Social Upliftment of Children Builds a Better Nation

“Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow.”

– Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

He truly believed every word he said, and that’s why you get to celebrate Children’s Day even to this date! Every child deserves a better future and all the pathways, which will lead him/her towards the same. It is up to the responsible parents to create a world, where every child will have the right to survive with the utmost protection, ultimate development, and unending participation chances coming his way!

Yes, everyone knows that children are the bright future; budding with new thoughts and ideas. But, is it really that simple to manage a child’s development? With so many problems coming along with education, health, and more, how can a child possibly reach the pinnacle of success? Yes, it is a matter of huge concern and the needs should be taken care of, ASAP!

Problematic areas for a child’s development:

Education

A little one’s family and daily life will have a strong effect on his learning ability. Well, parents can indeed control certain aspects of a child’s environment, but not all! There are certain factors, which otherwise affect a child’s early learning cycle. Some of those are:

• Parent’s educational background
• Number of members in the house
• Income of the family
• Accessibility to play materials and books
• The stability rate in a family
• Quality child care, and more

The amount of pressure that parents put on their kids, or the lack of monetary help can easily degrade the learning experience of a child.

Health & Nutrition

As per some statistical reports, poor nutrition within the first two years of a child can slow down his mental and physical development for the rest of his life! For a better social upliftment of children, a healthy lifestyle is mandatory. However, lately, it has been a major problem!

Over half of the child deaths are the result of malnutrition. Frequent illness, poor diet plans, and inattentive care for the younger kids will lead them to malnutrition. Moreover, if a woman remains malnourished during her pregnancy, it can hamper the overall health quotient of the child as well!

Children have the right to a protective and caring environment, and to some basic health care and nutritious food to protect them from illness and also to promote growth.

Child Protection

In some parts of the world, Child protection has been taking the front seat in the overall Social Upliftment of Children. Not just girls, but even boys are facing domestic abuse, early marriage, sexual violence, trafficking, online violence, and more.

They are the unfortunate victims of violence not just at home but in school as well. Let’s not forget the pain and horror of child labor and bullying! All forms of abuse and violence will have lasting consequences on the lives of your kids.

The main goal of the child protection plan is divided into some core categories:

• The ultimate survival and development of a child
• Non-discrimination
• Participation of children
• Keeping a note of a child’s interests

Resilience

The ultimate combination of adaptive skill-building, supportive relationships, and positive experiences will result in resilience. Those children, who can naturally perform well during serious hardships, will have a strong biological resistance to adversity.

However, overprotective parenting will prevent a little kid from developing resilience and coping with stress and factors. Such single-minded parents will exhibit excessive guarding behavior.

Even though their biggest concern is to keep the children safe, such excessive protection will prevent the children from growing resilience from within! That makes them vulnerable when the time comes for the social upliftment of children later in life.

Humanitarian Response

Humanitarian problems are not new, and can be seen among children for many years now! Some of the examples are:

• Epidemics
• Famine
• Armed conflicts
• Natural disaster
• Energy crises and more

Globally speaking, 86.7 million children under 7 years of age have lived their whole lives in the middle of war and chaos.

• Radical changes are needed in the humanitarian system to address the unmet requirements of thousands of young kids living in crises and conflict.
• It is mandatory to recognize early childhood development as a “life-saving” priority in every response.
• Furthermore, all humanitarian organizations must generate some evidence to work for the kids and focus on those cost programs, which are targeted to be effective.

Lastly, let’s not forget that for a complete social upliftment of children, it is important for philanthropic organizations to raise the profiles of and invest in early childhood development. The development process must receive the support and attention, required for that lasting change.

Poverty and Inclusion:

Those little kids who live below the poverty line are considered malnourished. It will not just compromise their confidence level but will degrade their learning ability further. Let’s not forget that the educational impact is further exacerbated by family members, who in turn, are not able to offer a responsive stimulating environment. Multiple factors contribute to child poverty. Some of those are:

• Disability check
• Lacking the social services
• Lack of proper education
• Unemployed or poor parent
• Discrimination

As per some surveys covered, poverty will have some negative effects on a child’s brain, like learning, development, and academic performance. In the book “Poverty and Inclusion in Early Years Education” by Mark Cronin, Karen Argent, and Chris Collett, it has been mentioned that lower-income children, who are as young as 2 years, will perform worse across multiple cognitive measures.

What changes are to be made in a child’s development?

Early lives are pretty important for a child’s healthy development. It means concentrating on special health care and sharpening the abilities of the little child. Children reach milestones in ways they play, speak or even act out.

All little kids will develop at their own pace. However, creating milestones will give a general idea regarding the changes that your child is expected to go through!

Some effective parenting guidance can help in the overall development of a child. Showing warmth and sensitivity and having routines will help in the overall development of a child.

Parents using positive practices will not just keep their kids healthy, but also safe and successful in multiple areas. All these points result in a proper social upliftment of children.

Eliminating crises that children face using simplistic points:

• It is vital to ensure that every child gets the opportunity to study, learn and be independent.
• They should get a proper and healthy diet plan twice daily for overall physical development.
• As per UNICEF, there needs to be guaranteed access to nutrition and health services for the little kids to survive.
• A supportive mental health plan for children and young people is also crucial to bringing an end to gender-based violence, abuse, and negligence.

Some worldwide organizations like CRY and SMILE are currently working on child welfare.

Let’s see how these organizations work for the social upliftment of children who come from unwell families and backgrounds.

CRY

CRY (Child Rights and You) has been working for almost four decades to create happier and healthier childhoods. The organization is headquartered in Mumbai and has offices in major Indian cities such as Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata. As the finest NGO in India for child rights, it works to solve issues such as child education, health and nutrition, child labour, and child marriage through 102 operations distributed over 19 Indian states.

They focus on four major strategic areas for children: education, safety and protection, health and nutrition, and participation. To effect long-term change for India’s children, CRY seek collaboration with parents, teachers, Anganwadi workers, communities, district and state governments, and the children themselves. Over 3 million children in India have benefited from the initiative so far.

SMILE

Education lays the foundation for a better life. It is the most potent driver for societal revolution. However, a child cannot be educated in solitude. Only an empowered family, particularly the mother, would be willing to educate their child. Thus, rather than focusing on a single stage of a person’s life, SMILE Foundation believes in changing the lifecycle approach. The foundation works to educate, empower, and grow better citizens in areas ranging from healthcare to good social behavior to understanding one’s rights.

Every year, the Smile Foundation, an Indian social development organization, directly benefits nearly 15 lakh children and their families. In over 2,000 isolated villages and urban slums throughout 25 Indian states, they have over 400 live welfare initiatives on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women’s empowerment. Smile Foundation works to educate, empower, and grow better citizens in areas ranging from healthcare to good social behavior to understanding one’s rights.

There are organizations showcasing their tremendous work for the upliftment of children in multiple aspects and amplifying impact with UPDEED.

UPDEED is giving individuals and organizations a platform to spread awareness about social issues, programmes, and policies related. Let’s know about some of them:

1.Vanavil

Vanavil works for the protection, development, and well-being of nomadic communities in Tamil Nadu through education, livelihood, advocacy, health, and nutrition. Through UPDEED, the organization showcases multiple programs conducted for the development of these children.

2. Simple Education Foundation

Simple Education Foundation (SEF) was formed with the premise that every kid, regardless of social or economic circumstances, deserves access to a high-quality education.  And, through UPDEED, SEF posts about how it was started and how the initiative has evolved to improve the lives of unprivileged children. 

These organizations not only assist children in attaining a good future but definitely gifting the world a better future. Read some inspiring stories coming from these organizations’ noble work treasure.

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