As many as 70 children of Sonshi village and other neighbouring villages in Goa have allegedly “stuck” in their homes and are “unable to go to school”, as mining companies after the mining operations came to a standstill following a Supreme Court order.
No transport is available to these children to go to school, as roads are “inaccessible due to mining dumps placed near Soshi and other villages.
The issue came up for discussion at a district level consultation on Children in Mining Area, Illegal Mining, District Mineral Fund (DMF) and Future Generation Fund, organized by civil rights organizations Samata, mines minerals and people (mm&P) and Setu at Honda Panchayat, Sattari, Goa on December 22, 2018.
Participants said, mining children are nobody’s children and are falling through the cracks, as they are mostly ignored by all the concerned child welfare departments, government authorities, unaware of the mining children’s inclusion in the respective departments. They added, there is confusion and lack of clarity as in which department the children in the mining areas should be included and what basic facilities and amenities should be provided to them.
Secretary-general of mm&P Ashok Shrimali said that “this is violation of the Right to Education Act and it is the state government’s responsibility to provide free transport for school.”
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