It is important for every parent as well for a child to be aware of their rights, said member of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Stuti Kakkar while speaking at a day long national level workshop on child education and protection here on Thursday.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion Kakkar said, “People often ask me whether children also have rights. This is a sad situation wherein people in our country do not even know about the rights of the children. Children do have rights from their birth and it is very important to raise awareness among the people regarding these rights. Also, the increasing crime and violence against children makes it all the more essential that we take child protection very seriously. We should create a good atmosphere for our children so that they grow educated and well aware to enable them develop a better society,” she added.
Speaking on the occasion, the chairman of Uttarakhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights (UCPCR) Yogendra Khanduri referred to government data on the subject while emphasising on the importance of child protection. Citing health related data, he said that most states in India have high rate of malnutrition among children. Regarding the performance of India in protection of the rights of children, he stated that India was ranked 116th globally in this context. Speaking about education, he quoted the report of the World Bank and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) according to which the primary education level is very low and only 40 per cent of people who have Bachelors and Masters degrees have proper jobs.
Talking about the figures he said, “As abuse of children has risen so much that statistically, one child is abused every 15 minutes somewhere in the country. Our governments and other authorities concerned should take some serious steps to handle these cases and also change mainstream education process so that every child of our country can be nurtured into a skilled person.” Further focusing on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act (POCSO) Act he said, “The law has been amended but according to available data about one lakh cases are pending at the national level while 421 such cases are pending in Uttarakhand.
There should be a law to ensure immediate action in the cases registered so that the victim child doesn’t come under any pressure to change statement.”
Chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) and former mayor of Chandigarh, Harbinder Kaur said, “I have left my 10-year political career and am happy to discharge my duties for the protection of children. Families in the present times are tending to become isolated which is affecting our culture and causing a rise in crime especially against children.
These are times when we should consider every child as our own and help each and every child to come out of misery and problems.” Chairpersons of SCPCRs from 12 states were also among those present on the occasion.