Overview
Overview
Social Initiatives
India
Learning for Life
In India, where child labor is still widespread and anchored in society, Bayer CropScience has developed a comprehensive project for the protection and advancement of children. Indian subsidiary Proagro stipulates in its contracts with cotton seed producers that child labor will not be tolerated and penalties imposed for breaches.
At the same time, Bayer CropScience strives to ensure that children receive a school education. To this end, Proagro has signed a cooperation agreement in India with the renowned Naandi Foundation. By the beginning of 2006, Naandi had already established 29 Creative Learning Centers, 19 of which were financed by Proagro as part of the Learning For Life program. In these Creative Learning Centers, children who previously worked in agriculture or other sectors are prepared for a school education. There they learn the basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills they need to enroll in a state-run school later on. By the end of March 2006, 700 children had been accepted into these preparatory schools. Proagro also supports continuing education initiatives for teachers at the state-run village schools and provides teaching materials for scientific curricula.
In addition to the establishment of the Creative Learning Centers and the contractual prohibition of child labor, the Learning For Life program comprises the following elements:
At the same time, Bayer CropScience strives to ensure that children receive a school education. To this end, Proagro has signed a cooperation agreement in India with the renowned Naandi Foundation. By the beginning of 2006, Naandi had already established 29 Creative Learning Centers, 19 of which were financed by Proagro as part of the Learning For Life program. In these Creative Learning Centers, children who previously worked in agriculture or other sectors are prepared for a school education. There they learn the basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills they need to enroll in a state-run school later on. By the end of March 2006, 700 children had been accepted into these preparatory schools. Proagro also supports continuing education initiatives for teachers at the state-run village schools and provides teaching materials for scientific curricula.
In addition to the establishment of the Creative Learning Centers and the contractual prohibition of child labor, the Learning For Life program comprises the following elements:
- intensive information campaign for the involved societal groups: as child protection requires the participation of everyone, Proagro’s child protection project is concentrated on model villages;
- close cooperation with national and international organizations on the issue of child protection;
- regular, unannounced field inspections to ensure that the ban on child labor is adhered to;
- whenever the contractual agreement not to employ children is broken, offenders are penalized for this violation through lower buying prices or even termination of the contract;
- financial assistance through a micro credit program for Indian farmers: through loan guarantees from Bayer, the farmers are able to draw low-interest bank loans and are thus protected from the usurious interest rates of private lenders;
- training and advice for farmers on how to correctly plant and use seed and crop protection products in order to achieve higher yields and thus higher revenues.
Despite its relatively small market share of 2 percent in Indian cotton seed production, Proagro works intensively within its scope of influence in the fight against child labor. Indian associations, international institutions such as the International Labour Organization, government agencies and the media have described the initiative of Bayer CropScience in Andhra Pradesh as a pioneering project. The government of Andhra Pradesh now recommends some of these measures to fight child labor.
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