News
Slum Kids Hold The Parliament
Don’t underestimate them. They face the real tough life and come winners through it! They know issues to be solved and the solutions to them.. Here’s how they tried helping the government realize some grassroot issues in association with MSI.
Children from various slums all over our nation are not to be underestimated. They might not be getting the much-required quality education, but it isn’t keeping their brains low. And it was proved true by some of them from the slums of Vijayawada with the help of Montfort Social Institute (MSI).
MSI had invited children from different slums to participate in a mock-parliament session for which more than 70 students had turned up. Role-playing prime-minister and his colleagues, the leaders for future, all currently aged below 16, coming from 10 different slums discussed some of the most burning issues that poor in India face.
With the agenda, Amaravati: A Capital for All, the discussion revolved around housing problems for those who face a severe lack of it. Along with this, relating with the agenda, the children also discussed what other things can their government do to help a better future for the younger generation.
The few main things that these kids had in mind seem to the things that our government really needs to work upon not just in Amaravati but in slums all over India. The students started with computer education, toilet facilities in slums, hygienic toilets in schools, drainage system, lack of drinking water, lack of security for girls were the burning topics.
They had also laid stress on protection of the depleting water bodies in their city which could create a havoc for them, taking example from the way it did in Chennai.
MSI had held the parliament in the premises of N.St.Mathew’s Public School, Vijayawada, from where the ideas thus generated and the issues thus discussed will soon be submitted to the concerned authorities of the city to be acted upon.
What seemed quite promising was the fact that there was no gender biasedness when it came to children attending the Parliament. There was an equal number of girls and boys and both were equally vocal, which seemed to be the first step taken towards development!