Dirty hands and Heavy shoulders
Remember your first day at school? I know I do… feeling timid and weeping at being sent away from home. My minuscule brain was going to get educated and crafted into wings and that’s how my childhood was meant to be, rather privileged.
I grew up with potential opportunities and resources. School was a place where I learnt about myself and the world. The bus rides to and fro had me acquainted to quite a number of people…I remember the sweet little hands working the gutter down my streets. That dusty little face and a blooming mind were to be deprived of a regular childhood. It made me realize how every person doesn’t live alike. He had convinced himself and surrendered his hands to fetch income for his poor family. For all I know he could be sitting right beside us kids, enjoying the prospects life has to offer, molding himself into a finer man of knowledge and skills. And that’s how I relate, that’s how I come to realize what is lost. While he may never narrate his ordeals, people know how the story goes.
Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially, and morally harmful. But when asked to the little child he says, “This is my only way to earn a living and support my family”. A child, not more than 12years of age is expected to run
his family. At the age where some of us are learning to set our bed proper, there are hands devoted to intensive labor for meals at home. And this is where innocence transcends into responsibilities.
‘A child is meant to learn, not to earn.’ Human rights include the right to education and to be able to attend school. It takes more than a cry for help for them to obtain a decent education and enjoy true innocence, where we fight for freedom of speech, we must speak for them and extend support.
Neglecting the pandemic year, the UN states that 152 million children were exploited and deprived of their actual belonging, out of which 33 million are Indian children. The roadside food joints, construction sites, cracker factories are all contributing to the millions. The numbers are declining over years, but the ones untraced are high in number. The majority of them are involved in such labor for reasons like being an orphan, others are pushed by their parents to yield an income, and the rest are involved because of unwarranted choices. Is it just the lack of education or any other moral sensitivity?
Child labour is not just about work and hardships, it’s about dignity, innocence, belonging, love, and respect. It is about depriving someone of their true nature. Children are meant to play, learn, study, make friends, fall, get hurt, gain confidence and amplify knowledge but are not meant to give everything up to work day and night. Their little hands are for love and joy, and I stand with not letting those hands get dirt or scathed.
