North Lakhimpur: Inamul Islam (8) and Safikul Islam (9), students of Class III and IV at No. 4 Sariyahbari LP School in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, recalled how their parents had taken them to a brick kiln in Sonitpur district in 2024 to work as child laborers.
Their father, Sarfat Ali, a landless daily-wage laborer, had moved the family in search of livelihood, forcing the young boys into labor.
When the children were absent for over a week, headmaster Lutfur Rahman intervened. With support from the school management committee and local social workers, he persuaded their parents to send the boys back to school. Both brothers now attend classes regularly, a success credited to the state education department’s Out-of-School Children (OoSC) programme.
Rahman has repeatedly intervened to rescue students from child labor. In 2023, six-year-old Asiqul Islam was taken to a brick kiln in Khanamukh, Sonitpur. Rahman contacted the parents, bringing Asiqul back to school. Currently studying in Class III, he is one of over forty children Rahman has helped return to education since joining the school in 2020.
This year, Rahman rescued two more students, Asiqul Haq (8) and Asanur Haq (10), who had also been taken to Sonitpur brick kilns. “Hunger is the prime cause of poor families migrating to districts like Sonitpur, Darang, Nagaon, and parts of Arunachal Pradesh, taking children along for work. The school provides mid-day meals, uniforms, and textbooks, but at home, children face hunger due to their parents’ economic condition,” Rahman said.
He added that some families migrate as far as southern India, and students from Adivasi and Muslim communities are particularly vulnerable to dropping out, especially near Silaneebari Tea Estate.
According to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2024-25 report, Assam has reduced lower primary school dropouts from 6.2% to 3.8%.
The OoSC programme, led by district and block officials with local community support, regularly identifies out-of-school children and persuades parents to return them to school.
Rahman, who retires on December 31, has been widely applauded for his efforts in rescuing children from illegal labor. Employing children in such work is a cognizable offense under the Child & Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 2016.
Highlighting the broader migration trend, a recent student-led survey in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, from December 8 to 18, found nearly 30 children working in areca nut units, many of whom had migrated from Assam.
These cases underline the ongoing challenge of child labor in rural Assam and the crucial role of teachers and community initiatives in bringing children back to education.