Deepika Pasham
Hyderabad
The Hyderabad City Children’s Parliament gathered on Sunday to speak on the theme ‘Gender Equality.’ The members included children from below 10-year-olds to 15-year-olds.
“We belong to a basthi (slum) and every child there has either a story of child labour or child marriage. We all want to give the message that we also have dreams of studying and we must strive to fulfil it. Our job is to create awareness that education can take us anywhere. As our parents cannot afford education we must promote the government’s free education,” the members said.
One participant who was speaking on gender equality said, “We see our girls not being aware of their rights due to various reasons. So first they have to be educated about various schemes. If girls come out and take a stand then no individual can drag them down.” On caste becoming the reason for suicides, the girls who attended the parliament stood up and said that no girl has the right to take her own life. They must have the courage to fight and not slip into suicidal thoughts or depression, the girls said.
Many girls said that they want breakfast in government schools as they have nothing to eat in the morning at home.
“Most of the time we walk barefoot after having a glass of water or tea. So if the Telangana government provides us breakfast in the morning then we will become healthy.”
They also remembered how Dr Ambedkar advocated the right to equality. The younger ones asked themselves whether equality is being given to both genders and pledged to treat all human beings as equals irrespective of caste and gender. The opportunity was provided by the Montfort Social Institute and the parliament is conducted in communities every month.
The communities include groups Krishna Nagar in Kacheguda, Singareni Colony and Shankeshwar Bazaar in Saroornagar, Varasiguda and many others. One child was selected from each slum.
