Children are the Future of the Nation

It sounds very intellectual when everybody talks about children being the shapers of the nation’s future. But the ground realities do not seem to be in tune with the ideal. It’s great to read in the newspaper headlines that Union Minister Kapil Sibal took the bold initiative to introduce the Right to Education in the Parliament recently. It’s difficult to understand why we had to wait for this for sixty two years after independence. The UN Declaration on Children’s Rights asserts that the governments must take measures to ‘give’ protection to children, to ‘provide’ proper health care etc. Does it become a right when it has to be ‘given’ by someone? Does it not indicate a serious shortcoming in the perspective of the world towards children as if they are always at the receiving end?

When we say that children are the future of India, we must bear in mind that India has three million children living on the streets, that there are more than 150 million children working as bonded labourers, that every sixth girl child dies before her fifteenth birthday, that half of the children in the country do not have access to education. With this picture, what kind of future do we imagine for India? Is it a promising one? Is it not scaring? Are we really serious about changing the way things are? Is the statement ‘Children are the future of India’ really making sense?

When we talk about children, we will do well to remember that we are talking about our children, our brothers and sisters, our own people. We can’t just leave their welfare to the policies of the government. We can’t just sit there blaming the system and the society. We are all collectively responsible for what they are and what they will be. If we do not take this seriously, if it does not stir our conscience, it is nothing short of a crime.

We have a lot to answer for. And we have a lot to do as well. Till we ensure bringing a smile of happiness and well being to every one of the vast number of children in our country’s population.