Guwahati, June 12: Over 2,400 children, employed as labourers, were rescued in Guwahati in 2016-17 under a joint venture of Railway Childline and Childline Guwahati as part of the National Child Labour Project.

The children were rescued from various establishments like shops, industries and tea gardens by volunteers of Childline and sent to Gyan Setu Kendra, a special training centre, to prepare them for formal education.

According to Childline, child labourers in the age group of six to 14 years were rescued in the past year.

There are 54 Gyan Setu Kendras in Guwahati. Rescued child labourers undergo special training at these centres for a period ranging from three months to two years.

Authorities at Childline said in the past year, 434 students from these centres successfully completed the special course and got enrolled in formal educational institutes.

Talking about these Gyan Setu Kendras, authorities at Childline said each centre has two teachers and one helper to conduct the training. For the purpose of vocational training, Childline also employs one special teacher among three centres where special study material is provided to the children through Sarba Siksha Abhijan.

"The National Child Labour Project had started in Assam in 2008. It was carried out in Kamrup (metro), Lakhimpur and Nagaon districts. We have 54 centres in Kamrup (metro) and all are running successfully. We are also trying to establish more centres in the coming days," Sampriti Barman, project director of the National Child Labour Project in Kamrup (metro), said.

Explaining the challenge in giving a new life to the deprived children, Barman said the main cause of child labour is poverty. "Many parents are not able to provide education to their children as they are unable to bear even the minimum expenses of educating their children. Moreover, some are not willing to send their children to school. So our volunteers face many problems during the rescue drive. But often we are successful and some of the rescued child labourers have also shown good performance in formal education," Barman told The Telegraph.

"We mainly work in tea gardens. Even today, where the government formulates many schemes to eliminate poverty, tea labourers live in a pathetic financial state. We carry out drives to locate children who lack education but we only get partial success," Nami Barua, a teacher at a Gyan Setu Kendra in Sonapur in Kamrup (metro), said.

Barua also said after the special training course many children engage themselves as part time workers while continuing formal education.

"It is all because of poverty. Their family is not able to provide for daily expenses so they work as part time workers. Despite this they perform well in the examinations. This is our success," Barua said.

Explaining the change in his life, 16-year-old Sanjay Suberi, who used to be employed as a child labourer in Sonapur, said, "I got a new life at Gyan Setu Kendra. My parents work as labourers in a tea garden in Sonapur. Because of our poor financial condition, I had to start working as a labourer in my area. Pursuing education has been a long cherished dream of mine."

Suberi was rescued by Childline volunteers in 2008. This year he passed the high school leaving certificate examination from Sonapur High School with 58.35 per cent marks and also got letter marks in Geography.

"Now I want to pursue higher education in Geography. I plan to enrol in the science stream in the local college," Sanjay said.