Deserted by her husband, Sulthan Beevi, who works for a match factory at Indira Nagar in Sivakasi, did not know what to do with her son B. Rajak Mohamed, till she met P. Selvakani, a National Child Labour (NCLP) instructor. Today, she is a proud mother. Rajak scored 91 in mathematics and is eager to pursue a course of his mother’s choice.
S. Priyadarshini of Sattur, who belongs to a migrant workers’ family, scored 467 studying in an English medium school. Over 400 children rescued from labour in different parts of the State have passed the class 10 examination securing an overall 92 per cent. According to officials from the Child Labour Monitoring Cell of the Labour Department, of the 469 children who appeared for the examination 429 passed. “We are in talks with our field officers to counsel and enrol these children in better schools according to their stream preferences for class 11 and 12,” said P. Amudha, Labour Commissioner.
The topper among these children, S. Kavin, from Salem, scored 476 out of 500 had been rescued from a power loom unit. S. Sivarama Lakshmi of Tirunelveli, who was rescued from a beedi rolling unit, came second with 470. B. Rajak Mohamed of Virudhunagar district, rescued from a match factory, was third with 469 marks.
Officials said that 138 children appeared for the examination in Salem district, Virudhunagar, with the second highest number of students (85) registered cent per cent results. Eight of the 15 NCLP districts recorded cent per cent results. In Chennai and Kancheepuram 12 and 19 children appeared for the examination and all of them passed. Devarajan, a visually challenged student in Namakkal, rescued from a weaving unit scored 323. “For those who cannot afford, we have sought sponsors and enrolled their families in government schemes, so that they do not have to drop out,” Ms. Amudha said
