Q1. What is the illegal act that has been going on around/with him/her?

My name is Niranjan Kumar and I have been teaching in Destiny International for almost 2
months. I have seen child labour as a frequent illegal activity happening in this school. As
our school is in the outskirts of Bihar, employing underage workers is very frequent as it is
easy to employ them and they are available at very cheap prices. The future of these
children doesn’t seem to be going on the right path because our director is exploiting these
innocent children for his evil intentions. I had a conversation with the parents of the family
but they seem to be helpless due to the economic crisis. My fellow teachers are not at all
bothered by this issue apart from that they don’t even consider it an issue. I have been
warned by the Director and higher authorities of the school for raising my voice. Moreover,
to this, they started side-lining me from every function, and hence, they are trying to make
an example out of me that this will happen if anyone will go against the authorities.

Q2. For how long?

I have joined this school very recently but talking to a few locals and sources they have
informed me that this practice has been happening for more than half a decade but still I
can’t be sure as I have joined this institution 2 months back. This school came into existence
a decade ago and the way things have been I can at least predict that the practice of child
labour must be happening since the opening of the school. The reactions I received after I
raised my voice were a clear indication that they have got used to this practice as my Co-
workers don’t even consider it a topic of debate.

Q3. By whom?
The people involved in this scandal are the Director of the school and higher authorities.
They have personalized meetings so I don’t have depth knowledge of the situation as it is
very confidential but by the look of things, it seems they discuss marketing strategies and it
is a trend I have seen that whenever there is a meeting more underage workers are
employed and other changes are also done to increase the profit margins of the school.
They involve high-profile locals for this malpractice. The locals with their connections
provide the school with underage workers who can work as sweeper’s etc and what they
get in return is a good relationship with Mr. Rajesh Singh (Director of School).

Q4. Actions taken against it? If ‘no’, then why?

Complaint has been made out but no response from the police officials. The reason for no
response is the political power of the Director. I got to know about an instance where
someone filed a case against the school but the FIR of the case was also not done. The
status of the director is the reason why police officers will not even think of filing a case
against him as the repercussions of this would be losing their job or getting transferred. Five
years ago a police inspector of our local police was transferred to a different district just
because he wanted to stop the suppression of the children by taking action against the
school. After that instance, no police officer or local has even thought of raising the voice for
the innocent children so that they can fight for their dreams.

Q5. If given an opportunity to seek any legal help, will they be willing to take it?
I don’t think that families of those children will be willing to take any legal help because they
belong to very poor families. The economic crisis is the major issue in our area and when
you will ask people to take a step towards a better society, the answer you will always get is
“You can’t change the whole world!”
People need to understand that you can’t change the whole world but at least you can
change an individual. You can proceed towards the short-term goals and then proceed
towards the long-term goals. Change can be brought if all of us want to bring a change,
every child deserves to have a dream and the child deserve proper opportunity to achieve
his/her dreams. First, these children need to believe in themselves because a believer can
only become an achiever.

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