The labourers working in this brick kiln in West Bengal's Madhayamgram area of North 24 Parganas have migrated from Jharkhand. The money they get – Rs 30 a day, in some cases – is too little for survival.

Most of the adults were brought up to be kiln workers – as are their children in turn. When I asked a brick kiln owner about the education of the children growing up at the kiln, he said: "The children don’t need schools… If they went to school, who would our future workers be?"

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