98% of India’s children breathing in toxic air, not just outside but also at home says World Health Organization (WHO)
98% of India’s children breathing in toxic air, not just outside but also at home: WHO
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Daily Archives: December 15, 2018
The Everlasting Joy of Terrifying Children
It is often said that the Victorians invented #childhood. If they did, it was through labor laws that protected children, and because of dramatic technological and economic shifts that placed new cultural privilege on the individual. But the Victorians also reinvented children’s literature, sweeping away the previous century’s didactic spelling books and etiquette guides and replacing them with stories written for the sheer pleasure of reading. #roomtoread
The Minefield of Talking With Your Children About Sexting
“Parents face a daunting task educating teens, tweens and even grade-schoolers on the hazards of sexually explicit photos or videos, but these strategies can help.”
74 Private Delhi Schools Under Scanner for ‘Not Admitting’ Even One Poor Child in 2 Years
“The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has advised the Directorate to closely examine the defaulting schools and scrutinise their recorded responses for denying admissions under the EWS/DG quota.”
Iran’s Death Penalty Laws Failing Children
“During her trial the court discounted Sakaavand’s claims that her husband frequently beat and abused her. She was only 15 when they were married.” Girls Not Brides #endviolencenotchildhood
This is 18 around the world — through girls’ eyes
“What does life look like for girls turning 18 in 2018? We gave young women photographers around the world an assignment: Show us 18 in your community. This is 18 — through girls’ eyes.”
Delhi school Hindu-Muslim segregation: Child rights body issues notice to Wazirabad school head
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on Wednesday evening suspended the incharge of its school after it came to light that there was “segregation” of Hindu and Muslims students into different sections.
“Just Let Us Be” Discrimination Against LGBT Students in the Philippines
“I was depressed, I was bullied, I didn’t know my sexuality, I felt unloved, and I felt alone all the time. And I had friends, but I still felt so lonely. I was listing ways to die.” #endviolencenotchildhood
Children in India’s Rebel Hotbed Chhattisgarh in the Line of Fire for Education
“Deep inside the forest in Kondagaon in Bastar, children are striving to better their lives by attending school, thus defying the dictate by the same rebels who have not only torched their schools but have also threatened the teachers and the school administration for imparting modern education. However, the children are resolute on not allowing these extremists to stand in the way of a better future.” #endviolencenotchildhood
Children now get their own eco-conscious flea market
“While I teach my kids the importance of waste management at home, taking them into an environment which will speak to the kids in a language at their level using toys and rhymes will be beneficial in increasing their level of eco-consciousness.” #sustainability#zerowastelifestyles
https://bit.ly/2S80CUn
Research finds link between time online and obesity in children
“Children see as many as nine junk food adverts during one 30-minute episode of their favourite TV shows, so it’s not surprising this leads them to pester for, buy and eat more unhealthy foods.”
Can Drinking Tea Teach Kids About Sex & Consent? Delhi NGO Shows You How!
“…if a child had a cup of tea with someone for two days but was refused on the third day, the refusal must be respected.” #metoo#endviolencenotchildhood #consent #goodtouchbadtouch
The children living on the frontline of climate change
“Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is home to 18 million people but is regularly swamped. The land is sinking and the sea is rising, as global warming causes the water to expand and the ice caps to melt.
Children at a primary school there were asked to draw pictures showing how they felt about the flooding. Some of the images they produced were particularly disturbing.” #climatechange #IPCC2018 #notachinesehoax
21% Indian children are under-weight: Global Hunger Index
“They have extremely low weight for their height; the only country with a higher prevalence of child wasting is war-torn South Sudan.”
#GHI2018
WORLD FOOD DAY
In Photos: How Football Gives Hope to This Chennai Slum’s Kids
“The strategy was simple – channelise all the energy of the children towards the game, get children addicted to it, use the addiction to talk to them about going to school. They didn’t expect much, but this approach worked like magic.” #playmatters
‘We have found hell’: trauma runs deep for children at dire Lesbos camp
Violent and unsanitary conditions in Moria refugee settlement are exacerbating the horror of fleeing conflict for the 3,000 children who live there. #endviolencenotchildhood #nocountryforrefugees
GIRL CHILD DAY
On this #GirlChildDay we wish for every girl…
An equal chance to come into this world, without being discriminated in the womb.
