Lalitpur, November 18:

The Lalitpur sub-Metropolitan City (LMC) community development section has started collecting data about children working as domestic helpers in five wards of the LMC from November 16 to formulate appropriate programmes for these children, with co-ordination with their employees. According to Sarita Maharjan of LMC, the pilot project of the data collection — a modified version of registration of domestic helpers — could not be started as it carried a negative connotation. “As it is illegal to employ children below 14 years in Nepal, we changed the project title into ‘Data collection of child labourers working in restaurants, eateries and households’ to make the process easier,” said Maharjan.

The pilot project includes newly-developed areas of LMC namely Sanepa, Kusunti, Satdobato, Gwarko, Khulmatar, Tikidewal, Talcchikhel and Bal Kumari in coordination with various non-government organisations working for children. The data collection collects personal details of a child worker, including permanent address, family status, information about parents, physical fitness as well as details about work, the workplace, contact address and working hours. It also includes reasons for opting for work, with options such as financial status, domestic violence and education level. Information about the employer includes occupation, education background, family size and details of permanent and temporary addresses.