More than fifty thousand children are involved in the hazardous glass-bangle industry in Firozabad. The area is poor, and many of the people living there are deprived of their fundamental right to food, a stable livelihood and education. This makes children easy victims of exploitative labour situations that only reinforce the human rights violations that have driven them into work in the first place.
 Firozabad school: School girls studying concentrated. |
The Child Trust has established a bridge school and awareness centre. We identify families whose children are engaged in hazardous labour and persuade them to exclude the children from work and involve them in education and vocational training. The bridge school prepares children who have been missing out of schooling to be mainstreamed back to a regular school. The school also functions as a common platform for children, their parents and community groups. It has been successful in strengthening the influence of villagers in political forums, not only by raising awareness about rights related to child labour, but on a broader scale contributed in the process towards greater political empowerment of the community. In an effort to also strengthen the economic empowerment of the most vulnerable sections in society, The Child Trust has assisted families in accessing Government schemes aimed to provide livelihood opportunities. The formation of SHGs has been a central part of this work. Children whose parents are part of a SHG are observed to having increased their school attendance and improved their health conditions. The Child Trust has also organized health camps for children affected through their work in the glass bangle-industry and provided treatment for them. These health camps have benefited about 200 children and nearly 600 adults.