Nine years after Jyoti Basu’s death, his dream project for poor kids takes off
Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey | TNN | Updated: Mar 25, 2019, 06:09 IST
The NGO, Jyoti Basu Memorial Foundation, will soon start a campaign against child labour.KOLKATA: Shabbily dressed children washing utensils on pavements for their employers was a scene that pained him. For people who associated Jyoti Basu with a stiff upper lip, this might sound strange, but all his life he wanted to work towards eradication of child labour and even tried to save up for a project towards the cause. Finally, his son and daughter-in-law have realized that dream, with funds he had left as seed money for the project. Come June 12, World Day Against Child Labour, the Jyoti Basu Memorial Foundation will start a campaign against child labour across the state.
From hoardings across the city, print and audio-visual media to digital platforms — one will find a planned campaign against child labour everywhere.
In the last five years of his life, Basu spent all his leisure planning this NGO with son Chandan and daughter-in-law Rakhi. He drew up a blueprint of the NGO that was to be formed after his death and the way it would conduct its activities. He had even left Rs 10 lakh from his savings to be used as capital for setting up the NGO.
“We had registered the foundation in 2011, but it took us some time to start work. We tied up with Don Bosco School and the Ramakrishna Mission to partner with them in their projects with underprivileged children, whose families are forced to send them to work for money. It’s a slow but a steady start. Now, we are prepared to finally make our presence felt,” Rakhi said.
The NGO has been providing teachers to the Don Bosco night school that runs on its Park Circus premises after regular hours to teach underprivileged children till Class IV. It also takes care of the needs of 2,300 children, who are under the Ramakrishna Mission.
“The problem is that even if rescued child labourers are sent to school, they drop out after a while. The reason is that parents want their kids to go to school, but they also want them to earn. So, we have decided that we would calculate the earning of every rescued child and give it on a monthly basis to the parents in return for a pledge that they will not pull the kids out,” Rakhi added.
The foundation will conduct a survey on the distribution, variation and age range of child workers in the city. The results will be announced on June 12.
From hoardings across the city, print and audio-visual media to digital platforms — one will find a planned campaign against child labour everywhere.
In the last five years of his life, Basu spent all his leisure planning this NGO with son Chandan and daughter-in-law Rakhi. He drew up a blueprint of the NGO that was to be formed after his death and the way it would conduct its activities. He had even left Rs 10 lakh from his savings to be used as capital for setting up the NGO.
“We had registered the foundation in 2011, but it took us some time to start work. We tied up with Don Bosco School and the Ramakrishna Mission to partner with them in their projects with underprivileged children, whose families are forced to send them to work for money. It’s a slow but a steady start. Now, we are prepared to finally make our presence felt,” Rakhi said.
The NGO has been providing teachers to the Don Bosco night school that runs on its Park Circus premises after regular hours to teach underprivileged children till Class IV. It also takes care of the needs of 2,300 children, who are under the Ramakrishna Mission.
“The problem is that even if rescued child labourers are sent to school, they drop out after a while. The reason is that parents want their kids to go to school, but they also want them to earn. So, we have decided that we would calculate the earning of every rescued child and give it on a monthly basis to the parents in return for a pledge that they will not pull the kids out,” Rakhi added.
The foundation will conduct a survey on the distribution, variation and age range of child workers in the city. The results will be announced on June 12.
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