OUR INDIAN CHILDREN -BLOSSOMS IN THE DUST
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- OUR INDIAN CHILDREN -BLOSSOMS IN THE DUST
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SDA-RF-CH-4.18
OUR INDIAN CHILDREN - 31XSSOM5 IN
CH lc
"Beautiful and brown, but born to be a blossom in the dust”
Mascarenhas.
This sums up the sad but common fate of a child born in India
today. Of 230 million children below the age of 6 years, forty percent
are doomed to die early.
I.
THS DEPRIVED CHILD AND HEALTH
With one million deaths per year due to malnutrition alone, and
5 millions dying from easily preventable diseases (like Diptheria,
Whooping Cough, Tetanus, Poliomyelitis and Measles), death is perhaps
a better fate than that which awaits those who survive after five years.
It has been said that the child in India has as much chance of
reaching the age of 5 years as a child in a developed country has of
reaching the age of 35 - 40 years. Of those ivho survive, 1.5 million
are destitute and over 10 million are employed in hard and often demandin
labour.
The picture of South East Asia is hardly different
1.
In NogAL, the Himalayan Mountain Kingdom with a 12 million
population,
~
37$ of all deaths occur in infants
56/j of the total population is below five years and
67% are below 15 years.
At 7-8 years age, only 30% of children are in schools.
Infant death rates (122/1000) are give times hither in rural
areas and every tenth child in India is handicapped.
In all the countries of South East Asia where 2/3 of her
people live in rural areas, the benefits of increased national income
do not reach the most neglected and needy, that is the rural poor.
And this too when 70$ GNP comes from these reral poor. (The distribution
of population is 74$ rural, 20% urban and 6$ tribal in India).
2,
PAKISTAN: 44$ of the total population are below 15. Literacy
rates are very poor; above 5 years it is about 30%. Other statistics
are comparable to India. Very low literacy in RURAL, WOMEN and EEMALE
children a fact which is common to all South East 'sian Countries.
3.
SINGAPORE: which has an average family size of 3-05 children
and is a welfare state, is experiencing problems of a different nature.
Here the social problems need guidance and counselling•
4.
MALAYSIA: About 44% of the population is be lot? 15 years.
Education and health facilities in rural areas need improving. Malaysia
is trying to strengthen the rural maternal and child health services.
It is hoped that children will benefit considerably from this programme.
- 2 5.
HONGKONG: Has a high literacy rate for children. Young girls
tend to take part-time jobs more than young boys, to help in the househol
expenditure. Hence girls over 12 and 13 are often found working but
usually.not in hazardous jobs; The problems of dropouts, drug addiction
and delinquency are a warning to other Asian countries.
6.
PHILIPPINES; About 46% population is under 15. There is a big
rural population (6/1? of the total population). However with increasing
urban migration the effects on family life are beginning to be seen.
There is great progress on the literacy front, with about 60% literacy,
but this is more above 10 years and in males.
1/5 of the Labour force is between 10-14 years.
(Over 1/3 are 19 years or younger). From 1973 the Philippines
has a Woman and Child Labour Lav/. However, enforcement of
existing legislation in all S.E. Asian countries leaves much
to be desired because of vested interests.
7.
THAILAND: The high infant mortality rate of 85/1000 has been
declining very'sTowly. Children under 15 constitute 44% of population
and are mostly in the rural areas. There is 70% literacy above 10 years.
/Although almost all Thai children receive primary education, few proceed
past the 4th grade. There is a big child labour force in farming.
Health facilities in rural areas are inadequate.
8.
TAT-:.’AN : The terraced isle with a large population, Taiwan is
one of the healthiest areas in 'sia with a higher life expectancy for
female children as compared to male children. This contrasts with
India where male children are prized and cared for much better than
female children. The IMR is 22.6, a sensitive index of a healthy country
There is primary school education for over 50% of children. UNICEF
and Japan have contributed greatly to welfare services in Taiwan.
II.
THE DEPRIVED CHILD Am MALNUTRITION
Two thirds of the children in South East Asia are malnourished.
About seven million children suffer from severe malnutrition in India
alone. Nehru said "The nation marches on the feet of little children".
the children of India cannot march on empty stomachs. "With mothers
who lack the health, energy and time to devote to them". Out of 10
children only 3 have access to health care in rural areas. Ignorance
and adherence to traditional food habits added to malnutrition of the
mother results in deprivation from the time of conception.
