KATHMANDU, AUGUST 15

The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security said it had provided a conditional grant of Rs 300,000 each to 104 local levels through the Ministry of Finance for the operation of a child labour-free programme in the running fiscal.

According to a notice published on its website, the MoLESS solicited proposals from other local levels interested in getting the conditional grant. The grant is aimed at implementing the 'Procedure for Declaration of Local Level as Child Labour Free Zone- 2020' approved by the Government of Nepal.

The procedure strives to free each local level from the worst form of child labour in a sustainable manner, and make Nepal a child labour-free country in the long term as per the constitution, existing Labour Act, and commitments made by the government at national and international levels.

This procedure focuses on child labourers being used in private homes, agriculture, animal husbandry, drug smuggling, weaving, brick kilns, mines, entertainment sector, including sexual exploitation, transport, garment, trafficking, street vending, herbs collection, construction of physical infrastructure, hotels, restaurants and other sectors specified by the local levels.

It has stipulated a provision of seven indicators based on which a local level may be declared a child labour-free zone. The indicators include updated data and documentation, a separate policy related to the elimination of child labour, operation of programmes for the elimination of child labour, allocation of budget for programmes, institutional arrangements, educational status of children, and provision of cooperation, coordination, and collaboration.

Enrolment of school-age children should be at least 95 per cent in the concerned local level to be declared a child labour-free zone. The local level is also required to conduct various programmes for the elimination of child labour. Such programmes comprise public awareness raising, psycho-social counselling, arrangement of alternative income sources for families of child labourers, skill training for school dropouts of children below 18 years and signing of an agreement with informal sectors for their commitment not to engage any child in labour.

According to the MoLESS, the concerned local level needs to conduct a survey based on the indicators to ascertain if it is eligible to be declared a child labour free zone. The MoLESS will evaluate the survey result before allowing the local level to declare itself a child labour free zone.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 16, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.