Education Sports and Entertainment for Children’s Development
Children are the nation’s assets. They
are future citizens of India. The Investment in children helps for human
resource development of the country. A happy child will make his/her home and
the country happy. The future of any country depends upon the right upbringing
of its children, for which a congenial environment and adequate opportunities
for wholesome development are essential. According to UNICEF’s Report 2013 “The
State of the World’s Children,” one-third of the world’s children lack adequate
shelter, 31% lack basic sanitation and 21% have no access to clean, potable
water. Illness, malnutrition, and premature death are common when
children lack the most basic protection. Children have a
right to entertainment and they should be brought in healthy environment. The
schools will organise excursions for children to promote their interaction with
the nature and to gain field experience outside school and home. The school
children also will be taken to the science Museums to create awareness about
science and technology developments. There are children courts in Goa. During
the armed conflicts anywhere in the world children are the victims of the
violence. There are several World level initiatives like UN Convention on Child
Rights, UNICEF etc working for protection of human rights of children. India
has provided constitutional rights and enacted several laws for protection of
children. Juvenile justice is one such aspect. Measures like National Policy on
Children, Integrated Child Protection Scheme, National Commission On Protection
Of Child Rights, Prohibition Of Child Labour, establishment of Children’s Film
Society, organising International Children’s Film Festival Of India, National
Bal Bhawans etc facilitate welfare of children. Children parks, children sports
and films are necessary for promoting health and entertainment of children.
Understanding child psychology is necessary for formulating policies for
children. President of India give away Child Awards for encouraging brave
children. Children’s Day is celebrated across the country on 14th November
every year.
HUMAN
RIGHTS OF CHILDREN
All human rights are also the human rights of children with particular
attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors,
including their right to association with both parents, human identity as well
as the basic needs for food, universal Education, health care and criminal laws
appropriate for the age and development of the child, equal protection of the
child's civil rights, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of the
child's race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin,
religion, disability, color, ethnicity, or other characteristics.
Interpretations of children's rights range from allowing children the capacity
for autonomous action to the enforcement of children being physically, mentally
and emotionally free from abuse, physical and psychological. "
CONSTITUTIONAL
RIGHTS OF CHILDREN
The Preamble of Indian Constitution states that
Justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity for all the citizens including
children are the fundamental philosophy of the Constitution. Article 14
deals with Equality before law and equal protection of laws. It is available to
every person including children. Article 15 (3) empowers the State to make special
legal provision for children. It provides mandate to the government to ensure
children’s welfare constitutionally. Article 21 (A) ensures free and
compulsory Education for all the children in the age group of 6- 14 years.
Based on 86th Constitutional Amendment Children’s Right to
Education Act 2009 was enacted. Article 23 imposes total ban on forced labour
and is punishable under the Act. Article 24 prohibits employment of
children below the age of 14years in hazardous industries like mines, match
industries etc. Article 51 A clause (k) and (j) states that the
parent or the guardian’s responsibility to provide opportunities for education
to his child or as case may be ward between the age of 6- 14 yrs. The directive
principles in Constitution of India also provide protection for the children
under Article 39 (e), Article 39 (f), Article 41, Article 42, Article 45, and
Article 47.
UN CONVENTION ON CHILD RIGHTS (CRC 1989)
The important rights that CRC accords to the
children are the right to survival and development, the right to freedom of
expression, the right to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful
assembly; the right to the protection; the right to access to information; the
right to protection against all forms of injury and maltreatment; the right to
attain the highest standard of health; the right to adequate standard of
living; the right to primary education; the right to rest, leisure and play;
the protection from economic exploitation; the right to protection from the
sexual exploitation and the right to protection and care affected by an armed
conflict. The Convention further entails duty on the States Parties to provide
free and compulsory primary education and suitable alternative care should be
provided to parentless children. It recognized that, in all countries in the
world, there are children living in exceptionally difficult conditions, and
that such children need special consideration and further emphasized the
importance of international co-operation for improving the living conditions of
children in every country in particular in the developing country.
UNICEF
The United Nations Children's Fund is a United
Nations Program headquartered in New York City that provides long-term
humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing
countries. It is one of the members of the United Nations Development Group and
its Executive Committee. UNICEF was created by the United Nations General
Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to
children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. In 1953, UNICEF
became a permanent part of the United Nations System and its name was shortened
from the original United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund but it
has continued to be known by the popular acronym based on this previous title.
UNICEF relies on contributions from governments and private donors. Governments
contribute two thirds of the organization's resources; private groups and some
6 million individuals contribute the rest through the National Committees. It
is estimated that 91.8% of their revenue is distributed to Program Services.