Prematurity and low birth weight lead to a high child wastage
index (40% in India; only 4% in Japan) and the surviving children are
suscepible to tuberculosis and anaemia.
With 31 million working women and millions of others working
in the fields and a vast majority of them belonging to the very needy
groups, it falls upon the older child or aged grand-mother tt> care for
the younger children.
Vitamin A deficiency resulting in blindness is common. This
form of preventable blindness is unwarranted in a country abounding
with fruits and vegetables. The vast natural resources like dormant
in India which is indeed a rich country with poor people living in it.
Ifrotein catorie malnutrition is very common, and often irreversible damac
ends in death. Early detection is necessary but only very sick children'
are brought to hospitals.
- 3 -
(TABLE I NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN INDIA CENSUS. 1971)
Age
Urban
Rural
Millions
Total
Millions
0-3
10,974
50,521
61,495
4-6
9,361
43,898
53,259
0-6
20,335
94,419
114,754
When we consider malnutrition and health we cannot forget the
handicapped child. There are 9.5 million blind people of whom 70%
are children. There are about 18 million mentally retarded people
of whom 90% are children.
The orthopaedically handicapped children are about 5 million.
Leprosy affects over 5 million, of whom 40% are children.
An Asian Federation for the Handicapped is striving to create an
awareness of the preventable measures and early recognition of their needs
The Indian Government is undertaking a complete census in 1981.
However, Government institutions cannot serve a fraction of these deprived
children who are even ddprived by their families of care and affection.
III.
THE DEPRIVED CHILD AND LABOUR
The World estimate of child labour is in the vicinity of 52 million,
of which 42 million are in South Asia. Over 90% of them are located in th
rural areas where the parents expect their children to help support the
family.
There is no question of needs because the parents cannot comprehend
anything beyond living or existing for that day. It is for this same
reason that even the massive family planning programmes have little impact
The early entry of children into the work force is tantamount to the
deniilof the child’s right. The child works at low wages and at high
risks. There is no union to protect child exploitation. Not to have to
work would be a "luxury". Of what use would it be to talk of basic
necessities like safety conditions, short working hours and food. This
would be like Oliver Twist asking for "more".
IV,
THE DEPRIVED CHILD • AND EDUCATION
There are 115 million preschool children in the 0-6 age group.
vn®Seu^ldren suffer educational deprivation of a high order. Onlv 60% to
70/o children are enrolled in primary school.
- 4 With 40% of the brain growth completed by oge 4 :.nd 80% by age 8,
neglect at this vulnerable stage cannot be reversed or remedied by action
at a later stage.
child deprived of basic nutrition and environmental
stimulation is like the grain of wheat thrown on rocky soil; It can
never take root but leads a precarious existence battered by the elements
Here today but gone perhaps in the night, bot even reaching the morrow.
School dropouts
The Planning Commission of India has observed "the dropping out from
the educational stream of more than 60% of children before completing
4-5 years of schooling”.
What is even more shocking is that 50% drop out after only one year
of schooling. Therefore, more children are out of school than in, at
the very age that they are eager to imbibe knowledge. At the middle
school stage 70% of the children have dropped out.
Only half ths total number who enroll in schools are girls and a
large proportion drop out to marry early, often soon after they have
matured. 12% of the girls are married in the 10-14 years age group.
V.
THE DEPRIVED. CHILI- - ANi'HIS FAMILY
The child is an integral part of his family and he represents the
background he comes from. When wo consider plans to eradicate his
deprivation, we cannot treat him as separate from his family.
On the 115 million children below 6 years, 46 million belong to
families living below the poverty line, and 9.2 million live in slums;
187 million children live in the rural areas. These are deprived in
various ways.
It is almost meaningless to talk of the scale of human needs when we
consider the vast majority of Indian children their * psychological* needs
the need for "security”, the need to "love and become a person", the need
for "esteem and recognition" and the need for "fulfillment"• All these
must have the natural beautiful environment of the family. When children
are born to deprived parents, and especially a mother whose needs have
never been recognised or fulfilled, the word "needs” sounds hollow.
His deprivation starts from the time of his conception and continues
through his’birth, early infancy and (if he survives this period)
childhood and adolescence. It is the socio cultural and economic factors
linked with population that are primarily responsible for the miserable
family environment of the children in India.
