Lucknow, (IANS) : The Uttar Pradesh government is working on an ambitious scheme to train and make child labourers employment ready, an official said on Friday.

“On the directives of the Labour and Employment Ministry of the Government of India, we will soon be undertaking a special training for child labourers who have been identified in the state capital,” the office said.

For identifying the child labourers, the Social Works Department of the Lucknow University conducted a survey in 110 municipal wards of the urban areas and 20 wards and nagar panchayats in the rural areas.

A total of 6,005 child labourers in the age group of six to 14 years were identified through the survery. While 5,180 of them are in the age group of nine to 14 years, 825 child labourers are aged between six to eight.

These children are involved in embroidery work (chikan, zardozi, zari work), domestic help, used for cleaning utensils in hotels and restaurants, rag picking, working in temporary shops and in auto repair shops, the official told IANS.

All these child labourers work in poor conditions and live in shanties and in rented places but now they will be trained to be employment ready, independent and to ensure that they start living in better conditions, the official said.