(ANS – Hyderabad) – On 28-29 November 140 children - 57 girls and 83 boys, all members of human rights clubs - had a two day  interaction with Juvenile Justice Functionaries of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh, participating with interest and commitment in the celebration of the Children`s Right to be Heard Programme.

Children representing 63 human rights clubs from 55 schools had many heart-warming stories to narrate of their attempts to be “Citizens Today” and not of tomorrow as they are traditionally told to be.

The programme on 28th and 29th November 2014 provided a platform for children from human rights clubs to exercise their Right to be Heard, a right enshrined in the CRC.  Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides: “1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.”

A. Laxmanrao of Ambedkar HRC, Zilla Parishad High School of GSP Puram, spoke of how their representation to authorities resulted in better quality mid-day meals.

K. Ramu of Aung San Suu Kyi, HRC from Dolapeta school spoke of the rally they conducted on World Environment Day which led to getting a compound wall sanctioned for the school and getting dropouts back to school.

Ramakrishnamma of  Nehru HRC of Lakkidam shcool spoke with pride of  getting two children  re-admitted to school through using the 1098 facility and also of conducting a rally on Child rights in CRC Week.

Prasanti K of Mother Theresa HRC spoke of their club’s effort to clear the debris after the Hudhud Cyclone and making representation to the Municipal Commissioner regarding the state of sanitation around the school.

Children also exhibited the media coverage they had received while doing these activities. Almost every club had some stories to narrate. They also had complaints regarding the lack of an adequate number of class rooms, lack of toilets, drinking water, poor sanitation around the school, and the lack of a compound wall that results in antisocial elements having easy access to the school premises in the night.

Since 2008, People’s Action For Rural Awakening (PARA) in partnership with the Institute of Human Rights Education has been in the forefront of taking human rights education to government schools of Andhra Pradesh. Today the effort extends also to the schools of Telengana State. PARA’s advocacy efforts with the governments have resulted in over 167,000 government teachers being trained in human rights education. The education department  today recognizes the need for setting up human rights clubs in schools. With the revision of text books done in the last year human rights lessons have been mainstreamed into the state school text books.

PARA intends to take up the same programme in twelve other districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana States where human rights clubs are being formed.

Published 03/12/2014