The pride of a graduation hat on her head, instead of bricks and pots of water;
The might of a pencil and book in her hand, instead of the burden of caring for her siblings;
The choice to become a doctor, writer or artist instead of a child bride, and;
The love and respect of her community, instead of an unequal footing in her own home.
Making the right connect
Psychotherapist Gloria Burrett on (advising parents against judging their children) how to handle anger and what makes an unsafe world for seven to eleven year olds. #mentalhealthmatters
Children’s literature is flourishing in India, but further effort needed to attract new readers
“The subject of children and reading has long been debated, particularly on the impact of the digital distraction on the habit. Children are reading more but, paradoxically are not. Explaining this, Thomas Abraham, Managing Director, Hachette India says, “There are massive spikes when a big blockbuster brand like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson is published. But in terms of real reading, biblio-diversity is glaringly missing.”
#roomtoread Hachette India
Village Rockstars movie review: India’s official Oscars entry is too pure for this cruel world
Village Rockstars is a child’s perspective of our world and its people, told with a lump in its throat and hope in its heart. A movie “too pure for this cruel world”. Don’t miss Village Rockstars – India’s official 2019 Oscar entry. #oscar2019
Abuse Of Children In India’s Institutions Reveals Nationwide Crisis Of Reform
The widespread, seemingly endemic abuse, including sexual abuse, of children placed in shelter homes is India’s worst-kept secret. #endviolencenotchildhood
Coming Of Age: Emerging Technologies And The World’s Children
“20 percent of the world’s 2.2 billion children currently live in extreme poverty, suffering from food insecurity, poor education and other development challenges. How might we direct the power of emerging innovations to fulfill their rights?”
Gandhi Jayanti
“If we are to teach real peace in this world…we shall have to begin with the children.”
Remembering Gandhiji on the International Day Of Non-Violence. #gandhijayanti
The Rise Of Youth Activists III
Children and youth were once expected to be passive followers, obedient listeners and dependent members of society. Today, they are quite the contrary. Dissatisfied with waiting for the older generation to sort out the world’s problems, more and more youth (millennials and Gen Z too!) are noisily questioning the world they’re inheriting and demanding that things work differently.
Here are stories of 6 motivated and passionate youth who through their perseverance are showing us how to make the world a better place.
Read more from our series – Part I & II
1.PAYAL JANGID, INDIA
The girl who strives tirelessly to challenge status quo
Child marriage is no anomaly in India. It is the reason why many girls drop out of school, become young mothers, take on domestic chores at home, creating a vicious cycle that strips them of opportunity and equality. Tirelessly striving to break this cycle is 15-year old Payal Jangid, from Hinsla village in Rajasthan.
Encouraged by Bachpan Bachao Andolan’s Bal Mitra Gram, and Bal Panchayat (Children’s Council) that pushed children to participate in social change, Payal began taking charge from early years. Her passion and zest to tackle child marriage, child labour and the archaic tradition of ‘Ghunghat Pratha’, got her elected to the Pradhan (Chief) of the Bal Pnachayat. Payal’s diligence ensured no child marriages took place in her village. “Until and unless children themselves realise that they have some rights, they won’t feel unyoked. A child must have some agency which enables her/him to decide,” she said despite facing conflict from the adults in her village.
Payal was awarded the World Children’s Prize in 2013 for her fight against child abuse, and was also one of the few children who was selected to meet Former US President Barack Obama when he visited India.
2. SOPHIE CRUZ, MEXICO
The youngest face for Immigration reform
“My friends and I love each other no matter our skin color,” wrote Sophie in a drawing for the Pope. 6 year old Sophie, personally presented the Pope with a letter she wrote, with a humble request to protect her parents (originally from Oxaca in Mexico), now living in Los Angeles as undocumented immigrants.
