Why Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi wants politicians to go back to school

Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has urged politicians to go back to school. Satyarthi wants politicians to help create safe environment for children in schools.

Chennai, Sep 14: It is interesting to see that Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has appealed to the political community of the country to go back to school. It is not that the noted child rights activist wants our politicians to revisit classrooms to once again repeat what they have already learnt in their childhood, but to understand what are the ills afflicting the Indian education system in the aftermath of a large numbers of cases of violence, sexual assaults and murders against students in schools.

The Nobel Peace laureate has appealed to the politicians to go back to school, as an ordinary parent, to assess and understand how schools can be made safe for children.
Satyarthi also rued the fact that schools, considered to be the safest places for children, have no safety mechanisms to take care of students.

He slammed the fact that more and more children in schools are facing rape, abuse and molestation across the country. Satyarthi said, "I urge all of the political community in the country to go to school as an ordinary parent. See things on your own, feel the environment, question them. Schools are supposed to be institutions of learning and safe haven for our children. It should not be places of torture."

"Unless we do not wake up to the dire need to take strong action, our children will continue to suffer. We will fail to make India safe for our children," he added. The noted child rights activist made the appeal to the politicians at the Bharat Yatra march in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday.

In fact, Satyarthi started the pan-India, Bharat Yatra, on September 11 in Kanyakumari in the southern state to focus on the need to ensure safety and well-being of children across India.

As a part of the march, the Nobel laureate, several other activists and like-minded people are travelling across the country to create awareness against child rape and child sexual abuse, issues hardly discussed in the country.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage people to report against cases of child sexual abuse, strengthening intuitional response including medical health and compensations, ensuring protection for victims and witnesses during trials and increasing convictions of child sexual abuse in a time bound manner.

OneIndia News