HELP… IF U CARE..

It is said that for children, childhood is timeless. Everything is in present because they don’t feel it.. But before you make any opinion about this statement read this:

Millions of children work to help their families in ways that are neither harmful nor exploitative. But millions more are put to work in ways that drain childhood of all joy - and crush the right to normal physical and educational development. Estimates are that in more than 30 countries covering 35 percent of the developing world populations, 19 percent of 5- to 14-year-olds are working.

So, now what do you think? ‘Are these children actually living their childhood the way they are supposed to’?? Answer is surely NO. Being easy and cheap source of labor these children are main attraction for factories, hotels etc. The conditions which are being provided to them are mostly contemptible, unhygienic and prone to diseases. The plight of such children can be realized from this fact only that while their counterparts play and learn at schools they toil at their workplaces.

But when you see the dwellings of such children then you can’t even stop them from working because it’s due to them that their families are actually able to have at least one meal of the day. So, the main question arises is that what should be done so that these children’s childhood is not faded and at the same time their families are able to sustain themselves.

Recently a study was conducted by one of the leading newspapers that- Is the mid-day meal scheme launched by the Govt. of India motivating children to be educated?? The results which came up were quite variable. Though in some regions it was the driving force because parents thought it as a source of at least one meal for their children but in some regions it was not. The food that was supplied made children ill, which just added to the expenses of the family. So the point that I want to bring in light is that though schemes are being launched with a good intent but the ones’ involved in their execution should have the same positive purpose as well.

Furthermore, laws against child labor are of no use because we also need to see the circumstances due to which these children are working. There may be cases when such children are forced to work but we also can’t discount the rationale of others who are working just to sustain their families. But we can certainly define the parameters for their working conditions and ensure their strict enforcements.
Moreover, if we truly want to help these children then it is indubitably by empowering them with education. Evening schools should be started for such children so that they can work during the day and study by the evening. Even for the parents because only then they could understand the value of education. And if possible, people like us, who are educated - should move on with the motto of ‘each one teach one’ As Winston Churchill once said, the empires of the future are the empires of mind. And we inevitably need a strong nation.

But we all also know that no nation could ever develop if all people don’t grow equally and ultimately its we who could bring this equality in our own special way as no effort is big or small bas ek jazba hona chahiye. On that note I would just like to say that do think about it if you actually care!

(Figures from UNICEF)

(Photo credits: Google)