Child labour and education for girl child : Central points of Nobel prize
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: Ocotber 13, 2014 -
Children and education. One a child labour activist and the other a champion for children’s education. Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai. One an Indian and the other a Pakistani.
In naming the two as the winners of this year’s Nobel Peace prize, the Nobel Committee has succeeded in making a powerful statement particularly at this point of time when tension between the two countries is running palpably high.
Not that the award will help to ease tension between the two countries which have been at war at least three times, but in naming the two as the co-winners of the Peace prize, a significant statement has been delivered.
Nothing much in common between the two but central to the two characters is the never say die spirit towards a cause they believe in.
Protecting the rights of children and championing the cause of education for the girl child. Heroes in many sense of the term, but not something which have come easy to them.
If Satyarthi had to resign from a comfortable job to dedicate his life towards children’s rights for well over three decades, Malala on the other hand had to fight not only the bullet which nearly snuffed out her life but also a repressive mindset which is still caught in a time warp that education is not meant for the girl child.
Takes more than mortal courage and guts to speak out for something as universal as education for the girl child. Again not easy to give up a cushy job and embark on a mission so that the rights of children are not violated, especially in a country like India which has seen and experienced the scourge of child labour for decades.
Understandably the spotlight is on Satyarthi and Malala but for the Nobel Peace prize to have any real meaning and substance, it would do a whole lot of good to mankind, if the lessons learnt from the decision of the Nobel Committee are not allowed to be lost.
Central to the decision to bestow the award on the two characters is the underlying need to take up the cause of children, wherever they may be.
Protecting the rights of children and championing the cause of girl education should not and cannot be viewed only through the prism of awards.
Recognition and acknowledgement for the work they have done is no doubt important and the Nobel Committee has done its job but more important would be for the world as a whole to understand the significance of the award.
And certainly working and contributing towards the causes which they have taken up will go a long way in underlining the point that the rights of all children and education of the girl child is fundamental to humanity.
Children’s rights and education for the girl child should be accorded the primacy that they deserve.
It would be in the fitness of things too if the world, especially India and Pakistan see the Peace prize as something more than the rights of children and education for the girl child but the need to maintain peace and harmony between two nuclear power neighbours.
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