Striking at the Roots of Child Labor: Rural Workers’ Development Society, Tamil Nadu

CRY America acknowledges with gratitude the Guru Krupa Foundation, whose generous gift of $20,000 ensures that the noble work of RWDS may continue.

Sowmiya (17) and her classmates had grown to dread the daily 4-kilometer walk from their village of Ayyanarpuram to school. The unhappy morning trudge through farmers’ fields and over rough terrain in the rural, palm grove-flush Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu left the 21 students regularly demoralized and often late for class. Once classes finished, they faced the fatigue of the return trip. According to Sowmiya, many had become resentful not only of having to attend school under such conditions, but even the idea of education itself.

The rainy seasons brought both insult and injury for the weary kids. “Walking through the fields during rainy days, I have at times fallen and been hurt,” said Sowmiya. “All my notebooks become spoiled, and I will be entirely drenched when I enter the classroom.”

Children from over half of the 52 district villages where CRY America project partner Rural Workers Development Society (RWDS) works contended with challenges identical to those of Sowmiya and her friends. Too often, it’s a lack of affordable transportation, or an absence of a road between a residence and the closest school that contributes to a family’s decision to withdraw a child – often, due to safety concerns, a daughter – from class. Moreover, the preponderance of unaffordable private schools creates another layer of inaccessibility. RWDS reported that at the outset of 2021, out of a total 2,800 area children between ages 11 and 18, 800 dropout boys and girls were engaged in illegal child labor. The overall dropout rate for children 6-18 years of age topped a staggering 46% – over half of which were girls.

The RWDS team set about taking corrective action, armed with local expertise and rafts of baseline data (made possible in part through CRY America’s support). The team established two major goals toward closing the education gap: Reduce the dropout rate among children aged 6-18 to 20% and raise the percentage of children who remained in school once enrolled from 70% to 80%. Concurrently, RWDS undertook steps to ensure physical access to schools, and to improve infrastructure and quality within schools and Integrated Child Development Service centers (Government of India-administered early childhood health facilities).

Through direct home visits to families of at-risk children, distribution of posters and other outreach materials on the importance of education and the harms of child labor, the RWDS team identified 3,473 children for monitoring and follow-up to ensure that they have been enrolled in school and are attending regularly.

After surveying the scenario of children of the palm field-workers and conducting outreach to households, RWDS successfully re-enrolled 919 children in nearby schools. To pre-empt dropout in 11 villages where children were at most risk of doing so, RWDS organized supplemental courses led by community volunteers. The courses ensured that 380 students in first to eighth standard remained engaged in reading, writing and other subjects.

RWDS staff conducted public discussions with village Sangams (traditional community group), engaging with 241 community members, 87 parents of child laborers, and the child laborers themselves. In these sessions, the team emphasized the importance of continuing children’s education and built popular awareness on the serious and permanent harm visited upon child laborers. In the process, RWDS removed 12 children from labor situations, 5 of whom were re-enrolled in high- and high-secondary school.

Sowmiya’s predicament only recently came to a fruitful conclusion – thanks to the work of the entire village community, as well as the local children’s collective and the guidance offered by RWDS. Over 200 kids from her community now benefit from the safe and accessible route to school that the new road provides. CRY America Director of Fundraising, Patrick Bocco, recently visited RWDS in October and saw firsthand this new road and major achievement!

“We tried all the ways to bring the bridge and the road to make our way easier. As a part of our children’s collective, we sent handmade postcards to the Chief Minister. With the help of the palm workers’ sangam, we gave a petition to the district collector. Finally, the day came! After all these years, we got our road in 2022! Now I have completed my school, but I am so happy for my tiny brothers and sisters knowing that they are not going to struggle while going to school!” This is one of many success stories thankfully made possible due to the ongoing support of the Guru Krupa Foundation!