Governor Droupadi Murmu released the annual flagship report of UNICEF, the State of the World’s Children 2016 at Raj Bhwan on Tuesday. The report paints a stark picture of what is in store for the world’s poorest children if governments, donors, businesses and international organisations do not accelerate efforts to address their needs.
“I think this report plays a vital role to bridge the gap which emerges between children — who have the least facilities and those who have the most, because of their social inequalities. This affects their right to survival, health, education and nutrition,” said the Governor.
“The report notes that significant progress has been made in saving children’s lives, getting children into school and lifting people out of poverty. But this progress has been neither even nor fair,” said Henriette Ahrens, Deputy Representative (Programmes), UNICEF India.
She added, “Better data on the most vulnerable children, integrated solutions to the challenges children face, innovative ways to address old problems, more equitable investment and increased involvement by communities — all these measures can help level the playing field for children.”
Education can be an effective medium to ensure equal opportunities to the children today, stated the Governor.
“The report reveals that on an average each additional year of education helps the children to increase their earnings by 10 per cent and for each additional year of schooling completed by children in a country, the poverty rates fall by 9 per cent. So investing in the most vulnerable children can yield immediate and long term benefits. For example scheme like Mukhya-Mantri ladli
laxmi Yojana (MllY), help the children to stay in school for longer and continue their education to higher level,” she said.
“As we all know, uneven access to education and learning, always results into a low skilled, poorly paid and insecure employment. After 15 years when this new workforce will enter the labour market equipped with education, skill and technology, the scenario and level of development will be different. Investment in education in early years especially among the most deprived and marginalised is crucial to promote equity and learning in the long term,” the Governor further added.
“The campaign focuses on persisting inequities that large groups of children in India face. Every child deserves a fair start in life and deserves adequate nutrition, education, sanitation, protection and health care,” stated Jharkhand UNICEF Head Madhulika Jonathan.
The campaign draws attention to the lives of many children who are deprived of these basic rights, often at times determined simply by where they are born. Every child should have a fair and equal chance in life, irrespective of their caste, ethnicity, gender, poverty, region or religion,” she said introducing UNICEF’s ‘FairStart’ social media