2 Things Our Children Need Today
In 1966 the Kothari Commission Report (National Education Commission) urged laws to be passed to legalise education standards and to raise the annual spend on education from 2.9% of the GDP (1966) to 6% of the GDP by 1985–86, a recommendation that the Commission felt was extremely important for the improvement of education in our country.
As of 14th November 2019, the government has allocated a mere 4.6% of the national GDP towards education, short of 1.4% of the recommended allocation. And we are already 33 years late.
The apathy illustrated in the above example is what our children do not need. Today we are busy building a world for our own selfish motives. We are willing to spend on air purifiers but not on policies that will impact air pollution positively. We are willing to spend millions on subsidising the canteen at the parliament and other bureaucratic institutions but we fail to understand why University students need their scholarships and subsidies.
Our children deserve better than this and because we are failing to navigate through the diverse needs of our children, here are 2 super simple things all our children need, at an individual level and at a policy level.
Attention
You can never given enough attention to children, even the moments you do not give attention need to be designed with attention. Our intentionality with our children will define the world that they inherit, build and live in. The generations before this were doled out unintentional care and that has led to massive issues like climate change, radicalism and what not. We cannot afford to do the same for our children, our future.
We need to do whatever it takes to ensure that they get the attention they deserve, be it through effective and efficient allocation of the GDP or by taking strong action on crime against children. Our first national policy for child protection came into being in 2012, almost 65 years after independence. We cannot be this apathetic towards our children.
Our systemic apathy towards children and an overall lack of understanding around child support is concerning and honestly, our children deserve better. So, let’s get going and give them the attention they need. We have already messed up the world that they are inheriting, let us ensure we do not add to that list.
So, next time you are doing something, anything really, think of your own children or absolutely any child you know — think of the impact that your action can have on them and then go ahead (or not).
Voice
They say that when you give children then tools to show up, they show up like superstars, erasing every iota of doubt that you might have had about them. I have personally seen that happen inside my classroom, inside the schools that SEF works with, and in my conversations with children all around.
The other day I overheard a conversation between a teammate and a student.
Teammate — Do you fight inside the class?
Student — Yes, of course
Teammate — So how do you solve it then, do you go to the teacher
Student — No, small matters are solved between friends we don’t need to involve others
Solving problems between friends is something we often struggle with as adults and our kids do it with so much ease.
My colleagues have children who constantly surprise me with their insights and actions. Children are beautiful and understand things with a deep simplicity that adults are not capable of. Yet, we dismiss their opinion as child-ish. I wish our leaders and influencers were child-ish, child-like, children. We would surely have more compassion around us.
We need to involve our children in every decision that we take, and we need to ensure that we are amplifying their voice at every step, they can easily get lost amidst the loud selfish adult voices.
So, do not ignore the little voices, listen to them and amplify them.
This Children’s Day let’s pledge to pay more attention to our children and amplify their voices.
