these dark chambers, probably without pay? None.

According to a report by a Dutch NGO, which prompted international apparel retail chain GAP to return clothes supplied from India, 4,16,000 children under the age of 18 are employed in the country's textile industry. The plight of many children is akin to bonded labour, working up to 12 hours in the factories for less than Rs 30 a day, the report says.

The current policy is to seal such units and "rescue" the children, who later go back to other units. Sometimes, some children are sent to the National Child Labour Project schools run by the labour ministry. These are bridge schools that run in obscurity and without any partnership with the industry.

The government is now planning to open one such school in every district in the 11th Plan. But how much can these help? Do these schools give the children a work allowance of Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 a month, something they must have earned working in factories? Hardly. And entry into these schools is a bureaucratic process which is hardly like a walk-in for the exploited children. The response of the industry to these children has been next to nothing.

The truth is stark. The kids have nothing at home. If they stayed back, they have no chance to go ahead in life. While the wealthy send children to the best schools, the only learning centres for the children of the poor are these factories in the cities.

The United Nations recently tied up with Procter & Gamble on child labour. All it did was raise funds which were given to NGOs to undertake projects for out-of-work children.

But the industry, which also includes the evil underground unorganised sector workshops that ultimately supply to the nice brands promoted by sylphic models, cannot sit back. For it is they who can provide the wealth of opportunity which no school or government programme can.

And if some allowance can be made for dreaming, many in the industry agree that it would not be a bad idea to tap all the workshops that employ children and turn them into skill centres where children can be given scholarships rather than salaries.

Maybe some NGO can teach reading and writing in night classes, while other similarly concerned global agencies can spread light and happiness through their little schemes in these learning centres.

But for this to work, the industry and the global agencies which are so concerned about children at work should stop looking at each other as enemies and start working together. While the agencies can provide warmth and care in such workshops, the industry could provide the children with skills and some scholarships, since salary is such a dirty word.

It is easy for GAP to send back the clothes made by Indian children. But will it have the courage to turn all the workshops in its supply chain into ideal work schools for poor children, where work and studies coexist? That would be one good reason for many to remember GAP even if they can't afford its clothes.