During the launch of the Press Club on Tuesday. (Express Photo)
A Children’s Press Club was launched by the Don Bosco Navjeevan Society here on Tuesday, with an aim to lend a voice to the young residents of the city. The endeavour is a part of UNICEF’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative, which operates with a goal to secure child rights across the world. In India, this initiative is being taken up in four cities, Chandigarh being one of the pilot projects.
Started to create a sustainable and right-based civil society, the club will work to make the city more child-friendly and sensitive to the interests of children, working for right to education, participation, health, safety, play and leisure, said one of the organisers.
The press club will also provide a platform to the young minds, where the issues are heard and written about so that people from the civil society and administration come along and try to solve the issues.
“The attitude that children are naive, as adults say bache hain kya hai, kya karna hai chhodo, we don’t want that anymore,” says one of the members of the Parliament of the children’s club. The initiative has come up at a time when children across the world are raising their voice against the pressing issues in the society. Many children are also taking inspiration from Greta Thunberg, who has been campaigning to initiate concrete action to combat climate change.
“Somehow nobody is talking about children’s issues and no one is paying attention to them. This can be possible only when children can express their concerns, which will come happen when they participate in such initiatives,” says a father at the Don Bosco Navjeevan Society. The children gathered on the occassion expressed their agreement.
“There is nothing better than a child helping onother child,” says Riya, president of Children’s Council at Carmel Convent School.
A member of the Children’s Parliament at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Kajal says, “We are working on creating awareness on this issue, on a regular basis, with campaigns such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Green Diwali, among others. Some people mock us but a few also join us in our initiatives.”
Summing up the sentiments of the young brigade, another member of the Children’s Parliament, Arti says, “We want that the fear that rests within us, that nobody will hear us out- that fear should end.”