Knowledge
HRD Ministry wants children to have a taste of democratic governance right from school
The HRD Ministry is planning to establish Bal Sansad or the Children’s Parliament in all CBSE schools in India to encourage children to go beyond the syllabus and help them in being future ready.
The HRD Ministry is planning to establish Bal Sansad or the Children’s Parliament in all CBSE schools in India. The state government run schools would also be requested to have such Bal Sansads, though with the Center’s help.
The rationale behind establishing Bal Sansads in schools is to encourage in children to go beyond the syllabus and help them in being future ready. The ministry is currently working on the finalising the methodologies to be adopted and the regulations to be followed.
The ministry has rope in the Jharkhand state education department, where this concept has already been implemented in many schools. The onus of guiding the Sansads here lies with the Rashtriya Jharkhand Seva Sansthan and many local NGOs. After thoroughly understanding the modus operandi and noting the best practices provided by the schools, the ministry would freeze on its own set of regulations for the Bal sansads. It has been announced that a prize money of Rupees One lakh will be awarded to the best Bal Sansad in a state.
The Bal Sansad would be loosely based on the Lok Sabha with a cabinet led by the PM and a dynamic opposition. The Sansad would take up the problems in the school and outside pertaining to cleanliness, gender, education and environment and with the help and guidance given by the school would try to decide on the best way to resolve the issue. Another duty of the Sansad would be to spread awareness with respect to gender parity and education.
The Sansad would also be actively involved in the social and cultural activities in the school. The sansad would meet monthly and table issues of social and school specific nature. The sansad would be dissolved every year and a new one formed so that most of the students get the chance of participating in it.
This scheme of things seem encouraging and may remove the stigma that a generation of people had about participating in the process of governing and bringing about a positive change in the society.