Involve community in struggle for children’s rights

By Aarti

CHILDREN’S Day, observed every year on November 14, (coinciding with the birth anniversary of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru), is of little significance to a vast majority of the 375 million children, forming 40 per cent of the Indian population, virtually living out a Dickensian nightmare. Some of them do not even survive beyond adolescence. More so, because they have yet to be seen as a distinct social problem.

Child labour is a violation of the child’s basic right to education. But who cares?

Tens of thousands are chiefly engaged in agriculture and associated activities in rural areas and in a variety of industries and informal jobs in urban areas. Unofficial figures suggest that as many as 40 to 100 million children in the country work, many of them in hazardous industries like glassware, fireworks, quarries etc, despite a Supreme Court ban. Notably, children as young as seven years of age, spend days stitching footballs and boxing and cricket gloves for exports.

The plight of an estimated 11 million unwanted and uncared for children, either rag-picking on the streets, or carrying out odd jobs at railway stations, bus stands and other public places for a pittance in our metros and around, is equally shocking.

The most exploitative forms, including child prostitution, involve nearly four lakh children.

Over 50 per cent of the children suffer from malnutrition, 10 per cent from various kinds of disabilities, 33 per cent (in the age group 6 to 14 years — nearly 35 million) are out of school — despite the government’s grandiose programmes.

Although the state was made responsible to provide free and compulsory education to all children from six to 14 years, within 10 years of the promulgation of the Constitution, we lag behind by over 35 years in attaining universal primary education.

Effective elementary education as a desirable goal has been quite elusive, thanks to problems in the implementation of the much tinkered with educational policy.

With the dubious distinction of having the world’s second largest education system after China, our enrolment data and age-specific literacy rates may apparently appear glorious. Yet, in terms of expanding the approach to education, the harsh reality, as corroborated by various studies, is that we still have a long way to go.

Nearly 50 per cent of the population is illiterate. And of the 50 per cent who can read or write, 25 per cent are 8th standard dropouts. A report of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry puts the number of illiterates in India at a whopping 424 million. These illiterates pose a serious threat to the socio-economic development of the country. A Delhi-based NGO, Butterflies, has been trying to impress upon the Government, without avail, the need to focus more on children’s rights, child abuse, drug abuse, plight of child prostitutes as also for a comprehensive national survey and effective interventions.

There is a vicious circle. There has been a five-fold increase in the number of teachers and numerous private schools have mushroomed that exploit parents. As most government schools have failed to deliver, more and more children are opting for private schools. The infrastructural facilities in several government schools leave much to be desired. Operating from tents and makeshift buildings, many schools offer no protection to children from the scorching sun or the biting cold of the winter.

India ratified the Convention of the Rights of Child in 1991. There are any number of government-sponsored programmes but it was a Supreme Court directive that enabled nearly one lakh children, involved in hazardous jobs, to get enrolled in special schools set up under the National Child Labour Projects.

Still, this is only the tip of the iceberg. More recently, the Union Government’s rejection of a recommendation made by the National Human Rights Commission, prohibiting government employees from hiring children below 14 years of age as domestic help, has been a serious setback to efforts being made to protect the rights of the child.

A multi-faceted strategy, that addresses their problems in totality, will spell success. Nevertheless, the holistic development of children must take into account right to education and protection from abuse and corporal punishment.

The efficacy of schools and the success in teaching would depend, not only on school-level inputs but also on various outher external factors. Basically, policies have to be more coherent so that education is able to assume the role of a catalyst in the process of national development. It must reduce dropout rates and boost learning skills among the socially disadvantaged.

Since children from poor families tend to get pushed into menial and demeaning jobs for want of educational opportunities, the non-formal learning methods would stand them in good stead. Since the growing incidence of child exploitation has a close correlation with lack of awareness and sensitivity, a change can be brought about by empowering women.

Fulfilling the child’s basic needs, necessarily by creating conducive environment for them to realise their full potential, should be the next step.

Lastly, it is imperative to involve the community in the struggle for children’s rights.