Early Childhood Association advisory to
Preschools/Kindergartens for Upholding Rights of Children on Children’s Day.
India
is the proud signatory of the UN Charter of child rights and in India 14th
November is proudly celebrated as Children’s day. On this day we at the Early
Childhood Association wish to help you gift every child all his/her rights to
help all children be happy, healthy and develop holistically.
Have
a unique celebration on Children’s Day and make each child’s ‘rights’ an
integral part of this children’s day celebration.
1. Right to wear comfortable
clothes- let us understand the difference
between fashionable and comfortable clothes. Let children be children and dress
like children not mini adults. Schools can introspect about their uniform, is
it child friendly?
2. Right to healthy food-
as schools we impart education for life, so let us also take responsibility
about the food our children eat. In our celebrations let us avoid feeding junk
food to children. Healthy food can also be tasty. Lets also change the way we
celebrate birthdays in school, how about letting kids distribute fruit instead
of chocolates and sweets
3. Right to a healthy planet-
let us use this planet as something borrowed from our children’s future. Let us
ensure that we reuse, refuse, and recycle as much as possible. Let us as
schools do away with nature antagonistic activities like salt, flower, or grain
rangolis, leaf printing after all we can think of other activities that do not
teach children to consider nature as an activity but as a way of life.
4. Right to education- for
every child-what about the not so rich? Let us
implement the RTE act as a responsibility and not as a burden.
5. Right to play- kudos
to schools that promote play way learning. Time for schools to rethink about
the importance of play in the life of children. After all play is the work of
childhood then let us not make children rote learn, write numbers/letters 60
times. Let us help them learn through play.
6. Right to a safe environment-
safety and security is the prime need of young children. Young brains thrive
when they feel secure. Train staff not to shout, threaten, hit, or abuse
children in any way. Take charge of keeping kids safe from child sexual abuse.
7. Right to a happy caring
family- involve parents in the school as much
as possible. Refrain from having a ‘keep out’ policy for parents. Parent
partnership will help the school thrive and the child excel.
8. Right to have fun-
let children giggle, chatter, play, squeal, laugh, run, and yawn. ‘Put your
finger on your lips’, ‘I want pin drop silence’; ‘put your heads down on the
table’ are so not right. A good teacher leads children, does not boss them
around.
9. Right to have friends-
give time in the school timetable for children to chat, meet others and
exchange stories. Ensure that it is not the teacher talking all the time but
kids talk to each other too. Facebook can wait; let us first help them make
friends face to face.
10. And right to be a child-
let children be children, don’t steal their innocence. Gift childhood to
children and not stress or ‘mini adulthood’.
“If I cant be child right now then when will I enjoy my childhood?”
This
children’s day help your teachers and parents understand child rights and the
best gift that any teacher, parent, school or country can give its children is
– a happy childhood.
HAPPY
CHILDREN’S DAY.
