From brick making to words making: a story of child labour…
Suresh Paswan is the inhabitant of Ward No. 14, village-Brahampura, Katasha panchayat of Singhwara block of Darbhanga district, having 02 sons and 01 daughter, works in Brick kiln on daily wages. His younger son, Akash Kumar who was only 12 years old also used to go with his father to Brick kiln and work with him.
For this, the owner of the Brick kiln, used to pay INR 50/- only as he used to say that he is just a child and cannot be compared with elders for wages. In the remaining time, Akash used to play with his friends and never went to school as no one in the family was so aware of their education. Secondly, every day, usually, he gets tired in brick kiln and used to rest in the house.
One day, when he was playing with his friend near his house, his friend shared about opening of the bridge education center in the ward. He also took him to the teacher who was imparting education in the BEC. The teacher encouraged him a lot and enrolled him in the center.
The teacher also contacted his parents and requested not to send him to the brick kiln for work as it is illegal and not good for the child. After some time in the BEC, the teacher observed that Akash is enjoying his studies at the center.
The teacher already knew that Akash was child labour so the teacher used to keep busy in study, games or other activities for the day so that he enjoys the time. At the same time, his parents were counselled strategically for not taking him to brick kiln again. In the meantime, the teacher contacted his headmaster and requested to enroll him again so that he could continue his studies in the regular school which was happily accepted by him.
Presently, he keeps himself in school, bridge education center and doing homework and never goes to brick kiln to work. When he comes to BEC, his face gets full of joy which can be felt by others too