Keeping in mind the increasing job losses and closure of schools during the COVID lockdown, the Labour & ESI Department of Odisha government conducted a child labour awareness workshop in Koraput on Saturday.
The workshop was aimed at creating awareness among the masses about the evils of child labour and training the people working in the grassroots for the upliftment of child safety.
District Child Safety Officer, Rajashree Das said, “The main objective of this initiative is to educate people on the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act under which it is prohibited to engage children and adolescents in all occupations and hazardous processes."
“Even the parents are not allowed to engage children below 14 years in any kind of labour. It can attract a penalty of Rs 10,000 even for the parents,” said Das.
Speaking to the reporters, the District Labour Officer said, “The workshop was conducted by the direction of the Labour Commissioner. It is of paramount importance to keep the children away from physical labour especially in such a time when schools and colleges are shut for COVID.”
“We are also training people to spread awareness in the villages,” he added.
It is worthwhile to mention here that after a long gap of over one and half year, the School and Mass Education Department has decided to reopen the physical classes of standard 1 – 5 students from January 3, 2022.