The Bethania Foundation, India

• According to the 2011 census, there are 444 million children in India under the age of 18, which is 37% of the total population. One in four children of school-going age is out of school. ie. 99 million children in all have dropped out. Only 2% of schools offer completed school education from Class 1 to Class 12.
• Every 8 minutes, a child goes missing. Over the last 10 years, crimes against children has increased 5 times over. Fear of failure in examinations in the second highest cause of suicides in children.

• According to the Global Slavery Index 2016, there are nearly 18 million modern slaves in India, who are victims of forced labour ranging from prostitution and begging to child labour. This is the highest in the world.
• India has 10.12 million child labourers aged between 5 to 14 years (National Census 2011). An estimated 1.1 million children die every year within one year of their birth due to lack of immunisation.
• There are more than 200,000 child labourers employed in India’s match-box industry. Forced to work, deprived of education and their basic needs, these children suffer the consequences of a society that looks at them with indifference

South Asia more than 100 million children are treated as beasts of burden, including over 12 million in India.