Unhappiness perpetuates unhappiness and these children grow to make
unhappy parents.
The economic factor sets a chain reaction to problems like
malnutrition, ill-health, high infant mortality rate, disease, unwholesotn
living conditions, lack of education, vagrancy, delinquency, beggary
and child abuse.
5
Emotions! Imoovsrishment in th? Family
The exact statistics of the number of emotionally deprived children
is not known. This problem is not less serious than other forxas of
deprivation. The changing family pattern from the joint family to the
nuclear family,the working mother in urban areas- ant’ other causes
contribute as follows:
I. Death, desertionor divorce of one or both the parents a high
maternal mortality loaves about 6/1000 many children motherless
especially in rural areas.
II. a) Incompatability of one or both parents (marital discord)
especially when one partner is bettor educated or has
different expectations as in arranged marriages.
b) Mental illness.
c; Severe physical incapacity cf one or both the parents.
d) Alcoholism and addiction to drugs.
III. Acts of fate like floods, earthquakes, cyclone, etc. which
separate family members temporarily or permanently.
IV. Inadequate Parents.
Ignorance, indifference due to lack of education or lack of
attention of parents who are busy with social and professional
lif o.
Some consequences of the above situations are destitute, delinquent
and emotionally disturbed children.
I have: painted a dismal but true picture, but we must believe
"that if there is anything that will endure the eye of God. it is the
spirit of a little child fresh from his hand and therefore undefiled".
The Child at this Congress in this year is in the eye of the storm.
If IYC is not meant to be mere rhetoric but a yojrof action, then each
of the problem areas are target areas for us to focus our attention ch.
Keeping in mind that family is truly the natural environment of the
child and that we cannot consider the child in separate compartments but
as an integrated person we can suggest that:
1. Parents in S.2. Asia be mads aware - a) of the needs of the child
especially when growth and development are rapid and
b) the fact that the family can never be replaced by any other
institution or agency. The family must be energised to shape its
own destiny. As"of today, the family has little freedom to
determine its fate.
2. That the status of the deprived child in S.E. Asia be publicized
so that the Government and voluntary agencies can coordinate to
implement the integrated child health schemes proposed;
- 6 3. That voluntary agencies with an educational, social, nutritional
or handicap focus, coordinate and strengthen their activities especially
whore disparities exist eg, in rural areas and in female children, who
are treated as second class citizens.
4. That all welfare and health organizations remember that the child
born or unborn symbolises life and that any attempt to destroy this
life is contrary to human values.
5. That all opportunities for providing nutrition, which is inexpensive
and locally available, be availed off.
6. That our close cooperation in the Government plan (especially the
National Plan in India to provide nutrition and education to every child
and more especially to preschool child) is needed for IYC to succeed
in x*ts aiins •
7. That in school, immunisation and health services be provided free,
as also to the children out of school.
-nd that this work be spearheaded
by voluntary organizations as a top priority for prevention is not only
bettor but cheaper than cure.
8. That family life education programmes be widespread and freely
available to young people. Everywhere, parent education must be
undertaken sicie by side.
9. That public opinion be created to influence priorities which should
place the needs of the child hightas compared to other needs (like
research and military weaponry).
The dynamics of the T.YC programme should be carefully worked out
so as to involve the people - "If people do not understand they can only
interfere or remain indifferent" - and parents' especially must understand
and be involved in any programme proposed for their child. Indifference
has been the reaction to most of Indies excellent programmes.
A stratagey must therefore, be worked out.
Howevar, we should have a second look at the Gandhian approach.
Two basic tenets of Gandhian economics seem to provide an answer. One is
decentralization of the msans of production. The other is development
of technological system in which man is at the centra of the scheme of
things and not the machine. This is vital for the welfare of the rural
families living below the poverty line.
^temperately needed - an intaqratad plan of action for the child in S.E, As
"He who is or has been deeply hurt, has a right to be sure he is
loved" (Jean Vanier).
It is we who belong to voluntary and non governmental organizations
who should undertake the care for the deprived child. "Understand and
love the deprived child" • has been suggested as the eleventh commandment,
Perhaps we can resolve to do so in this IYC and make the following slogan
our goal.
7
"Ranch the Deprived Child”
For S.E. 'sian countries atleast, there could be no better theme,
for we have to choose a priority area.
