Vadodara to host two-day national seminar on child rights

17 February, 2013

A two-day national seminar on 'Making Child Rights a Reality for Every Child in India' is being organized in the third week of March jointly by The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara and Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. The seminar is being organized with a view to understand the efficiency of all legal and social measures for protection of child rights.

According to the organizers, child rights is an important area of scholarship the world over, which is gaining great significance as an area of research in the first decade of 21st century, and protection of child rights is now considered an integral part of human rights.

"The Supreme Court of India has developed the concept of jurisdiction under which any individual can approach the Court with regard to the violation of a fundamental right. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005," informs the seminar brochure.

The brochure also highlights the Government of India’s commitment to children’s right to survival, health and nutrition, standard of living, play and leisure, early childhood care, education, equality, life and liberty, name and nationality, freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, the right to a family and the right to be protected from economic exploitation. Special mention was made about protection of rights and dignity of the girl child.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act with a mandate to ensure that all laws, policies, programmes, and administrative mechanisms are in consonance with the child rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India. Also, the Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009 and the Government's flagship programme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are meant to ensure RTE for children of the age group 6-14 years.

This citizen journalist has been invited to a seminar and has submitted a paper abstract titled “Enhancing Community's Stake in Village Education Plan for Right to Education to Take Roots: The Case of Lok Jumbish” as a contribution to the seminar.