UP kids strive to eliminate gender inequality in rural state

Lucknow, Feb 13 (UNI) Two fourteen-year-old children from Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj district, who recently attended the International Youth Conference on Gender and Development in Berlin, are striving to curb gender inequality in rural UP.

Javed and Rajni, who attended the conference from February 5 to 9 in Germany, shared their experiences on how both are striving to eliminate gender differences in rural UP after undergoing training in gender equality.

The young ambassadors, talking to mediapersons here today, explained in detail about their interactions with the adolescents from other countries, including Egypt, Colombia, Paraguay, Norway, UK and Germany.

''The interaction has given us a better perspective and a new zeal to carry out our goal of eliminating gender differences in Maharajganj,'' they said.

Both the children are active members of the Babu Bahini Manch -- a children club -- created and supported by the Gram Niyojan Kendra and assisted by Plan India.

Children use drama, rallies and other advocacy tools to create awareness on gender equality. Besides, they focus on gender equality in their magizine.

''We shared our experiences and also got to know about other similar projects where children are involved in other parts of the world,'' Javed added.

''We have been able to bring some changes in the community as girls who never used to come out of home, now rub shoulders with boys,'' added Rajni.

Girls never used to play cricket but now girl cricket is the most popular game in our area while more girls are now pursuing higher studies than a few years ago and the number of child marriages has also come down to some extent, Rajni said.

The issue had been looked at through a variety of activities, including child rights, gender discrimination, illiteracy, poverty, health, child marriage and dowry, she added. ''However, among all the issues, major achievements have been made in the field of education and child rights,'' Rajni said.

UNI