Street Children, challenges and Importance of school education
You will surely see emaciated children on the street begging or while cleaning your car. They are none other than a very poor street child of your country, maybe he/she is fatherless, they could have gone to a school like your child today, but are just grunting like a helpless stomach. We know that within every child sleeps a responsible guardian of the future. Like ordinary children, they also have the talents of future poets, artists, scientists, etc. This article is about how to educate the street children and bring them to a normal life stream as only education can equip them to break out of the cycle of poverty.
Who are these street children
Street children are homeless children sometimes guardian-less who live outdoors in a city or village market and live by begging, stealing, or another way due to poverty, family breakdown, violence, war, natural disasters, etc.
According to the United Nations Children's Charter, all children under the age of 18 are children. According to that 25-30 percent of the total population in the country are children. And a part of them is this street child. In many cases, the age of children has been fixed up to 11 years. There may be differences in the age limit for determining children. But never above 18 years.
One-twelfth of our country's population lives below the poverty line. They are deprived of the light of education, so they are not able to raise their children properly. Their lack continues to linger. They fail to provide proper food and other basic amenities to the boys and girls.
These children are engaged in various activities and spend their lives in the struggle of life. These jobs include porters, hawkers, rickshaw pullers, garbage collectors, hotel workers, factory workers, etc. Moreover, they are engaged in various dangerous jobs. A section is engaged in anti-social work. And there is a class of children who have no one or if there is, they also spend their lives on the street.
Educational requirements of street children
We all know that illiteracy is a social curse. Education is the only way to free children from this curse. No nation can develop without education. Education helps to develop people into true human beings. And lack of education makes them inhuman. Street children need education starting from the school level for a variety of reasons:
It is through the influence of education that they can become true human beings freed from prejudice, injustice, inertia, and depravity.
In the light of education, children can take part in various developmental activities.
Factory owners make children work for a small amount of money in many difficult and dangerous jobs. Many children drop out prematurely.
If these children had the opportunity of education then they would be aware of good and bad, right and wrong and they would be able to keep themselves away from any risky activities.
By education, they can be fit to serve the country and nation.
So to bring them back to the mainstream of society, educating them for the overall development of the society is the only proper way.
Our responsibility towards street children's education
Education is the basic birthright of all. We have much to do in the education of street children. Street children mainly come from poor families. They are deprived of education and other facilities while engaging in labor. As a result, many of their needs remain unfulfilled. They are plagued with various social problems.
In view of these problems, there is no alternative to education, accordingly, we can form various child welfare NGOs with the help of local administration to accommodate such children for their proper education.
Alternatively, these children can be brought under the technical and vocational education system which can make them interested to earn a livelihood after such education.
At the age when children are supposed to go to school, they are engaged in hard work. Books should be handed over to them instead of bricks and stones.
All these children should be given the opportunity of an education. Various government facilities should be provided to them.
Due to the increase in the number of street children in rural as well as urban areas, the incidence of crimes like kidnapping is increasing day by day. In this situation, the presence of Indian and international NGOs, in association with the local authorities, is necessary to eliminate torture, and harassment and provide them with a normal life and education through the establishment of orphan homes.
The responsibility and duty of the state towards street children
It is the primary duty of the govt. to detect how many destitute children are there in our country who cannot fill their stomachs with food. And also ensuring that they are included in data collection on access under school education. But besides the rules frame, there is no positive effort is seen for the basic development. On the other side many private NGOs with the help of the govt. welfare schemes are doing some work for the shelter and education of the street children. But direct govt initiative through the state and central govt is necessary for their rehabilitation. Recently in the year, 2022 govt has taken an active initiative through NCPCR for making a special rehabilitation policy.
As per National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), our Government is going to form a policy for the rehabilitation of street children. NCPCR suggestions were shared by the central govt. Vide their letters dated 16.02.2022 and 24.02.2022 respectively with the Chief Secretaries of all States/UTs for their necessary action. We can expect that our street children will be benefited from the policy with full cooperation from different NGOs and common people.
Conclusion
The Children are the future leaders of the country and nation. In a poor country like ours, the number of street children is not just small. But the conscious people of today's world have noticed that many such deprived children are being deprived of their right to life. They grow up in disrespect and neglect. The poor and helpless children of this country are deprived of basic rights such as food, shelter, education, medical, etc. We all know that a nation can never progress without education. Therefore, we should make these deprived children self-reliant with appropriate education and environment. It is our duty to keep a watchful eye on them so that they never fall due to our carelessness, neglect, suitable environment, and lack of educational opportunities.
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