~ Mahira and Chahat
The Age of Innocence
“Don’t let the child inside you die, no matter how old you are. Let it grow old, have fun and enjoy life, for this child is what adds meaning to life.” Today’s youth will ask tomorrow’s adults. Thus the way we nourish them and raise them determines our future.
Children’s Day is celebrated every year on 14th November. Different people have their ways to celebrate it. Some give away eatables, some visit orphanages and like this, there are many other ways. In their ways, people relive their childhood through these little celebrations with children.
So now let us know how we, at SK Children Foundation celebrated Children’s Day this year. It began with SKCF Founder, Mr Raghav Sharma, giving a small introduction as to how the NGO collaborated with the Legal Aid Society of Trinity Institute of Professional Studies counselled not only the children but also their parents. They were informed of their rights, and what they are supposed to do in case they are violated. The motive behind doing this was making them aware, as they won’t be able to grow unless they were given full support by their families.
During a conversation with the children, the children told about themselves. Some of them told that they wanted to become a doctor to save lives, while some wanted to protect and serve the country by becoming an army officer or an IPS officer. The zeal and the right mindset that the little ones showcased were inspiring. With an aim of teaching future young minds, one of them wanted to become a teacher. They spoke a few words, but their smile and their eyes spoke a thousand words.
When a young girl exclaimed that she wants to be a police officer, Raghav Sir told us about Project Udaan, which focuses on women empowerment. The motto of the Project is to Give Wings to girls. Motivating her to aspire and achieve her dreams, Raghav Sir moved ahead.
The Legal Aid Society taught the children about good touch and bad touch, what to do in different scenarios when you’re not comfortable, they were informed of the differences between kidnapping and trafficking and how to escape from these situations. They were given helpline numbers in case the little ones need them in the future. The interactive session proved quite useful. It was evident when the parents were responsive to the counselling.
During the live session, Raghav sir asked one of the members of the Legal Aid Society of Trinity Institute of Professional Studies the importance and benefits of counselling parents on the legal opportunities available for their children and them, she, with a deep understanding of Law, answered “Children spend most of their time with their parents, moreover children have a different level of comfort with their parents and share their concerns and issues with them. All the parents here themselves took the initiative of asking questions regarding what should be their first step in various situations. Most of the parents said that they had already witnessed the same happening with other children, but were not aware of how to go ahead.” “I feel that this was a very successful event.”, she added.
A very inspiring figure was among them, an advocate enrolled at the Dwarka district court and also an executive. She played a major role in interacting with the parents, spreading awareness on their rights and helpline numbers. She also told students that they can reach out to them whenever required. When asked by Raghav Sir about her experience, she began by informing the rising cases of sexual harassment of children. She educated all the parents on the key points of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012(POCSO)( To know more about this act, click here.). She also asked parents to maintain a bond with children so that they can be vocal about their experiences with them. The utmost important matter that ma’am talked to the parents about is to not stay silent and take legal action as soon as possible. Another thing that ma’am focused on was domestic violence faced by women in their households. She provided them with many helpline numbers and free legal services in India and also explained how important it is to maintain equality in terms of gender for the development of society. Raghav sir further asked her if migrants from other states have to face more problems in terms of documents, especially from the legal aspect. Ma’am very clearly explained that those who have Aadhar cards of some other state, but the incident or violation of their right has taken place in some other state, the case can still be filed in the area where the incident took place, with the help of relevant documents.
Conclusion
She concluded by giving us the message that to give them more knowledge and literacy on their basic rights, one needs to spend more time with them. Overall, the session was quite insightful for the students as well as the teachers. We thank the Legal Aid Society of Trinity Institute of Professional Studies for collaborating with us. To watch the live session, click here. We’re sure our children learned a lot!
Must read- https://skchildrenfoundation.org/childrens-day-embracing-the-skcf-journey/
