Re: [MTC Global] The elephant in the room

Sir, I agree. We have to make laws only to regulate a practice. As mentioned, community
eating halls should be made where children are fed nutritious food at least twice a day.
Charitable organizations could be encouraged to set these up. The food could be priced at
a reasonable low level so as to ensure that the premises are kept clean.
In many of the poor families the elderly are equally vulnerable so they to could be
included in enrolling in these eating halls/ dining halls.
We know that a lot of food gets spoilt in the warehouses. The demand from this segment
could be met in bulk. The children could then spend time in schools that provide a basic
literacy education near where they live.
Best regards,
K.paranjpe


On Fri, 28 Jul 2017 21:16:33 +0530 "virendra goel" wrote
> Before restricting / abolishing child labor laws, it is essential that government and
people take the responsibility of ensuring two times' bread and a roof to all children of
the country and their dependents. A large number of children are the only earning members
of the family.Before bringing all the children to school, they need to be ensured proper
clothing along with above mentioned necessities  and facilities at home to ensure same
kind of self-learning as well to do children have. In absence of all this, no amount of
utopian policies and goals are going to help.RegardsVirendra GoelFrom:
join_mtc@googlegroups.com [mailto:join_mtc@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Prof. Bholanath
Dutta
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2017 10:47 AM
To: join_mtc
Subject: [MTC Global] The elephant in the roomBy 2030, India will have 590 million people
— nearly twice the current US population — living in its cities. The youth segment of
this population is expected to include 170 million workers. These are the preschoolers of
today. And yet this very important constituent is practically overlooked in all our
policy plans and pronouncements. So much so that in a 2016 UN report on world cities and
their outlook (UN World Cities Report 2016: Urbanization and Development — Emerging
Futures), "children" or "education" have not even a sub-section.

India pegs her aspirations on big numbers — $1.2 trillion as capital investment to build
cities for 2030, 700-900 million square metres of commercial and residential spaces, 2.5
billion square metres of roads. But who is going to work in these places or use these
roads? Who is going to make India the super force some say we are destined to be?

Sixty years after it was due, we passed the Right to Education Act, with great foresight,
on April 1, 2010. The RTE is focused on free and compulsory education till class VIII. It
does not prescribe preschools for the poor. Or education beyond class 8. Nor does it talk
quality or equity.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 was enacted to protect children
under the age of 14 from being employed in specified occupations and processes [the
Schedule listed 83 such). The new Child and Adolescent (Prohibition and Regulation)
Amendment Act, 2016, passed in July 2016 in Parliament is touted as "progressive" for it
covers adolescents (up to age 18.) But it lacks the national commitment to abolish child
labour in all forms.

Firstly, a clause in the law permits children to be employed in "family or family
enterprises" or allows the child to be "an artist in an audio-visual entertainment
industry". Secondly, the list of hazardous occupations and processes has been slashed
from 83 to just three. Now, adolescents can be put to work in chemical mixing units,
cotton farms, battery recycling units, brick kilns, among other places. Even this ban can
be removed by state governments, at their discretion. No Parliament diktat needed!

We claim helplessness in the face of entrenched poverty. We talk about our innate
goodwill for families in marginalised communities. We would never dream of cutting a
branch that we are perched on; of engaging children in building the glass and concrete
aspirations of modern India. But we — as individuals, as governments — exploit every
loophole our inadequate child labour law allows.

The pre-primary and primary school children of today are going to be the work force of
the 2030s. But there are few programmes for early schools goers. What the 21st century
needs are creativity, innovation, problem-solving, entrepreneurship and a drive to excel.
But basic education seems to be less important in the grand scheme of things than the
mission of skilling Indian youth by the lakhs.

So we are not fazed by a UNESCO report of September 2016 that says India will be half a
century late in achieving its universal education goals. Hence, we will achieve universal
primary education only by 2050; universal lower secondary education only by 2060; and
universal upper secondary education only by 2085.

The best and brightest from more privileged backgrounds will choose to go abroad — in
spite of Trump. But we seem to have no plan and no real sense of urgency when it comes to
those left behind.

But it doesn't have to be this way. We, the people, can make a difference. We can
question governments and advocate on behalf of children. I've met hundreds of
compassionate individuals in the course of my work who believe that "we do not inherit
the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."

A situation in which 50 per cent of 300 million children in school can't read, needs
action. And the call is more urgent when we know that 150 million of those children are
5-10-year-olds.

Creativity and critical thinking are the prerogatives of all children. Imagination is the
most important requisite. The softer skills every leader needs are quality in thought and
deed, an ability to contribute to society, make and belong to civil society; to be a
responsive and responsible citizen who treats every life form with kindness.

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to
be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales," said Albert Einstein. "All religions,
arts and sciences are branches of the same tree."

That "tree" is imagination and it is something we need to nurture for all our children.
The elephant has been in the room for a while and it's time we acknowledged its presence.

So I end with some questions and a request: What if our children had books that got them
to think about compassion, kindness and caring for all life forms, including the many
humans who have no voice of their own? What if schooling helps break stereotypes and
reiterate ideas of equity and equality, while enabling children to move away from the
debilitating forces of mass media to a more gently critical culture? Let's make testing
more rigorous, but let's ensure that passing/failing is a combined responsibility of the
child, parent and teachers.

What if educators were thought leaders who fill curricula and classrooms with imagination
— fiction, non-fiction and poetry that originates in India, from our different bhashas,
in translation into all school languages, so helping children culturelink, understand
where they come from, who they are. Stories that will encourage them to delve into the
depths of life's predicaments, giving children the space to be confident, creative,
critical thinkers. What if our children then went ahead to create a nicer, more
sustainable world for themselves, through reading supported learning, realising the
importance of gender equality, global climate change, sustainable consumption?

It is serendipitous that we have 150 million children who can read and 150 million who
cannot. Each one teach one: What a simple elegant solution to a vexing conundrum. (There
is a reason why I am often called an eternal optimist.)

These goals are the motivation behind the 300 Million Challenge, — developed by us at
Katha, the "profit for all" social organisation, with help from a group of incredible and
passionate partners — spanning individuals, small to large nonprofits as well as the
corporate sector.

We want to ensure that all 3-10-year-old children are reading well and for fun at an
early age. School readiness is a critical factor for lifelong learning and sustainable
education. We strongly believe that the government school system should be made more
robust. And that all children need equitable, quality democratic education for sustaining
our democracy. And that, when children understand they can bring sustainable change to
themselves they begin to understand the emotional and the economic purpose of education,
leading to, inshallah, sustainable lifelong learning.

Disruptive and collaborative innovation in primary education is possible only when we all
join hands, when we together make children's sustainable learning happen. Let's make it
everyone's business and our collective mission — to be a country where every child
counts.​Source: Indian Express​EDUCATE, EMPOWER, ELEVATEProf. Bholanath DuttaFounder &
PresidentMTC Global: A Global Think Tank inHigher Education, ISO 9001: 2008Partner: UN
Global Compact I UN Academic Impactwww.mtcglobal.orgIEmail: president@mtcglobal.orgCell:
+91 96323 18178 / +91 9964660759--
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