Oxfam India Celebrates Child Rights Week

Oxfam India Celebrates Child Rights Week

Children are the future of our country and to ensure they receive the right start, Oxfam India works towards building a nation where every child receives quality education and an opportunity to build a better future. Oxfam's Education Program focuses on children's all-round development by making relevant stakeholders like parents, teachers, private players and the government accountable for child rights. 

The Child Rights Week

Child rights week
The Child Rights Week, which is universally celebrated from 14th (Children's Day) to 20th November (International Child Rights Day), Oxfam India with its partner organizations organized events with children in Lucknow, Raebareli, Banda and Balrampur of Uttar Pradesh to spread awareness about child rights.

child rights week

Children were engaged through recreational activities like organizing child collective meetings, developing teaching-learning materials in schools and building Anganwadi Centres also known as pre-school education centres, slogan writing, discussion on child rights, child march, poster making and various fairs were held.
  
Oxfam India's collaboration

Child rights week
On 16th November, Oxfam India in collaboration with ‘Pradeshik Navyuvak Kalyan Samiti’ and ‘Vigyan Foundation’ organized a ‘Bal Samwad’ in Regional Science Centre, Lucknow. During the consultation, 142 children from Lucknow, Raebareli and Balrampur shared their experiences and grievances related to school and education system to the Chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), Dr Vishesh Gupta. In this effort, we also engaged with five different Madarsas (an educational institution with secular-religious values) of Lucknow where Muslim children also highlighted their issues to SCPCR. 

During the event, members of SCPCR; Ms Nita Sahu, Dr Suchita, UNICEF member; Mr Ritwik Patra, General Secretary of LUAKTA; Ms Anshu Kedia, Convener of SCoRE; Mr Sanjeev Sinha and representatives from PLAN and other CSOs were also present and learned experiences and issues faced by children. 

Children's Grievance Redressal

Child rights week
Children highlighted the gaps in the effective implementation of the Right To Education Act (RTE) in schools, issues of safe drinking water, electricity, boundary wall; teachers’ unavailability etc. 38 such cases were shared by children. Child collective members also demanded an extension of the RTE Act by covering children till the 12th year. 

On the occasion, Ms Sharda Devi, School Managment Committee (SMC) member from Raebareli demanded the government to take back regressive move of removal of ‘No Detention Policy’ from RTE and asked the SCPCR to write a recommendation letter to the government. SCPCR assured that the issues raised by children will be heard and the commission will write a letter to the concerned department to take appropriate actions. 

child rights week

In Raebareli, children and SMC members demanded to upgrade Primary Schools; Pure Kallu into Junior High School and allocate teachers in the school. In Banda, child collective members demanded a steady electricity connection in their schools, Terahi Mafi, a village in Uttar Pradesh demanded availability of water tanks for school toilets. 

The events organized during the child rights weeks helped in identifying the problems faced by children in Uttar Pradesh as also provide solutions to tackle challenges and quality education to children.

The Right To Education Act
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) guarantees eight years of free and compulsory education for all children of the age group between 6-14 years but unfortunately, even after completion of eight years of enactment of RTE Act, less than 10% schools are RTE compliant. It means 90% of schools across the state do not have basic facilities like one teacher for 30 children at primary level and one teacher for 35 children at upper primary level, lack of separate toilets for girls and boys, playground, library, teaching-learning materials, blackboard, safe drinking water etc. 

Oxfam India's Education Program
Oxfam India's Education Program aims to help in effective implementation of RTE provisions in all government schools, enrolment of all out of school children, provision of quality education and school facilities and an extension of RTE ambit by covering pre-primary and secondary school education so children can get free and compulsory education till class 12th. With support from people like you, we will be able to able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing inequality through the provision of quality education for all.

In 2017, Oxfam India helped over 86,000 children including enrollment of 11,000 boys and 12,044 girls in schools who are now receiving quality education. You too can help children especially girls receive quality education in India. Support Oxfam India's Education Program and help send 85 lakh out-of-school girls back to their classroom.

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