UNICEF's programs emphasize developing community-level services to promote the
health and well-being of children. UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1965 and the Prince of Asturias Award of Concord in 2006. Most of UNICEF's work
is in the field, with staff in over 190 countries and territories. More than
200 country offices carry out UNICEF's mission through a program developed with
host governments. Seventeen regional offices provide technical assistance to
country offices as needed.
LAWS FOR PROOTECTION OF CHILDREN
The Parliaments enacted several legislations for protection of children in the
country. The legal enactment includes Right to protection of children
against sexual offences 2012, Child Marriage Prohibition Act 2006, Child Labor
Prohibition Act 1986, Protection of Children Act 2005, Children’s right to free
and compulsory education 2009, etc. “The Protection of Children
from Sexual Offence Act, 2012” deals with child abuse cases. The Act
provides equal protection to both male and female child. The Act provides for
stringent punishments, which have been graded as per the gravity of varying
periods. It provides for establishment of Special Courts for trial of offences
under the Act, keeping the best interest of child as of paramount importance
especially the children conflict with law at every stage of judicial process.
The Act incorporates child friendly procedures for reporting, recording of
evidence, investigation and trial of offences. Right to Education (RTE)
Act 2009 came into force from April 1, 2010. This was a historic day
for the people of India as from this day the right to education will be
accorded the same legal status as the right to life as provided by Article 21A
of the Indian Constitution. Every child in the age group of 6-14 years will be
provided 8 years of elementary education in an age appropriate classroom in the
vicinity of his/her neighbourhood. Any cost that prevents a child from
accessing school will be borne by the State which shall have the responsibility
of enrolling the child as well as ensuring attendance and completion of 8 years
of schooling. No child shall be denied admission for want of documents; no
child shall be turned away if the admission cycle in the school is over and no
child shall be asked to take an admission test. The children with disabilities
will also be educated in the mainstream schools. The Act seeks to remedy the
structural deficiencies such as infrastructure and availability of school
teachers which have pushed children out of schools. Compounding the lack of
infrastructure and issues of corporal punishment and consequent insult and
humiliation of the children are to be avoided. Children are often punished for
non-payment of school fees and other charges, not wearing school uniforms and
inability to buy text books, notebooks and other stationery. They are subject
to discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, disability, ill-health and
so-on. The Act provides that ‘no child shall be subjected to physical
punishment or mental harassment’. It also spells out a child friendly pedagogy.
JUVENILE JUSTICE IN INDIA
A child
in need of care and protection includes missing children, abandoned and
surrendered children, children without parents, street and working children,
run away children. Child beggars, Children with parents or guardians not fit to
take care of them due to physical or mental incapacity, disabled children,
homeless children, abused, tortured, exploited, trafficked children, children
affected by armed conflict, children affected or suffering from terminal
diseases with no one to support them, and children living with those who have
abused or killed another child(ren) and are therefore in danger of being killed
or abused. Juvenis in Latin means young. The Juvenile Justice System emerged
from the need to have an alternative legal system for dealing with children.
The first enactment for juveniles in India was the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986
(53 of 1986). This law has since been amended twice in the years 2000 and 2006,
to make it more child-friendly. The 2000 amendment followed India’s
ratification of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Child (UNCRC)
wherein a set of standards have been laid out and are to be adhered to by all
signatory State Parties.
The
various provisions of the Constitution of India bestow on the State a primary
responsibility to ensure all needs of children and to protect the basic human
rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes social
reintegration of child victims to the extent possible without resorting to
judicial proceedings. Therefore, the Government of India, in order to be
pragmatic, re-enacted the Juveniles Justice Act, 1986 and taking into account
the standards prescribed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United
Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, 1985
(the Beijing Rules), the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles
Deprived of their Liberty (1990) and other relevant international instruments
on the subject, the Central Government enacted a new legislation by indicating
in its short title the change that inculcated in the approach and thoughts
towards juveniles towards their best interest and Rehabilitation
NATIONAL
POLICY ON CHILDREN
In 1974, the Government of India adopted a National Policy for children,
declaring the nation’s children as ‘supremely important assets’. This policy
lays down recommendations for a comprehensive health programme, supplementary
nutrition for mothers and children, nutrition Education and mothers, free and
compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14, non-formal preschool
education, promotion of physical education and recreational activities, special
consideration for the children of weaker sections of the population like the
scheduled castes and the schedule tribes, prevention of exploitation of
children and special facilities for children with handicaps. The policy provided
for a National Children’s Board to act as a forum to plan, review and
coordinate the various services directed toward children. The Board was first
set up in 1974. The policy has identified survival, health, nutrition,
education, development, protection and participation as the undeniable rights
of every child, and has also declared these as key priority task.
