This World Against Child Labour Day, Aflatoun continues to advocate for the end of child labour. Around the globe world, there are 168 million children who are subjected to unfair practices of labour within hazardous and demanding conditions. The continuation of these conditions interfere with children’s ability to attend school and continue their studies for lifelong benefits. Through our implementation projects, we seek to provide children and young people with the knowledge of recognising their rights and responsibilities, and building critical thinking to investigate their circumstances.
We turn to a story from our founding partner, MelJol, who formed an Aflatoun Club in September 2018 that served as a space for children to learn about their rights and responsibilities in U.P.S. Chawni Sarkar Gonda. The students of the Aflatoun club then spread awareness among other children about child rights and responsibilities in their respective communities.
Pictured: Aflatoun Club members of MelJol
During this time, students Toufeek, Mariyam, Imran, Nisha, Vishnu and Rajjab were becoming more informed of ways to help their peers. They took notice of their classmate Anis Singh whose father, a factory worker, was eager to bring Anis with him to work instead of schooling.
The Aflatoun members were beginning to understand issues surrounding child labour during their time in club meetings, and realised that this was a problem that Anis experiencing. Together, they took the initiative to convince Anis’ father of the issues surrounding Anis going to the factory, instead of attending school. They helped him understand that child labour is not just a hurdle in Anis’s education, but it is a crime as well. Anis’ parents assured the Aflatoun club members that they will no longer have him working in the factory and will encourage Anis to further his studies.
Pictured: Club members having a meeting
The children under the Aflatoun program with MelJol have shown a great and positive change. They are not just benefiting from the lessons in the programme, but they are learning to apply their newfound knowledge to advocate for themselves and for one another. The way the students helped Anis is a revolutionary example of how children’s can use knowledge of their personal rights and responsibilities to transform their circumstances and to create a culture of change within their community.
Together with our partners, Aflatoun incorporates themes into our programming that contribute to sustainable goals, of which rights aims to help end child labour. To learn more, click here