Officials of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) have rescued 17,287 child labours from the Coimbatore region alone in the last two decades.

“Most of the children were rescued from textile industries, that is predominant in the region,” said Director of NCLP Coimbatore T.V. Vijayakumar. Many were rescued from mechanic shops, restaurants and shops selling artificial jewellery, he added.

“The number of children rescued was very high in Coimbatore region as Tirupur also came under it. But now the situation is not the same. The numbers have come down drastically,” he told the Covai Post.

The rescued children were sent to 675 special centres in and around the District for higher education.

Members of the special teams of NCLP, that was set up in 1995, have been conducting surprise checks in various places since 2010. “From then till now the teams have conducted 141 such checks and rescued 139 children,” Vijayakumar added.

According to him, the NCLP also conducts a census of children of migrant labourers every year. “We ensure that these children go to school. Apart from rescue operations, the NCLP members also conduct awareness drives in every village against child labour.”

The officials also conduct special training for teachers and NCLP staff on how to handle and manage the rescued children, he added.