Living in constant fear of her parents being deported, Sophie had many questions to ask her parents about why they could be taken away from her. Backed by a community of immigrant, Sophie was pushed to the fore, to bring about a change in the way immigrants were treated and their rights protected in the US.
Today, Sophie is hailed as an influential Activist for Immigrant Rights (She even has a giant sized mural in her name) This acknowledgement led to her giving a speech at Women’s March in Washington in 2017, where she urged people to form “a chain of love to protect our families.”
3. SONITA ALIZADEH, AFGHANISTAN
The teen who raps to end child marriage
As a young girl who barely escaped becoming a child bride, Sonita Alizadeh is well acquainted with the devastating consequences of forced marriage, like 1/3rd of girls below 18 years across developing countries.
Born in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, Soni grew up as an undocumented refugee in Iran where she faced the trauma of being sold for marriage in exchange for a bride for her brother. Still unsure of her fate at the age of 16, she wrote the song Brides for Sale to express her grief and share her experience and the experience of so many other girls like herself.
Popularly known at Sonita (a documentary film based on her story), this young girl has transformed from a teenager with no formal education into a high school graduate and become the face of a global campaign to end the regressive social custom of child marriage, by arming herself with an unlikely weapon — rap music.
4. MUHAMMAD NAJEM, SYRIA
The boy using selfie videos to highlight the conflict in Syria
Stuck in the midst of the ongoing Syrian Civil War are millions of innocent children, whose prayers for a normal life free of violence and war goes unheard everyday. Unlike most teenagers, 15-year old Muhammad Najem, uses the might and magnitude of social media to showcase the extensive damage that is caused to families living in this war-torn country, to people across the world.
Najem’s videos have a common theme: an appeal to the world to bear witness to what is happening in Syria. He frequently posts on twitter, pleading the rest of the world to step in and help. “People should know about everything happening in Syria. I want to follow my studies. I want to become a reporter when I grow up,” he says.
Visibly shaken in one of his videos, his voice breaks, coming out strangled and emotional as he continues: “Khamenei killed our childhood.” Najem talks to the world on behalf of the children of Syria, who sustain missile attacks, bombings, loss of families and extreme violence and devastation on a daily basis. This youth activist hopes for intervention by people across the world, so that children like him can have a better life.
5. GRETA THUNBERG, SWEDEN
The youngest, most influential climate change activist
“Our Leaders Are Behaving Like Children”, said teen climate activist as she confronted World Leaders.
Greta’s interest in the effects of Climate Change developed in the third grade, during a class on the subject. Ever since, this 15-year old and her family have taken several measures, such as using electric cars and installing solar batteries, to do their bit in conserving natural resources.
In 2018, Thunberg went on strike from school in order to protest climate policy, and after her protest gained attention around the world she has gone on to give talks and write articles for international titles, influencing young cohorts across the world and putting pressure of governments.
At the COP24 held recently in Katowice, Poland, Thunberg, made headlines for her now-weekly school strikes to urge her home country to take bold climate action. Addressing world leaders as the climate conference kicked off, she said, “We have not come here to beg the world leaders to care for our future. They have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again. We have come here to let them know that change is coming whether they like it or not. The people will rise to the challenge.”
6. PARAVEE ARGASNOUM, THAILAND
The trans gender non-conforming activist helping his community
19 year old Paravee Argasnoum is a young trans and gender-nonconforming activist in Thailand. As a teen this led to a lot of struggle for him, both emotionally and physically. He was often alienated and bullied by peers, questioned repeatedly by his family and not accepted for who he was.
Counseling helped Paravee deal better with the stress and pressure that came with being gender nonconforming. He decided to channel his energy and help others like himself. He strongly believes that being an activist provides him with an opportunity to express ideas that can prove beneficial to the society.
“I want the perception of them to be positive, for them to be taken seriously and treated as ordinary humans. Members of society need to be aware that LGBTI people are not for comedy value and deserve respect,” he says, advocating we are all equal citizens of the same community.