Aditi Panda
In the morning when we read the newspaper or switch on the TV, we find news of the many atrocities on the weak especially innocent children. The children suffer under the scourge of multiple violations of children’s rights as highlighted by the print and electronic media.
As meek bystanders, we silently allow children to work in difficult situations far away from their parents at a tender age or getting married early when ideally, they must be in school. All the efforts by government have gone kaput to improve the status of the children in the society.
Even today our children are unsafe, insecure and abused. Celebrating children’s namesake is of no use until we work in tandem to ensure that our children live in a happy and safe environment.
Kasturi Mahapatra, Commissioner, Odisha Commission for Protection of Child Rights says, “The government has developed and designed so many child protection tools but even then child rights are violated every day and everywhere in the community. Every individual who is working to protect child rights has to work in a convergence as working single handed is not going to suffice the purpose. Child protection is a puzzle and even if one piece is removed the puzzle becomes incomplete. It is necessary to cement the operational gaps to reduce the time for the child to get justice. As responsible adults we should keep our inflated ego aside and work to ensure that every child is safe and protected.”
The Child rights commission has launched a one year campaign on ‘Unprotected and abuse free childhood for the child’, to protect every child. There is an outcry about the street children being exploited through child labour, which is one of the most outrageous child rights violations of present times and an organized crime of global concern.
“We work with the children found at brick kilns during the seasonal migration who are uprooted from their homes and schools. We enrol them in near-by schools and maintain a dialogue with their parent school back in their home town so that they can join the same school after they return. We keep a track of them to stop them from becoming child labourers. Most importantly we educate the mothers who play a pivotal role to ensure that the child goes to school. There are many barriers but we have taken up it as a challenge to ensure that the child enjoys his childhood”, says Umi Daniel, Regional Head migration &education, Aide et Action South Asia
Today the society is a quiet onlooker to the harm on the psyche of young children who fall prey to cyber crime as internet and smart phones make it easy. The patriarchal dominance makes the victim to hide such incidents and mutely accept it as their destiny, petrified by the trauma.
“Parents are wary of sending their adolescent girls to school in unsafe conditions. The only alternative to this lies in there early marriages and shouldering responsibilities on weak shoulders, more so in the rural areas, when they should be actually leading a carefree life in the security of their parental homes. This is the situation even after so many years of independence,” says Anuradha Kanungo, a mother and teacher.
Are we only going to be a silent spectator to this unacceptable harassment subjected to innocent children? It’s high time that we decide our priorities and take a pledge this CHILDRENS DAY that we will give our children a safe and secured childhood.
(Aditi is a freelance writer and pursues interest in the area of social issues)
It is actually true that we have ourselves seen such things happen but we’ve never tried to stop it. In the rural areas, the people actually prefer sending the kids to go work at some place and earn a few pennies more rather than letting them go to school and get educated. Many of them have the opinion similar to the thought process “Education will not fill our bellies at night. Money will.” So this is basically what makes them send their kids to work. They even get the daughters married at an early age thinking she will be better off in her ‘sasural’ and not realizing the fact that they are stripping away her most precious time, that is , her childhood, away from her.
Therefore it’s extremely vital that before we try to help the kids, we need to focus on changing the mindset or mentality of the parents first. It’s a long road but in the end it’s gonna be worth it. :’)
Thanks so much for reading this article and penning your thoughts
A hard hitting, incisive article. Kudos to the writer for highlighting the miserable state the majority of kids are in today!
Thanks for your comments.coming from you its really huge
Nice article. Each n every one should realize the problem faced by the society n take an oath not to engage any children for any reason whatsoever.
Agree completely.we all have to do our bit.thanks for your comments
The adage Children are the future of our society….. Is an oxymoron. A contradiction of sorts in our supposedly aware and compassionate society. Forget rural, but in urban households, sophisticated and educated residents still keep children as maids and helpers. This is still rampant in cities and towns. This goes to illustrate the insensitivity of our society. For instance, the paper delivery, the milk delivery and laundry services employ children on a very regular basis. Its as if no one is concerned at all. Just during diwali week I saw a kid cleaning a resident’s car, a big SUV. I was aghast and when I checked with the security agency was told it was a routine matter. Most people use children as a helping hand to bolster the household income. Education is not a priority but earning potential is. Its all economics. Doesn’t matter what the child is going through. The parents are the culprits for stealing the child’s childhood away. Again, it’s very difficult to pinpoint the blame. It lies squarely on all of us. We have not evolved much as a society and it will take more time for the mindsets of people to change.
The government of India has brought about a rule against child labor, still we see little change in child abuse, why?
I strongly believe, a materialistic mindset aimed solely towards financial gain is driving our thought process. We have to see children as reflections of GOD and not a means to an end.
Bharat Chetty, Pune
Your views are thought provoking and realistic as it reflects de happenings in the so called elite strata of our society.thanks a ton for yr valuable and interesting feedback
Nice concept for this generation.
Thanksssssss a ton dear
Child labour is a big curse for our society. Today’s youth is very talented one side where we are going on the way of success on the other hand these child labor are still on back foot. And we all r responsible for this miserable condition of children. This is the responsibility f everyone we should try to do our best for the welfare f these children. Solution to the child labor is not to be in the form of an ACT from govt. But evry citizen must wrk for it. Nice thought…exceptional pledge
Children should hv pens in their hands not stools
Thannnnnnnnnkkkkkkku dear so very much
Child labour is a big curse for our society. Today’s youth is very talented one side where we are going on the way of success on the other hand these child labor are still on back foot. And we all r responsible for this miserable condition of children. This is the responsibility f everyone we should try to do our best for the welfare f these children.
Yes agree that child labour is indeed a big curse.thanks for yr comments dear
Good article. Yes, we in India have so many good rules led by the govt but what about their implementation? The lethargy, unwillingness of the govt itself along with the lack of motivation of the public makes the matters worse.
On whatsup, Prasad Barve,Pune
This is the responsibility of each and every adult to protect the childhood of every child. This a social duty, not a single government policy will change the situation, unless we all change our attitude towards this issue seriously.
On whatsup Saibali Pal,bhubaneswar
Very nicely written article clearly addressing one of major issues. The first step is all educated people have to outrightly reject the use of young children at work though it comes with a cheaper tag. Educating parents of these underpreveliged children can help to bring a change. Finally create opportunity for these children to study,play & enjoy their childhood too.
Thanks for your sincere opinion.highly appreciate it
[13/11 7:15 PM] Nala Durai: Its a very noble thing to do. I have done it for AGARAM foundations in chennai, which does almost the same work
[13/11 7:16 PM] Nala Durai: Even in that link, the actor that is shown is tamil actor VIJAY, who is the official sponsor for Agaram foundations and that picture is displayed in that link too
Fron Naladurai , chennai on whatsup