West Bengal Govt seeks Centre's approval to set up schools for child labourers: Minister

Kolkata: The West Bengal government is in the process of identifying child labourers in various districts and has sought the Centre's approval to set up schools for them in Nadia and Purulia, a minister said on Wednesday.

There are 363 schools for child labourers in the state at present, where 16,562 students have been enrolled, Labour Minister Becharam Manna said in the assembly.

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The minister also said the West Bengal government has sought approval from the Centre to set up 75 more schools in Nadia and 38 in Purulia.

To another query, Manna said the labour department has started various social security schemes for workers in unorganised sectors like transport and construction.

In other news, of the 8,973 applications received for support under the 'PM-CARES for Children' scheme, as many as 4,302 children who were orphaned during the pandemic have been approved as eligible for benefits, the government said on Wednesday.

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Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani gave state/UT, gender and age-group wise details of such children.

According to the data, 212 children aged 0-6 years, 1670 children aged 6-14 years, 2001 children aged 14-18 years and 418 young adults aged 18-23 years have received the approval. Irani said that till March 14, 2022, 8973 applications have been uploaded on the portal out of which, 4302 applications have been approved by district magistrates after due process.