Children ask political parties to ensure affordable education
LUCKNOW:Children from various parts of the state on Thursday urged the political parties to include issues related to the welfare of children in their manifestos.
In a consultation organised by ‘Save the Children’ here, children handed over a memorandum to politicians demanding that they should work for better education and health infrastructure besides curtailing crime against children.
Representatives of various political parties and children from slum areas in Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Mughalsarai and Agra attended the programme which was presided over by Lucknow mayor Sanyukta Bhatia.
Spokespersons from political parties including Vibha Shukla (Samajwadi Party), Vaibhav Maheshwari (AAP), Rafat Fatima (Congress) and Rakesh Tripathi (Bharatiya Janata Party) attended the event.
“I promise the children that I will visit slum areas and ensure that things change for the better,” the Lucknow mayor said.Faheem, 12, from a slum area in Jhakarkati (Kanpur), who led the delegation, said: “Children must not live in despair and deprivation as it is their right to grow and develop in a clean, healthy and safe environment.
I am happy to meet the leaders from different political parties who will make the dreams of children of Uttar Pradesh come true and provide affordable healthcare, quality education and jobs for all when we grow up.”
Preeti Verma, member of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), said: “Children’s Manifesto is a significant step in bringing improvement in the lives of most marginalised children in the state. I have taken note of their demands and will ensure that the Commission works to realise their dreams for quality education, survival and right to protection from harm and abuse.”
General manager (campaigns), Save the Children, New Delhi, Pragya Vats said children constituted 40 per cent of India’s population yet as a nation the investment was not enough to ensure their well-being.
“If meaningfully engaged with, children can help inform and influence policies. Children are not only the future, they are also the present. By ignoring children, we put our present and future at peril,” she said.