Gaumul Rural Municipality in Bajura has shown that visible progress in society is possible if the local level is actively engaged. Efforts of two ward chairmen of the local federal unit have not only brought 19 children out of domestic labour but also sent them to school.

-Nimendra Shahi : Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal

Children of Gaumul Rural Municipality in Bajura, who worked as domestic help in many cities of the country including Kathmandu, have started returning home. People’s representatives in Gaumul have taken initiatives to bring them back.

According to Gaumul RM Ward 4 Manakot Chairman Birendra Rokaya, 19 children have returned so far while efforts were being made to bring back the remaining others. “After the rural municipality constantly prodded the guardians, they have become active,” said Rokaya.

After media reports of Bajura children being supplied to families in different cities for domestic labour, people’s representatives of Gaumal Rural Municipality had reached villages to collect information of such children. According to the report made public by the RM office, 43 children from two wards of Gaumul are still working as domestic help in several districts including the Capital Kathmandu. The data shows the number of children staying away as domestic workers is 23 in Ward 4 and 20 in Ward 5.

After returning home, the 19 children have been admitted to school. A 14-year-old of Gaumul-4, Manakot, who worked at the house of Nabin Chand Thakuri in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur, returned home in the third week of April. He is now studying at Kritichaur Secondary School, Gaumul in the eighth grade. He was sent to Mahendranagar for domestic job by Kritichaur School headmaster Ramananda Joshi. Both his hands, broken while working at Thakuri’s house, have steel support. “I had sent him with the hope that he would study. He has come back in this state,” said the child’s father, Aphilal Dhami.

A 12-year-old child of Gaumul Rural Municipality-5 was sent to Pokhara by his village elder Kalak Rokaya on the promise of study. In the tourist city, he spent a year working at the Lakeside house of trader Babita Singh Shah. Having returned to his village, he now studies in Grade 2 at Kritichaur School.

A child from Gaumul, Bajura, who got both his hands broken while working for a family in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur. 

After news reports of Bajura children used in household chores came out, Women and Children Office Bajura, Child Welfare Committee Bajura and Gaumul RM wrote to their guardians to bring back the minors. Following the correspondence, guardians travelled to cities to bring the children home. Deprived of education while working for rich families, the children are now studying at schools near their homes in villages.

A 13-year-old girl working at the house of Chandra Shah in Budhiganga Municipality, Bajura, has returned home too. After the Women Development Office wrote a letter for “immediate return of children working as domestic help”, her sister went there to bring the girl back. The elder sister said the child cleaned the house, cut grass and washed dishes at the house.

A 14-year-old child of Gaumul-5 has been admitted to Malika Secondary School at the district headquarters Martadi in Grade 8. Until mid-April, he worked at the house of a vegetable dealer in Kathmandu. After the call of the people’s representatives to bring him back from the Capital immediately, his guardians sent for him.

Earlier, guardians themselves sent minors to stay with families in the cities hoping that their children would get to study there. But they were not aware of the hardships the young ones would be subjected to. This made the job of middlemen easy who sent the children to cities. Gaumul RM chief Hari Rokaya said it had been difficult to convince that such children should be returned from cities. “Parents are not much aware. They don’t even know what their children are doing in cities,” said Rokaya. “Lately they have started realising that they must not send their children to city to make them labourers.”

The Gaumul municipal office is collecting data on the sources of income of local residents and their vocation. RM chief Rokaya said preparations were being made to provide children of needy families, as shown by the data, with scholarships. Of the children rescued from domestic labour, 14 are studying at Kritichaur School, 4 at Thala Secondary School and 1 at Malika Secondary School.

The problem of taking children to cities on false promises of study is more acute in Gaumul. After the rural municipality was formed last year, RM chief and deputy chief and chairpersons of wards 4 and 5 enquired about the whereabouts of such children. The result: return of the children. Happy at the local representatives’ initiative, guardians have thanked the ward chairman for helping their children return.

Children who were rescued from domestic labour in the cities. They are currently studying at Kritichaur Secondary School in Gaumul, Bajura. Photos : Nimendra Shahi

“My nephew had taken my son saying that he would get to study, but that did not happen,” said Gyan Bahadur Rokaya, whose son was brought back from Pokhara. “Our eyes opened when the local government asked us to bring him back.” Rokaya’s son is now studying at Kritichaur School in the second grade.

Headmaster Khagendra Bahadur Rawat of Thala Secondary School at Gaumul RM-4 said it gives him satisfaction to educate children who used to be domestic workers. “Guardians did not heed my call not to send them away,” said Rawat. “Though late, the children have return. They’ll now get to study well.”

Kritichaur School teacher Ganesh Rokaya appreciated the rural municipality for bringing back children. “This will also make guardians elsewhere aware that children must not be sent away for work. Such children are numerous in the district. They must be brought back,” he said.

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (2000) bars use of minors under 14 as workers. Section 4 of the Act says: “No child shall be engaged in works as a laborer against his/her will by way of persuasion, misrepresentation or by subjecting him/her to any influence or fear or threat or coercion or by any other means.” Sub-section 2 of Section 19 says: Whoever commits any act in contravention of Sub-section (2) of section 3 and section 4 shall be liable to a punishment of an imprisonment of one year in maximum or a fine of 50,000 rupees in maximum or both.

The ‘Village Child Protection Committee’ is preparing to declare Manakot village in Gaumul child labour-free. Gaumul RM chief Hari Bahadur Rokaya said all the children would be returned before the declaration.