Children attend the report writing workshop at the International Library and Cultural Centre in Ranchi on Sunday. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, July 20: Students have come to the rescue of other children. Armed with their pens and writing pads, they are fighting against child labour.

Budding child reporters of city schools highlighted issues plaguing the education of underprivileged children, most of who are working in hotels and brick kiln factories.

Ahana Singh, a Class XII student of Delhi Public School (DPS), penned a report on child labour after making several observations across the city.

“We moved out in different areas of the cities and found that the children were washing utensils in hotels surrounded by heaps of garbage. Seeing that, I decided to write about them,” she said.

Singh’s report was appreciated by reporters of both English and Hindi dailies, who attended the second phase of the Child Reporter Programme at the International Library and Cultural Centre (ILCC).

The programme was a joint initiative between ILCC, Unicef and CINI. Today, representatives of the NGO Citizen’s Foundation, Manthan and CINI were present on the ILCC premises.

Thirty students from eight city schools were given tips on report writing.

Few students also wrote reports on cleanliness and the environment.

“Our report was based on several topics but we were criticised as we had written an essay instead of a report. The programme was beneficial as we could clarify our mistakes from the reporters of both English and Hindi dailies,” said Manisha Kumari, a student of Yogada Satsang.

Jyoti Bajaj, the deputy managing trustee of ILCC, said they are grooming school children and encouraging them to write reports.

“Many students are interested to make a career in journalism, so we thought of starting this programme,” Bajaj said.

Later, the best reports will be selected and published along with the students’ photographs.