On 11 October, the world will celebrate the 4th International Day of the Girl Child, highlighting the rights of girls all over world and the unique challenges they face. In 2015, this day includes a special focus on the newly launched Sustainable Development Goals and the importance of supporting girls during their adolescent years.
In 1999, prior to the launch of the Millennium Development Goals, 106 million children of primary school age were not attending school. Today, that number has virtually been halved, yet almost 60 million children are still without access to primary education.
Unfortunately, girls are still more likely to miss out on an education than their male peers, even though we know that educated girls are less likely to marry early, less likely to die in childbirth, and more likely to have educated healthy children of their own.
In order to increase the enrolment rates of girls, in 2009 India implemented compulsory and free education for all children aged 6-14, removing the economic burden of school fees for many poor, rural communities. However, demand for child labour continues to flourish, particularly in sectors such as mining, where companies look to recruit children who can fit into small spaces underground. Coupled with low household incomes, girls like Tasleema are often forced to leave school early in order to support their families.
As the third of seven children in her family, Tasleema was born into poverty. Her family`s situation improved, however, once Tasleema was enrolled in ChildFund India`s sponsorship program. While Tasleema was still young, her father suffered a heart attack and was unable to continue working. ChildFund`s support made it possible for Tasleema to continue her education while her mother kept the family afloat by working as a cook for a nearby school.
By the time Tasleema reached high school, her family`s needs had begun to outgrow her mother`s income. Tasleema assessed her family`s situation, her mother`s meagre earnings and her father`s continuous medical expenses and decided it was time for her to leave school and find a job. She left school before completing year 11 and set out in search of work.
Despite achieving high marks in school, Tasleema was continuously turned away from job opportunities due to her lack of employable skills €“ especially computer literacy. When ChildFund India staff became aware of Tasleema`s predicament, they invited her to participate in a program which focused on developing her IT skills as well as providing English language training. She completed the course in three and a half months.
With her new vocational skills, there were many positions advertised in the local newspaper that now offered great opportunities for Tasleema. This included a pharmacy which needed a computer operator. With the support of ChildFund, Tasleema now had the skills needed for the position, and was successful in securing the role.
Tasleema`s new job means she can comfortably support the basic needs of her family, and cover the cost of her father`s medical expenses. More importantly, Tasleema can contribute towards the costs of education for her younger siblings. While she did not complete her final years at school, she looks forward to seeing her younger siblings graduate instead. And as a skilled worker, she now has the opportunity to develop her own career.
Every year on Gandhi’s birthday, 2 October, we celebrate International Day of Non-Violence with the vision of creating a world where children can live in peace, free from violence and exploitation.
Since 2007, the annual event has had universal support which is greatly influenced by the mutual respect of Gandhi’s peaceful philosophies and the common desire to secure a culture of global peace, tolerance and non-violence. The day aims to disseminate the message of non-violence through education and greater public awareness.
This year, International Day of Non-Violence has landed with great timing to support the promotion of the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, also known as the Global Goals). After three years of advocating for the elimination of violence against children, it was an important milestone for ChildFund to see child protection included in the new global development agenda The objective of the ChildFund Alliance global advocacy campaign was to ensure that the protection of children from violence and exploitation would be a focus in the new SDGs, and that the implementation process of such policies would continue to be closely monitored.
More than 680,000 people signed ChildFund`s #freefromviolence petition, which was motivated by several shocking statistics:
- Almost half of all children will have experienced some form of physical violence before they reach the age of 8
- UNICEF estimates that 60% of children aged between 2 and 14 receive regular physical punishment from their direct caregivers
- 168 million children are estimated to be involved in child labour, 85 million of which are involved in hazardous work
- Every year 150 million girls and 73 million boys worldwide are raped or subject to sexual violence
These figures demonstrate that no country or child is safe from violence at home, in schools or from members of their local community. ChildFund has also learnt from their work during the past 75 years that alleviating exploitation and violence towards children is essential in providing a life that is free from poverty.
In Timor-Leste, ChildFund has been working in partnership with the government to implement their policies to eradicate childhood violence, including banning corporal punishment and physical discipline in all education institutions. ChildFund is using locally apprioriate methods to raise awareness among children, families and entire communities in rural areas about new and existing policies regarding physical abuse and the rights of children.
“When we asked teachers, students and their parents at the start of the project whether teachers have the right to hit children, a very high number of them thought the answer was yes,” says Miriazinha da Costa, ChildFund Timor-Leste`s education program assistant. “We need not only top-down policies and laws, but we also need to raise awareness and change behaviour at the community level.”
In rural areas of Timor-Leste, traditional media choices of television advertisements and newspaper articles are less popular due to low literacy rates and restricted access to common media sources. That is why ChildFund has been working directly with children to perform 10-minute skits in front of their local communities to inform students, parents and teachers about the Ministry of Education’s new violence-free policies.
Lilli (pictured above) is participating in the project. Lilli and her schoolmates’ play depicts a teacher physically abusing a student when they incorrectly answer a question, and shows how such actions are wrong and can harm a child`s development and their willingness to attend school.
The project has been hugely successful, so much so that skits were performed at the Timor-Leste National Children`s Forum on child rights, with an audience that included students from up to 17 schools, members of parliament and representatives from the ministries of Education, Justice and Health.
“Children are the ones who experience corporal punishment, so their voice is the most credible when talking about how it affects them and that it is still happening,” says da Costa. “It also demonstrates to children that they can be active participants in the development process from a young age, and that children themselves can find solutions and take action against the problems in their own communities.”
This is one of many projects around the world which are providing children with the opportunity to stand up for their rights and speak directly to policy makers about issues that affect them. All children deserve to live a life #freefromviolence and exploitation.
