Children - Terre des Hommes

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because companies can pay them less than adults to carry out
the same work. Privatisation and informalisation of labour
has directly led to increase in child labour, particularly in the
mining industry which keeps the workers impoverished and
indebted in a vicious trap. A study carried out in a mining area
in Tanzania revealed that children had been forced to drop
out of school due to a lack of resources. Primary schools in
this area were characterised by poor facilities, such as a lack
of classrooms, textbooks and other teaching equipment. The
low success rate of progression from primary to secondary
school meant that children ended up working in the mines
because of the lack of alternatives for further education and
training. 125
“The main problem is the lack of education here. We
are telling the government that we will give land and a
building, but please give us a decent school. The mines can
close anytime but if our children are educated, they can
find a job elsewhere.”
The problem of children accessing education in mining
areas begins right from their birth. Despite an increasing
recognition of the importance of early childhood care and
education, these facilities are not available in many mining
areas. A lack of crèche facilities and anganwadi centres in
these districts means that mothers often have no alternative
but to take their small children to work with them. As well
as missing out on essential education and development
opportunities, a mining site is one of the most hazardous
places for a young child to be spending their days. ASER
data reveals that several of the most heavily mined districts
in the country also have some of the highest number of
children aged between three to six years not enrolled in an
anganwadi
enrolled in an AWC. Among the mining communities
visited in these two states, many people reported a lack of
AWC facilities in their area.
One of the main villages studied in Chhatisgarh was Gare
village in Tamnar Block which has a total population of
two primary schools, one middle school and one anganwadi
centre. While the infrastructure and teaching leave much to
be desired, the school set up by the Jindals is far away from
the village and too expensive for the local people to send
their children. Only the children of employees of Jindals,
therefore, attend this school.
In Khamariah village, a mining area in Chhattisgarh, there is
an AWC, but only around 10-15 children attend it regularly.
This is because the AWC building is dilapidated and people
said it was too dangerous for children to sit inside as the
roof may collapse any time. The records say that there are 28
children enrolled, but on the day our team visited only two
children were present. Sometimes the mining companies
simply encroach into the school premises or bulldoze the
schools if they hinder their mining activities like in the
case of Goa, and Andhra Pradesh where the school was
use as a store house by the Birla Periclase agents. 128
With mines and quarries often located in remote areas, this is
also compounded by a lack of or difficult access to education,
particularly secondary education. The headmaster of the
high school in Potanga village, Jharkhand, complained that
mining activities are not good for children, as the quick
money that they can earn from mining encourages them
not to attend school.
Education figures from the most heavily mined districts in
India tell a worrying story. According to the most recent
ASER survey by Pratham, Koraput and Rayagada districts
in Orissa have some of the largest numbers of out of school
in 2008. 130 Similar statistics can be seen in other mining
percent of children remain out of school and in Jodhpur and
Udaipur districts of Rajasthan — where thousands of people
are employed in small-scale stone quarries — 12.1 per cent
and 10.0 per cent of children respectively are missing out
on an education completely. Mining is clearly not promoting
education and development in these districts and is instead
creating a culture in which children work rather than go
to school.
125. ILO, Eliminating Child Labor in Mining and Quarrying: Background Document, 12 June 2005.Pratham, Annual Survey of Education, 2008.
126. Pratham, Annual Survey of Education, 2008.
127. Interview with anganwadi worker, Khamariah village, Chhattisgarh, November 2009.
128. Bhanumathi Kalluri, Campaign Against Illegal Mining – Experience of Samatha and the Tribals of Anantagiri, 1997.
129. Interview with headmaster, Potanga village high school, Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, September 2009.
130. Pratham, Annual Survey of Education, 2008.