Bangalore: Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily stressed the role of education in creating awareness among children of their rights and  to enable them become good citizens of the country.

Speaking after inaugurating a series of programmes on Prevention of Child Labour, he said, 'Education is the only weapon through which we not only can create awareness among children about their rights under the Constitution but also pave the way to their becoming good citizens of the country'. 

Terming child labour as a 'cancer' prevalent all over the world, he called for various initiatives to create awareness about the social menace and to ensure the guilty are brought to book. 'Unless we change the human psyche we cannot hope to achieve the goal of eradicating child labour', he said.

He said Children's Rights as stated by the United Nations must be displayed at every school, office and home to create awareness.

Moily also came down heavily on categorising students as good and weak and cited the example of the Mahatama Gandhi Institution started by him, where street children who scored little initially finally went on to perform well.

Supreme Court Judge R.V. Raveendran said laws relating to protection of child rights were not effectively implemented and that lack of commitment towards this was a concern.

Even after four years, setting up of observation houses, and shelter homes, mandated by the Juvenile Justice Act, have not been executed at various places, he said.