Plans to overcome Deprivation
To canbat malnutrition, an excellent mechanisation has already been
&nt up in some parts of the country in the "BawalPi" (house for children)
schema wnich offers full and pax't-t imo child care in a stimulating
and nurturing environment. The Balwadi is a nucleus and starting point
for the development of action programmes that can effectively meet the
basic needs of children.
CSiild care is a social responsibility and families need assistance
in child roaring and communities need to reel responsible for the care of
This has not been understood or appreciated sufficiently in India
ana hence the Balwadi, which should be like a lamp shedding light around
it, remains 3 flickering flame. In this year, an attempt can be made
to revitalize this essential service and duplicate it as millions of
lamps all uvnr the country till there is no darkness left for children.
since woman in tho age group 15~£f5 constitute 22?> of the total
population and preschool children another 21%, this ''Vulnerable group"
of
can be reached toy health ano nutrition programmes. Midday
meals and health educatioh, though available in excellent programmes,
must be multiplied all over S.E, 'sian villages.
Tho bulk of the child labour is in the unorganised sector, in both
rural anc urban areas. Hence, it is foy the- voluntary organisations to
rise up to the occasion and organize this child labour.
Government
machinery cannox cope up with the enforcement of existing legislation,
neither can they influence public opinion, only voluntary agencies can
do this effectively. The Mational Committee on Child Labour set up by
the Labour Ministry has made little impact, for the evil roots of child
labour cannot be legislated av;ay. The problem of child labour has serious
engaged the attention of the Government as it is directly responsible
for the poor progress on the educational front, '..’omen can play a leading
role in remedying this situation provided they are helped to make up the
financial loss incurred by the child who discontinues working. One way
to achieve this is to enable the woman to be employed in gainful labour
in her own home, and this talus is now being undertaken.
The Mahila Mandal or Women’s Clubs and the Youth Associations in
the villages are being motivated to a key role in implementing
Government programmes and minimise unsanitary practices and apathy to
change.
India’s national plan of action for IYC 1979
In trie Five Year Plan, many long-term and short-term programmes have
been initiated to meet the challenges. One of the most organised schemes
of sufh efforts is the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme.
- 8 -
This scheme
first introduca-d on an expo *3.mental basis in 33 projects
all over India and is no/, being extended to 100 projects. Eoch project,
on an average, covers a population of about 90,000.
The scheme aims at the delivery pf a package of services consisting
of supplementary nutrition, immunization, health checkups, referral
services, health ano nutrition education and non formal pre-school
education is an integrated manner to pre-school children and pregnant
section of the population and a majority of children still remain
uncovered.
The programme calls for formulating a national strategy with the
following bread goals,
i) Reducing infant and child mortality and morbidity. This is
essential for motivating couples to plan their families.
ii) Reducing maternal mortality and morbidity.
ill) Ensuring adequate maternal and child ho pith services.
iv) Provision of basic health and nutrition services to children
and pregnant and lactating mothers.
v)
Preparation of boys and girls for wise parenthood,
vi) Ensuring proper knowledge and utilisation of family welfare
services and aut?:lt*. on.
vii) Wider community education cn health and nutrition.
Our problems exist in almost Goliath proportions. But like David,
ingenuity and determination can be the genius to overcome them.
The instruments of change are the educated who owe a debt to those
less fortunate. The education of women is particularly important for
when you educate a man, you educate an individual, whereas when you
educate a woman you educate a family.
The challenge is there - let us all join hands and hearts to meet
it so that, in the words of Tagore, we can say:
Where the mind is without fear, and the head is
held high,
fthere knowledge is free:
Where- the World has not been broken up into fragments
by narrow domestic wallsj
Where words come from the depth of truth;
9
Vahers tirelocs striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
thore the clear strdam of reason hss not lost its way into the
c-mary desert sand of dead habit?
’•‘.here the mint? is led forward by Thee into ever widening
thought
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
lx. ferie .Mignon wfaecsrenhas,
s El rector', Centre for Research, Education
ar.c Training fur Faifsily lii s i-ztXuCtion,
v- Associate .’iember, CBCI, Con-aaission for
Family and Laity,
" Member, Karnataka Government State,
ramify ..’eliaxe Council,
'• G_nvi.net V.ox.;Ei.c;,- 1YC,
21, Museum Rosd,
Bangalore - 560 025.
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