In Assam’s Lakhimpur, a teacher fights child labour to bring back his students

Lakhimpur, Dec 29: In rural pockets of Lakhimpur district, classrooms are quietly losing children to brick kilns, migration and hunger. Yet, amid the distressing trend of school dropouts and child labour, the determined schoolteacher has helped reverse the fate of dozens of children.

Schooling of Inamul Islam (8) and Safikul Islam (9), students of Class III and IV at No. 4 Sariyahbari LP School under the Nowboicha Elementary Education Block, was abruptly interrupted in 2024.

Their parents took them to a brick kiln in Sonitpur district, where the brothers were put to work alongside adults.

Their father, Sarfat Ali, a landless daily wage labourer from Sariyahbari village under Nowboicha Revenue Circle, had migrated with his family in search of livelihood.

When the brothers remained absent for over a week, Lutfur Rahman, headmaster of the school, began enquiring about their whereabouts.

On learning that they had been taken to work in a brick kiln outside the district, Rahman, with support from the school management and local social workers, contacted the family and persuaded them to send the children back to school. Both boys have since resumed their classes.

Similar interventions have marked Rahman’s tenure. In 2023, Asiqul Islam, then six years old and newly enrolled in Class I, was taken by his parents to a brick kiln in Khanamukh, Sonitpur district.

Once again, Rahman stepped in, convinced the parents, and ensured the child’s return. Asiqul is now studying in Class III.

Rahman, who retires on December 31, joined No. 4 Sariyahbari LP School as headmaster in 2020 after its amalgamation. Over the past five years, he has helped bring back more than 40 dropout students from child labour.

Many have since completed primary education and moved on to Silaneebari Labour High School. This year alone, Rahman facilitated the return of two more children, Asiqul Haq (8) and Asanur Haq (10), who were taken to a brick kiln in Sonitpur in 2024 while studying in Class II and Class IV respectively.

“Hunger is the prime cause behind migration. Families move to districts like Sonitpur, Darrang and Nagaon, and even to neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, in search of work. They take their school-going children along and engage them in labour. While schools provide mid-day meals, uniforms and textbooks, hunger at home forces parents to make these choices,” Rahman said.

He added that families from Silaneebari, Dezoo and surrounding areas often migrate as far as southern Indian states, carrying young children with them.

A recent door-to-door survey conducted by students from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, between December 8 and 18 found several migrant children working in areca nut units in the Thondamuthur area. The study identified nearly 30 child labourers and their families, many of them migrants from Assam.

According to Rahman, children from Adivasi and Muslim communities, particularly in areas near the Silaneebari Tea Estate under the Silaneebari Police Outpost, are the most affected.

State-level data indicates improvement. As per the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2024–25 report released by the Ministry of Education on September 3, Assam’s dropout rate at the lower primary level (Class I to V) has declined from 6.2% to 3.8%.

Officials attribute this to sustained interventions under the Out-of-School Children (OoSC) programme, which involves regular surveys and coordinated efforts by education officials, gaonburhas and community members to persuade parents and re-enrol children.

Locally, Rahman’s work has drawn widespread appreciation, particularly for helping free children from illegal labour. Under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2016, employing children is a cognisable offence.

These cases reflect a wider problem in rural Lakhimpur, where children from economically distressed families are dropping out of primary schools and being engaged as labourers in brick kilns, often with parental consent, despite strict legal prohibitions. At the same time, they highlight how individual efforts by teachers can stem the tide.

The issue, however, extends beyond Assam. For now, in Sariyahbari, a retiring headmaster’s legacy survives in classrooms once emptied by migration and labour.