INTEGRATED
CHILD PROTECTION SCHEME (ICPS)
UNICEF considers
child protection as the prevention of or responding to the incidence of abuse,
exploitation, violence and neglect of children. This includes commercial sexual
exploitation, trafficking, child labour and harmful traditional practices, such
as female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage. Protection also allows
children to have access to their other rights of survival, development, growth
and participation. UNICEF maintains that when child protection fails or is
absent children have a higher risk of death, poor physical and mental health,
HIV/AIDS infection, Educational problems, displacement, homelessness, vagrancy
and poor parenting skills later in life. According to the Integrated Child
Protection Scheme (ICPS)Child Protection is about keeping children safe from a
risk or perceived risk to their lives or childhood. It is about recognizing
that children are vulnerable and hence reducing their vulnerability by
protecting them from harm and harmful situations. Child protection is about
ensuring that children have a Security net to depend on, and if they happen to
fall through the loopholes in the system, the system has the responsibility to
provide the child with the necessary care and rehabilitation to bring them back
into the safety net.
NATIONAL
COMMISSION ON PROTECTION OF CHILD RIGHTS
The
Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 is another milestone in
this concerned effort in protecting children who are vulnerable to
exploitation. This is an Act to provide for the constitution of a National
Commission and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights and
establishing Children’s Courts for providing speedy trial for offences against
children or of violation of child rights and for matters connected therewith of
incidental thereto. The Central Government under section 3 of the Act, by
notification constituted a body to be known as the National Commission for
Protection of Child rights to exercise the powers conferred on and to perform
the functions assigned to it under this Act. The Commission is a quasi judicial
body having powers of a civil court to enquire into the violation of child
rights.
PROHIBITION
OF CHILD LABOUR:
Transnational partnerships are required to tackle
this global crime. Important recent treaties include the International Labour
Organization Convention 182 passed in 1999 that bans the worst forms of child
labour. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
passed in 2000, prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution, and child
pornography. UNICEF is addressing the underlying causes of child sexual abuse
by working to improve access to and quality of Education, raising awareness,
and advocating for children's rights. UNICEF supports programmes that help
communities become the first line of protection for children, and is also
advocating strengthening legislation and legal enforcement to stop the
commercial sex Trade of children. In order to protect children against
abuse by employers who engage them in works unsuited to their health and
strength, there are various enactments under our legal system which provides
protection to children working in various occupations (CRL- 141). The Child
Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 prohibits the employment of
children in certain employment and regulates the conditions of work of children
in certain other employment. The Act concentrates mainly on four basic issues
(i) minimum age for employment of children; (ii) maximum period of work per day
and prohibiting work at night; (iii) prohibiting certain types of work for
children; and (iv) medical examination of all working children. The
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) is a global
programme launched by the International Labour Organisation in December 1991.
India was the first country to join in 1992 when it signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with ILO. The long-term objective of IPEC is to contribute to the
effective abolition of child labour with immediate objectives. The National Child Labour Policy, 1987 includes Strict enforcement of the provisions of
the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and
other concerned legislations, Rehabilitation of child labour withdrawn
from employment, reducing the incidence of child labour progressively,
providing better and readily accessible education, through formal or non-formal
systems of education, improving health conditions for child labourers,
providing nutrition through schemes like the “Integrated Child Development
Services”. Intensifying the anti-poverty programmes such as integrated rural
development services, focusing on areas known to have high concentration of
child labour and adopting a project approach to identify, withdraw and
rehabilitate working children. The National Child Labour Projects
(NCLP) launched in 1988 is time bound projects that seek to implement
model programmes consisting of key elements such as stepping up the enforcement
of the prohibition of child labour, providing employment to parents of child
labour, expanding formal and non-formal education, promoting school enrolment
through various incentives, such as payment of stipend and raising public
awareness. The major activities undertaken under the NCLP are the establishment
of special schools to provide non-formal education, vocational training,
supplementary nutrition, stipend, health care, etc. to children withdrawn from
employment.
CHILDREN'S FILM SOCIETY
Children's Film of Society India
was founded soon after India's independence by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru,
India's first Prime Minister, whose affection for children is well known.
Pandit Nehru established CFSI with the hope that indigenous and exclusive
cinema for children would stimulate their creativity, compassion and critical
thinking. CFSI started functioning in 1955 as an autonomous body under the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru as
President. CFSI has continued to produce, exhibit and distribute quality
content for children: from feature films, shorts, animations to television
episodes and documentaries. CFSI promotes films that provide healthy and
wholesome entertainment for children to broaden their perspective and encourage
them to reflect on the world around. With an enviable catalogue of 250 films in
10 different languages, CFSI remains the prime producer of children's films in
South Asia. It also organise film screenings across the country, reaching out
to approximately four million children annually. CFSI is committed to
strengthening the children's film movement within India and promoting Indian
produced children's films across the globe.
