Balaji Sampath and AID Chennai were part of a meeting held in Chennai recently on child rights. The Hindu carried this story here.

CHENNAI: A meeting here on Tuesday to discuss the progress made by the State in the area of child rights had children highlighting the challenges they faced, including alcoholism and superstitious beliefs in their family, poor sanitation and inadequate school infrastructure.

Two children each from 30 districts participated in the meeting, organised by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW). Representatives from various organisations working with children, who would submit a report to the ICCW, heard them.

Such an exercise is conducted periodically and this year, a report has to be sent to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The non-governmental organisation will record their observations to the Council, which in turn would draft the report. A copy of the report would be also submitted to the State Government, an ICCW office bearer said.

The children spoke about their life and expectations at the meeting, in which the challenges in implementing the UNCRC’s resolutions in Tamil Nadu were also discussed.

This is the second consultative meeting that ICCW held with the NGOs this year. The first was in June when child rights activists and experts from the districts discussed issues of education, health, nutrition, early childhood care and education, discrimination, disability, trafficking, child labour, HIV/AIDS, juvenile justice system, alternate care and child abuse. At the meeting venue, charts and sketches by children depicted their observations, including the lack of sanitation in their locality and poor toilet facilities in schools and bad roads.

Representatives of the NGOs noted that though the status of children was better in the State, gaps needed to be addressed. It was necessary to improve the education system and curriculum to ensure that the child enjoyed school and did not want to drop out. Though the State had created infrastructure and ensured near complete enrolment, many dropped out because of poor facilities in schools such as drinking water, toilets and boring teaching methods.

The government, and not the parent, should be taken to the court for not sending the child to school, said Balaji Sampath of AID India.

Summing up one of the sessions, ICCW-TN joint secretary Girija Kumarababu said the children complained about discrimination on the basis of caste and wanted better teacher-student relationship.

They wanted teachers to conduct classes regularly and sought better quality of food at school. They wanted drinking water and felt that teachers should not make them work at school.

The older children wanted laboratories, uniforms, playgrounds and time to play, as most students in higher classes spent over 12 hours in school and tuition classes.