Children living on India’s streets remain one of the most vulnerable sections of society. We see them on our streets every day, sometimes forced into labour, but do we know really how to help them?
To rally young people towards understanding existing laws that can help protect and uplift the lives of children in street situations, we created a quiz based on the ‘Standard Operating Procedure for Care and Protection of Children in Street Situations (SOP)’ that was recently launched by Save the Children India and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). The responses to the quiz revealed some compelling results:
Child Labour Continues To Haunt The Streets Of Our Biggest Cities
Out of more than 9000 respondents who took a poll at the end of the quiz, a whopping 72.9% had encountered children forced into labour, illegally in their city. Most of the respondents to the quiz were from India’s largest cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Pune, Lucknow, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. This brings to light the disturbing fact that child labour, which is illegal, is a common sight in urban landscapes even today, 70 years after attaining independence.
Debunking The Myth That Young People Don’t Care About Issues Of Importance
The quiz received a viewership of over 1,00,000 of which more than 50% viewers fell in the age bracket of 18-34 years. Almost 50,000 viewers who visited the page took the quiz, with 30,000 completing it – that is, 1 out of every 2 people who attempted the quiz, completed it! This only goes to show that the popular myth that young people don’t care about social issues of importance is just that – a myth. Young people do care.
The Way Forward
Getting young people involved in rallying for the protection of children on India’s streets is crucial. But equally crucial is disseminating information about what best practices and acts can take the process forward while maximising impact. Armed with the right information, India’s youth represents a powerful resource pool to tap into, to take such causes forward.
The quiz aimed to do just that – share important information that can help counter the issue in a solution-oriented way. And we’re not done yet! We’d love to draw attention to the cause by reaching many more millennials! The quiz is still active, take the quiz to see if you’re a child rights warrior, and share it ahead!