Date:20/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/20/stories/2006022016420800.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Manifesto seeks right to education up to 18 years

Special Correspondent

88 children from 18 districts form a human chain

— Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

ASSERTING THEIR RIGHT: Children taking part in a demonstration in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: A comprehensive law should be enacted immediately for Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry to ensure free, quality, compulsory and equitable education for all children up to either Standard XII or till 18 years of age, said a manifesto on child rights, passed by the Coalition of Child Rights Networks, here on Sunday.

The manifesto was passed after a human chain, in which 88 children — including child labourers — from 18 districts participated. The manifesto was passed as a prelude to elections to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly scheduled to be held in May this year.

The manifesto also called for a new State policy on children to declare and uphold the tenets of constitutional protection accorded to child rights and fulfil the provisions of the U.N. Conventions on the rights of the child, which India ratified in 1992.

All forms of child labour should be prohibited and violence against children stopped. Trafficking in children should be brought to an end, the manifesto said and sought a White Paper on the status of children and child rights violations. An action taken report should be tabled every year in the Assembly.

The Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act should be rigorously enforced and all forms of torture, sexual abuse and activities degrading children, including those in schools, should be prohibited. A child-centred system was needed for dealing with crimes against children.

Children with disabilities should be provided free education in all schools, the manifesto said.

Many children who took part in the human chain said they anticipated being made to give up schooling and being forced to take up child labour to supplement the family's income. Some said they would convince their parents to boycott the forthcoming elections or vote only for the party that promised to safeguard child rights. "There are no basic amenities nor even enough teachers in the government-run high school where I study," said Rajan (15) from Pulicat.

V. Vasanthi Devi, former chairperson, Tamil Nadu State Women's Commission, advocate Sudha Ramalingam, the former High Court judge, Akbar Basha, and the former bureaucrat, S. Karuppan, participated.