Ensuring free, compulsory and quality education for all children is among 13 demands for which Tamil Nadu Forum for Crèche and Child Care Services - a network of organisations - is carrying out an awareness campaign across the State.
The campaign is aimed at political parties and candidates, asking them to include the aspects pertaining to rights of children, the future voters, in their manifesto.
Forum convenor K. Shanmugavelayutham said that the Chennai-based organisation started the campaign at Kanyakumari on April 16 and has covered 30 districts.
It will conclude in Chennai on May 14 - when political parties and candidates conclude their election campaign.
Last week, the awareness campaign was organised in Coimbatore, The Nilgiris and Tirupur.
This effort was necessary as most parties neglected the rights of children. Increasing the spending on children proportionate to their population and working towards the overall development of children should be ensured, he added.
“We are asking politicians to put an end to commercialisation of educational institutions and urging the new government to take up providing education at schools and higher education institutions free of cost as their responsibility,” says S. Moorthy organiser of Movement for Education Development, a member organisation of the network.
He said that their manifesto on education - which runs to 88 pages - was released in Chennai on March 21, and a copy of the same was handed over to leaders of various political parties. They also pressed for a policy level decision that children of elected representatives and government employees were enrolled in government schools.
“It will be instrumental in improving quality of government schools,” he added.
“Sadly, leading parties are yet to touch upon issues we highlighted,” he added. But, there is some consolation as some parties have announced waiver of education loan.
The campaign is aimed at political parties and candidates, asking them to include the aspects pertaining to rights of children, the future voters, in their manifesto.
Forum convenor K. Shanmugavelayutham said that the Chennai-based organisation started the campaign at Kanyakumari on April 16 and has covered 30 districts.
It will conclude in Chennai on May 14 - when political parties and candidates conclude their election campaign.
Last week, the awareness campaign was organised in Coimbatore, The Nilgiris and Tirupur.
This effort was necessary as most parties neglected the rights of children. Increasing the spending on children proportionate to their population and working towards the overall development of children should be ensured, he added.
“We are asking politicians to put an end to commercialisation of educational institutions and urging the new government to take up providing education at schools and higher education institutions free of cost as their responsibility,” says S. Moorthy organiser of Movement for Education Development, a member organisation of the network.
He said that their manifesto on education - which runs to 88 pages - was released in Chennai on March 21, and a copy of the same was handed over to leaders of various political parties. They also pressed for a policy level decision that children of elected representatives and government employees were enrolled in government schools.
“It will be instrumental in improving quality of government schools,” he added.
“Sadly, leading parties are yet to touch upon issues we highlighted,” he added. But, there is some consolation as some parties have announced waiver of education loan.