School kids on the streets : Human shields of a kind
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 13 2011 -

Students staging a rally for Sadar Hills on October 11 2011 - Pix :: TSE

It says something sick about the mentality of the very people who decide that school children, some of whom may be studying in just Class III or IV, too should come out on the street and lend their voice to a demand being raised, never mind how genuine or justified it maybe.

Human shields, this is what these children have been turned into, though the people who have dragged them out from the class rooms or from their homes will not accept this and may go to any length to justify their act.

There is a reason why there are juvenile courts, why there is something called adult franchise, why there is a cut off of a minimum age to be conscripted into the Army, why certain material are deemed to be for adult viewing only and why ages have been set to legitimise the union of any two individuals in marriage.

However when school kids are made to come out on the streets and stage rallies carrying banners and festoons and raise slogans on issues of which they have little or no understanding at all, then it is a reflection of how certain universally accepted definitions of children have been ground to the dust.

The economic blockade imposed by the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee has already taken a heavy toll on the people.

Four people have lost their lives in incidents directly related to the blockade and several Government offices have been reduced to cinders. Several goods laden trucks have been set on fire and the people in general have had to pay through their nose to lay their hands on even the most basic of items.

In the course of the over 60 days blockade, hospitals have had to cancel surgical operations for want of medical oxygen and queues outside petrol pumps are still a reality, though the Government may have been singing a different tune.

The Cabinet has decided to compensate the goods as well as the vehicles which have been burnt to cinders during the course of the blockade and while this is something expected from a Government, what has not been said and what has probably never crossed the mind of the people in general is the impact that the disturbance has landed on the minds of the young students.

As it is, the violence, the threat and the extremely tensed moments which have been witnessed on the National Highways must have had an adverse effect on the youngsters and as if this is not enough this very set of young children are being dragged out from their class rooms and homes to stage a rally or two to back a political demand.

The irony is, these children will not have the right to vote, if matter comes to such a pass that a vote is needed to settle the issue at hand !

There is a reason why an uproar was raised when 45 school children were made to take part in a rally in Kolkata on September 9 this year.

The uproar had nothing to do with the question of whether the theme of the rally was legitimate or not but for making children take part in a rally which otherwise is a matter strictly meant to be dealt by the adults.

The uproar was the manifestation of a universally accepted benchmark of what is acceptable and what is not. Does this benchmark have no bearing in this place ?

Should the notion of children be understood only through the prism of them being expected to fall in line with the directives of the adult members of society ?

The growing trend of using children in issues which concern the grown ups of the society should not be seen only through the present context of the Sadar Hills district demand but should be seen in its entirety.

And so from the stand to protect the territorial integrity of Manipur, to human rights violation, to the months long agitation against the July 23 BT Road incident of 2009, young children have been dragged out from their class rooms and made to stage dharnas and take out rallies.

The very act of using children implies one glaring fact and that is the adults, or to be more precise, the men leading any movement or agitation are cowards and nothing less. First they take refuge behind women and not satisfied with this they see nothing wrong in using school children as the front to pursue a demand.

Let the kids be. Leave them alone. It is alright if those at the helm of a movement continue to wallow under the poverty of ideas but it is absolutely unacceptable if they entertain the idea that children should be dragged into the cesspool of mediocrity and incompetence which they have created for themselves.

Parents and guardians say no to this madness. This is nothing but an attempt at using children as human shields under a concocted term.