Children.. a valuable resource
JFK said: “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future”. Wonder what he would have felt about their situation in India..
last week three blasts rocked Malegaon, most of the victims were children, many beggars who had come on this holy Friday to the mosque and the cemetery, traveling long distances to earn a few extra rupees.
This morning the picture of two young rag pickers was carried in a national daily. The sealing of shops in an effort to beautify Delhi had in one blow taken their livelihood as they did not know where to sell their daily collection.
In a few days the child labour law will come in force and many kids will be homeless and in search of food.
The little kids in the picture are filled with hope and dreams as they sit quietly in the middle of a garbage dump, oblivious of the odours or even the flies, or the heat. They want to learn, knowing intuitively that it may change their lives.
Fuelled by images they see on the box, they dream of being a Sachin, or a Salman. Some want to be doctors, others teachers… many even belong to the innumerable social divisions that benefit from umpteen reservations. But there is a catch: none have the required certificate to prove it and getting on is a nightmare. No one has told them about the value of that piece of paper, on the other hand many have denigrated its value by telling them it shameful forgetting of course to enlightened them about the many benefit they entail.
And for those who have a certificate, the door are closed as they will never get beyond the infamous 33 %. I was even told by a secondary school teacher that they taught only 40% of the course as that was sufficient to pass.
On the other hand the numerous population count that have been done include the caste. Now does it not become imperative for the government to issue the required caste certificate one wonders?
Maybe someone should take notice of this and act so that if one of the children in the picture breaks all barriers and gets to the gates of higher learning, he is able to benefit from what is his right.
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