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL OF INDIA (ICFFI)
International Children’s Film Festival of India (ICFFI) also popularly known as The
Golden Elephant is a biennial festival that strives to bring the most
delightful and imaginative national and international children’s cinema to
young audiences in India. Outstanding features, shorts, live action and
animation films are screened over seven days of festive celebrations, attended
by more than a hundred thousand children and hundreds of film professionals
from across the world. Every two years, the festival begins on 14th November,
the birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru – India’s first Prime Minister – also
fondly referred to as Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru), because of his love for
children. Pandit Nehru established CFSI soon after India’s independence with
the hope that indigenous and exclusive cinema for children would stimulate
their creativity, compassion and critical thinking. It is this vision of
Jawaharlal Nehru that guides ICFFI. Cinema is a powerful medium which will have
to be used to play a pivotal role in child’s life. The main agenda of
ICFFI is to give clean and healthy environment to the children by screening
films produced by the countries all over the world. 18th Edition
of ICFFI had taken place in the historic city of Hyderabad, the festival
permanent venue for the last 8 editions and is organized by Children’s Film
Society of India (CFSI) – an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting in collaboration with Government of Andhra Pradesh.
NATIONAL
BAL BHAVAN
National Bal Bhavan is an institution which aims at
enhancing the creative potential of children by providing them various
activities, opportunities and common platform to interact, experiment, create
and perform according to their age, aptitude and ability. It offers a
barrier-free environment with immense possibilities of innovation, minus any
stress or strain. Bal Bhawans caters to the need of children between the age
group of 5 to 16 years. It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human
Resource Development (HRD). Throughout India Jawahar Bal Bhawans are
established to provide training to children during summer vacation and
holidays. In order to provide an out let for hidden talent of children in
the age group of 5-16 Bal Bhavan conducts summer camps every year during mid of
April to mid of May in several activities. An annual camp is also organised at
various Jawahar Bhawan Kendras for encouraging children to take part in several
extracurricular activities.
CHILDREN
PARK
A Children's Park as the very name indicates, is a park meant for
children to come in the mornings and evenings to spend their leisure time in
the open and fresh air of the park, away from their congested homes and busy
environments. A children's park has several playthings for them to play with
and enjoy. There are swings, slides, rods for hanging upon for exercise, and
many other such items that provide for children their much required exercise,
enjoyment, and refreshment away from their busy schedules of school and home.
In these parks children come with their parents or elders in the morning for
walks, exercises and jogging, while, in the evening time they are again there
for playing and having a good time after a heavy school routine. On the open
space in a park, we can see children, the bigger ones playing games like
badminton, cricket, and hockey, while the small ones enjoy the slides and
swings.
CHILDREN
SPORTS
Just in the past decade, it has become popular for children to join sports teams.
Organized sports have a lot of beneficial outcomes for building a child’s
self-esteem at a young age. It also allows children to be physically active and
develop a healthy lifestyle throughout their life. Not just sports, but
physical activity built up from a young age can help lessen risks of developing
adult diseases like Diabetes and heart disease. Sometimes, building
social skills in a classroom environment can be hard for children. Those who
participate in team sports can learn social skills through teamwork, such as,
taking turns and the responsibility of being a teammate. To be successful,
everyone needs to take part and do their best; children can learn this through
team activity and the guidance of taking direction from a coach. Team sports
are also a great way for kids to make friends with others who have similar
interests. A positive team sport experience can have amazing emotional
benefits. Learning the value of practice, the reward of succeeding, and the
challenge of competition will play a role in all other parts of their lives.
These are important values and lessons to learn early on in life so that they
can take these same values and apply them to classroom situations and other social
situations. Team sports will create a healthy lifestyle and can affect
children’s self-esteem and create a healthy self-image.
CHILD
PSYCHOLOGY
Children will learn through observation and imitation from parents, teachers
and elders. Children are very sensitive in nature. They should be handled with
care. Social and human values have to be inculcated among children from the
very childhood at home and school. Broken homes leave a very deep impact on
psyche and emotional maturity of children. Their mind is like a camera ready to
capture the happenings before them which will influence their mindsets. In the
process of learning, children should be taught properly about their behavioural
patterns and positive attitudes. Segmund Freud, an eminent psychologist opined
that the unfulfilled desires and childhood experiences had a deep impact on the
overall personality development of human beings.
CHILD
AWARDS
The
National Child Award for exceptional Achievement was instituted in 1996 to give
recognition to children with exceptional abilities who have achieved
outstanding status in various fields including academics, arts, culture and
sports etc. Children between the age of 4-15 years who have shown an
exceptional achievement in any field are eligible for this award. One Gold medal
and 35 Silver Medals are given annually to the exceptional achievers by the
President of India.
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