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India faces the problem of child labour. There is need of a multi-pronged strategy which can rehabilitate children withdrawn from work through specific schemes and universal elementary education. It needs supplemented with economic rehabilitation of their families also.
In 2015, the GoI launched the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme under which children rescued/withdrawn from work in the age group of 9-14 years are enrolled in NCLP special training centres, where they are provided bridge education, vocational training, midday meal, stipend, health care, etc., before being mainstreamed into formal education system. Children in the age group of 5-8 years are directly linked to the formal education system through close coordination with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA).
Government has also proposed an amendment in the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 which aims at complete prohibition on employment of children below 14 years along with linking the age of prohibition with the age under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009. The amendment also includes the provisions for stricter punishment for employers.