On the occasion of November 14, that is, the Children's Day, celebrated on every birth anniversary of Pandit Nehru, most regretfully we have to admit that the world today is at war against childhood.
No, I am not merely referring to the heinous cruelties against children during, and post, Hamas attack on Israel. Any war is 'bloody' in every sense of the word. Yet no other war so far had consciously targetted children.
That is inhuman indeed. Yet the daily lives of children even in countries enjoying so-called 'normal' conditions are no better. Childhood is besieged today, and the very many demons targetting them are visibly invisible.
Child pornography, child abuse, for example, seem to be rampant now, and without much ado apparently, if the lurid details of the political saga currently unfolding in Maharashtra is any proof. Of that scandal, the worst victims are children, that, too, from reform/remand homes where they reached due to very many layers of inequities!
Yet another example!In the Covid era, children were forced to use the mobile. It ruined their eyesight, their postures, their consciousness. Now, in the post Covid era, there is hardly any real parental control over the mobile time or mobile content! Many mummies, in fact, use the mobile to divert the attention of cranky babies!
The television serials are their staple diets. Mostly, highly volatile and violent are the relationships depicted there. The advertising agency is hiding behind, hovering just a little in the background, too!
Parents often are more self-obsessed now, with unmistakeable cravings for personal space. What happens to the little hearts, when parents fight with each other ferociously? Who cares?
Multiple are such issues. During the Diwali vacation, childhood neglect of many such and other varieties should get thoroughly addressed with some concrete, do-able suggestions getting incorporated in the new syllabi. Only then can the new NEP bring joy, happiness and creativity in to the lost worlds of childhood. Long live children and their innocence!
Pratima@ Let the child be, allow the child to be the father of man!
No comments:
Post a Comment