Children's Assembly - Bihar, India

In line with the Global Movement for Children and its thrust to "Change the World with children", the session had children focussing on issues that affected them, and putting up viewpoints from their own perspective.
A couple of days before the Children's assembly, the participants arrived at the AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences. Most arrived by bus from the various districts of Bihar. They were greeted with cinema-style hoardings of the GMC issues, and, as an ice-breaking exercise, stood under the posters that they felt were issues closest to their hearts. After two days of brain-storming exercises, they presented their concerns on the Global Movement for children agenda. Role-plays, picture-language sessions and discussions formed part of the process. The day after the Assembly the children toured the ancient Patliputra and the modern Patna.

Children, Youth, Rights

The voices of the children reflected their reality. Girls, barely fourteen years old spoke of their fears of violence, early marriage and rape. A boy of eleven years spoke of adults entering their villages and massacring their relatives and family. A street child spoke about policemen treating children cruelly, implicating them falsely in theft cases and of sexual abuse on dark railway yards.The children also focussed on issues basic to the state like caste-based and rural violence that destroys life and the child's future. "Count the number of children who have died of starvation, of terrorism, of caste wars in our own state," 17 year old Prem Mukund from Siwan told the house. Who will take responsibility for these deaths?The children demanded qualitative education and repair of school buildings; urged the government to control the menace of polythene bags and garbage; asked that proper knowledge about health issues and HIV-AIDS be made available to children; and presented an agenda for panchayats. They also spoke on how issues like armed conflict affect them. "No child should be left out" was their plea to those in charge of programme implementation."Make education in Bihar friendly for all children, especially the disabled,"said Suresh, a blind student from Muzaffarpur. "Instead of making science and maths practical compulsory at secondary school level, visually impaired students could be given alternatives like home science or other skill-based subjects," he said.
Samvad, the official journal of the Bihar Legislative Council, has already announced that the Human Rights Committee of the upper house of the legislature is already working on an action plan for children of Bihar based the concerns expressed in the Children's Assembly and guided by the Convention of the Rights of Children. This action plan will be discussed in both the houses of the legislature.