Children’s Day was celebrated on November 14 with great enthusiasm and festivity across the State with schools holding events and entertainment programmes to mark the day. India commemorates the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru with the main aim of providing children with the opportunity to receive an education and follow a suitable path in life. Nehru contended that a nation’s property is not in its repository, but in its schools and stressed the need to identify children as the country’s riches and promote their future.
The celebrations are certainly needed because it creates a sense of upliftment, but in the larger scheme of things, the issues and challenges faced by children, a far more significant and crucial topic, is relegated to the dustbin. While the rejoicing happens and gifts and flowers are exchanged, there’s no thought or effort to address the painful side of the child’s story.
Consider this: In 2020, a report by the Victim Assistance Unit of Goa Police revealed that over six children are abused every week in Goa between March 2018 and February 2020. Sexual offences, kidnapping, assault and other offences against children are on the rise. Cut into the present, and Goa has recorded over 100 cases of offences against children this year. Four cases of infants being abandoned including a newborn girl child found near the sewerage treatment plant at Sirvodem, Navelim and a 5-day-old girl abandoned on Nerul beach. The recent case of a constable arrested for the rape of a minor girl; the horrific rape of a 4-year-old girl and a karate trainer sexually assaulting a minor boy; fears of school children being kidnapped at various locations. These are a few spine-chilling incidents, but they cast a shadow on the security and welfare of our children.
There are countless incidents and dreadful stories that have scarred young minds, and collectively these point towards a failure in providing safety and security for children. While the State debates over criminals, robberies, murders and law enforcement, a very delicate issue of crimes against children has been conveniently ignored.
Leaders talk about children being future pillars and leaders of tomorrow. There are calls to teach them values, protect them from harm and negativity and train them for a rapidly changing world. Deep underneath these are hollow and meaningless words of comfort. What is needed are credible efforts to help students out of the stigma and mental agony they are facing in challenging times. There has to be a sense of reassurance, not merely "feel good" words spoken once in a year.
Goa has limped back from the Covid-19 turmoil, and students have returned to their classes this academic year. The nearly two-year break has impacted many psychologically bringing about a huge mindset change. Across the world, there are initiatives to upscale the level of counselling and try and help children meet this challenge before them.
Unfortunately, in Goa, while we proclaim “happy Children’s Day”, there is not a single thought that has gone to understanding the mental state of students and giving them access to professional counselling. We boast about the 80-odd counsellors in the State, some of which are trainees trying to pursue their careers rather than the issues faced by students.
Children’s Day may have just passed by, doesn’t matter. We need to cut all the futuristic rhetoric and live in the present. Our children need a safe and secure today.
