Parents oppose making kids wait for hours

DHARWAD: The Kannada Sahitya Parishat, which had attracted criticism by progressive women writers for including the participation of women with ‘Poorna Kumbha’ in the procession of Kannada Sahitya Sammelana Adhyksha, has invited another controversy by involving thousands of school and college students in the procession.
The Sammelana organizers have asked the schoolchildren in batches to stand along the procession route from Karnatak College to University of Agricultural College and greet and cheer the participants as they pass by.

The procession is scheduled to be flagged off at 8.30am and reach the Sahitya Sammelana venue in about two hours. However, the plan has not gone well with the parents. They have expressed reservation about children being made to stand under the baking Sun for hours together on either side of the route.

The procession which starts from Karnatak College will reach UAS campus via LIC, SBI, Alur Venkatrao Circle, HDMC office building, Vivekanand Circle, Old Bus Stand Circle, Belagavi Road, K C Park Road, New Bus Stand and KVG Bank head office. The stretch from Alur Venkatrao Circle to UAS campus does not have trees on either side of the road as they have been felled to facilitate widening of the road.

It may be mentioned here that the Supreme Court, too, had barred compelling children to stand to welcome dignitaries or making them participate in processions and the like. The state education department, too, has barred use of children in processions.

However, the KSP with an objective to give an attractive look to the Sammelana procession and to make children feel involved has planned to rope in schoolchildren to stand on either side of the road from KCD Circle till the UAS grounds covering five km, and wave the Kannada flags when the procession enters the road.

Hundreds of schoolchildren were called at the KCD Ground on Wednesday for a rehearsal.

Parents, however, feel that the KSP authorities would have made special seating arrangements for the high school students to take part in the sessions during the three days of the literary festival, but it is not a wise move to make the students wait under the scorching Sun to welcome the procession.

It will take nothing less than four hours for the procession to reach the UAS grounds after passing through important roads in the City. It will be a physical and mental torture for these school students to wait for this long. Moreover, standing on the side of the dusty road could cause health problems, said a parent.

Considering all these issues, it would be prudent for the district administration and the KSP not to force schoolchildren to participate in the Sammelana procession, they said.