National Child Labour Project SCHEME

Government had initiated the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme in 1988 to rehabilitate working children in 12 child labour endemic districts of the country.

EXPANSION OF NCLPs

YEAR	NO. OF NCLPs SANCTIONED	TOTAL
1988	12 NCLPs	12
lX Plan	88 NCLPs	100
X Plan	150 NCLPs	250
Xl Plan	21 NCLPs (INDUS)	271

Objective of the Scheme:

• This is the major Central Sector Scheme for the rehabilitation of child labour.
• The Scheme seeks to adopt a sequential approach with focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations & processes in the first instance.
• Under the Scheme, survey of child labour engaged in hazardous occupations & processes has been conducted.
• The identified children are to be withdrawn from these occupations & processes and then put into special schools in order to enable them to be mainstreamed into formal schooling system.
• Project Societies at the district level are fully funded for opening up of special schools/Rehabilitation Centres for the rehabilitation of child labour.
• The special schools/Rehabilitation Centres provide:
  
  1. Non-formal/bridge education
  2. Skilled/vocational training
  3. Mid Day Meal
  4. Stipend @ Rs.150/- per child per month.
  5. Health care facilities through a doctor appointed for a group of 20 schools.

The Target group:

The project societies are required to conduct survey to identify children working in hazardous occupations and processes. These children will then form the target group for the project society. Of the children identified those in the age group 5-8 years will have to be mainstreamed directly to formal educational system through the SSA. Working children in the age group of 9- 14 years will have to be rehabilitated through NCLP schools established by the Project Society.

Project Implementation:

The entire project is required to be implemented through a registered society under the Chairmanship of administrative head of the district, namely, District Magistrate/Collector/Dy. Commissioner of the District. Members of the society may be drawn from concerned Government Departments, representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions, NGOs, Trade Unions, etc.

Funding pattern:

The projects have been taken up in the Central Sector, the entire funding is done by the Central Government (Ministry of Labour & Employment). Funds are released to the concerned Project Societies depending upon the progress of project activities.

Present Status of NCLP Scheme:

NCLP scheme was approved for implementation up to 31.03.2021 and since then the scheme has been subsumed/merged with the Samagara Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Scheme of the Ministry of Education. Further, the NCLP Scheme was sanctioned in 324 districts and operational in 59 districts of the country as on 31.03.2021.