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| State Activities ( Madhya Pradesh ) |
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| Worlds' Biggest Lesson in Khandwa (M.P.), 23 April 2008 |
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Why children are forced to work ?" "How poor children will get quality education?" these were some of the questions raised by the children during Worlds Biggest Lesson programme in Khandwa on 23rd April 2008.More than 600 school children from St. Joseph Convent school participated in this lesson.This lesson was organised by National Coalition for Education and Bachpan Bachao Andolan jointly in Khandwa.The chief guest of the programme was Mayor of Khandwa, Mr. Vir Singh Hindon. The event was coordinated by BBA activist Mr. Rajesh Shukla.
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BBA activist Mr. Rajesh Shukla describing
the Worlds' Biggest Lesson programme |
A school girl asking question |
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Khandwa Mayor, Mr. Vir Singh Hindon
addressing the children |
children during Worlds' Biggest Lesson |
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| Mr. Chief Minister! Go Back to Your School |
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Bhopal (M.P.), 25 April 2007 -On the third day of Global Action Week, out of school children and activists of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) had a demonstration (dharna) at Roshanpura Square , Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, the central state of India. They demanded State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to visit his primary school and assess the condition of the Alma Mater.
Activists also submitted a memorandum to Governor Dr. Balram Jakhar , to make a law for free and compulsory education. The other demands in the memorandum included total ban on child labour, child trafficking, appointment of trained teachers with preference given to females and more budgetary allocation for primary education etc.
Addressing the masses, BBA’s State Convenor , Dr. Raghvendra Singh Tomar said that if the Chief Minister did not have time to inspect his own school then education in this state was indeed at the God's mercy. He claimed that nearly one million children in the state are forced to work instead of giving them opportunity to go school .The State Government seemed oblivious of the children’s plight, despite ban on children working in dhabas, restaurants and roadside eateries since October last year, child labour is still rampant across the state and Labour law enforcing officers have turned a Nelson's eye to the sorry state of affairs, he added.
Nearly 50 civil society groups have lent support to the Global Action Week in Madhya Pradesh. Prominent among them were National Coalition for Education, Save the Childhood Foundation, Samarthan, Madhyavan, Samarpan Mahila Mandal and the other members of working group for GAW.
Schooldays are back for Prithvipur MLA
Mr. Brijendra Singh Rathore , Member of Legislative Assembly ,Madhya Pradesh visited his school in Ger village on 25 th April on the request of Mr Manish Sharma ,BBA Activist during the celebration of Global Action Week. Mr Rathore while remembering his school days said that during his time there were only two rooms in this school and now it has 10 rooms but the condition still has to improve because there is no water facilities and no separate toilets for girls in the school. After his visit he formally announced that he is going to give Rs. 50,000 to the school from his own MLA fund and ordered Block Education Officer to solve the water problem within three days.
BBA activists from different districts of Madhya Pradesh like Mandsaur, Jhabua, Ratlam Neemuch and Bhind have requested the concerned MLA’s to visit there schools to get a real picture of the problems faced by students and teachers. |
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MLAs pledge to make Child Friendly Madhya Pradesh
Members of the Legislative Assembly in Madhya Pradesh, the central state of India, took the oath to ensure the spending of MLA fund on priority for providing free, compulsory, equal and quality education and health facilities for all children in their constituency.
A group of former child labourers who are now going to school knocked on the doors of the MLAs early on the morning of 5 th December in Bhopal and took their signatures on the oath. The MLAs also agreed to join the Child Friendly MLA Forum constituted under an initiative of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA).
15 MLAs were already the member of the Forum, after this drive the strength has gone up to 23. The MLAs also showed their willingness to take up the issue of education and health of children in and outside the State Assembly and help make Madhya Pradesh educated, healthy and thus Child friendly.
Some of the new members of the Forum include Jai Singh Maravi (Kotma), Ramlal Routel (Anuppur), Deewan Singh Patel (Rajpur), Vijay Bahadur Singh Bundela (Chandla), Bhupendra Arya (Maheshwar), Meharban Singh Rawat (Sabalgarh), Ramdayal Prabhakar (Sewda).
BBA believes that the formation of MLA Forum in the sate will help in quick action on children’s issues. The MLAs were urged to ensure no child in their constituency is forced to work and that strict action is taken against anyone employing a child for work.
The MLAs were also provided with questions on the issues like, allocated budget for primary education and money spent till now; priority to recruit female teachers; separate toilet for girls in schools; government’s plan to decrease drop-out rate; pupil to teacher ratio in schools; how many children were withdrawn from work and rehabilitated and other related issues. The “Child Friendly MLAs” promised to raise the issue in the forthcoming winter session of the Assembly.
BBA would again take up the campaign to garner the support of more MLAs on the first day of the winter session proposed to start from 23 rd December 2005. |
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Policy-Makers Urged to Take Action
The daunting task of achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the coming decade necessitates urgent action. As part of its ongoing MDG campaign, Bachpan Bachao Andolan has been working at the grassroots level in the states of UP & MP as well as at the national level.
It is imperative to improve the service access and the delivery mechanism to achieve the targets. To realize this it is essential to have favourable political will and BBA has taken action to sensitise the parliamentarians from time to time. The winter session starts from today, 23rd November 2005. Prior to this mailers have been sent to the parliament members urging them to vocalize their views on the issue of education, gender parity, poverty alleviation and most importantly drawing their attention that economic exploitation of children must be stopped to meet any of the MDG targets.
BBA will intensify its campaign by meeting the Parliament Members and advocating that they should raise questions in the Parliament and make the government take action. It will also stimulate the MPs to demand that the Education Bill is made into a law by tabling it in the present session.
A similar campaign is on progress with the Members of the legislative assembly in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Presently the BBA activists are providing inputs from the village, district and state level to the MLAs who are likely to put up questions in the Assembly sessions to start in the coming months.
We are hopeful of gaining the solidarity of Child Friendly Parliamentarians. |
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INAUGRATION OF THE VILLAGE INFORMATION CENTRE
Jhabua: A' Village Information Centre' an initiative of the B.B.A. and Krishna Yuva Mandal with the support of the Voluntary Health Association was inaugurated in the Bal Mitra Gram of Kardavad Badi on 19 January, by Jhabua District Panchayat president Shri Man Singh Meda. Presided by the Peoples Watch Committee convener, Mr. Dilip Singh Verma the inauguration was also attended by the vice sarpanch, B.B.A. coordinator Dr. Raghvendra Singh and BBA district president Umesh Gurjar.
FREE EYE CHECK UP AND OPERATION CAMP
Jhabua: A three-day free eye check up and operation camp was organized in association with the Rotary Club from the 28 – 30 January 06, which saw the full participation of B.B.A. workers. The programme concluded with a speech by the governor of Madhya Pradesh Dr Balram Jakhar. Later on, the governor had a meeting with the BBA. workers who informed him about the achievements and programmes of the BBA. |
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Content edited by: Surekha Rahal & Sherin Jacob,
Volunteers, Studying in Tata Institute of Social Sciences |
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