Notebooks, books and pens for a schoolchild in India

Child labor is a widespread phenomenon in India. Poverty and extreme social exclusion of stigmatized groups are the main reasons for this. The Indian government estimates that there are almost 4 million children who have to work, but the number of unreported cases is probably much higher. They mainly come from lower castes or are casteless Dalits (UNICEF, 2008), who are particularly discriminated against. Many children work in mines under unacceptable conditions (US Dept. of Labor, 2012). The dust alone causes dangerous diseases such as tuberculosis. Although child labor is prohibited, the authorities often look the other way and thus tacitly tolerate these abuses. As in the granite mines of Gowripatnam. Nobody checks whether the children go to school. The parents, who are often illiterate themselves, do not know the importance of education. Although the Indian constitution states that everyone has the right to education, more than a third of adults over the age of 15 are illiterate and every second student aged 8-11 cannot read (Drèze, Sen 2014). Only through targeted support for the children in Gowripatnam can they escape their seemingly predetermined fate.