Rescued child worker scores high

Leaving behind the scars of her childhood spent as a bonded labourer at a garment company in Tirupur, 16-year-old S Abinaya scored 387 in the Class X examinations. She not only made her grandparents proud but also brought happiness to the authorities of National Child Labour Project (NCLP), who had rescued her.
Poverty had forced the teenager to give up her studies when she was in Class V, and take up a job as helper at one of the garment factories next to her gransparents’ house in Tirupur. Her wage was ?50 a day. “The wage was low and the work was tiring. I wanted to give it up and go back to school, but, the financial situation at our house forced me to continue working,” said Abinaya. Her grandparents work as marriage brokers and barely manage to earn ?2,000 a month and also take care of her cousin brother who is in Class VI.
She said she was glad when the NCPL officials rescued her from the factory six months after she joined it. I put in all efforts to do well when I was given an alternative opportunity and admitted in the NCLP school, and later moved to the government middle school in Guruvayurappan Nagar, she said, adding that she had completed her Class X at government higher secondary school in Malayampalayam.
Abinaya said her teachers were supportive and inspired her to pursue a career in teaching. Interested in science, especially biology, she holds no grudges against her family. “We were struggling. When the money was not sufficient to fill our stomachs, how could my grandparents continue my education,” she said hoping to turn around the fortunes of her family with her education.