There are many events celebrated every year in India. One of the important events of them is ‘Children’s Day’. Children’s Day in India is celebrated every year on the 14th of November. The event of Children’s day is dedicated to the overall growth of children of the nation. Children’s Day inspires all of us to support and promote children’s rights. Since the children are the future of the nation, they must be provided with a better education system and a healthy and safe environment as well.
Children’s Day 2022
In the year 2022, Children’s Day of India will fall on Monday. Like as usual, there will be huge enthusiasm among children for celebrating the occasion. It is a festival for children to enjoy and for parents to think toward the mental and physical growth of the children by taking the best care of them. Though it is a day of children of the nation, the biggest responsibility falls upon the teachers and guardians of the children.
History
Children’s Day, to be celebrated every year on 14 November is a grand and important celebration of India. The celebration of Children’s Day in India is associated with the first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
The birth anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru every year is celebrated as Children’s Day in India. The great Indian leader was born on 14 November 1889. He was a very influential personality and also a frontier in the Indian freedom struggle. It is said that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru loved children a lot. This is the reason why people celebrate his birthday as Children’s Day every year. The first Children’s Day in India was celebrated in the year 1962. Since then, India is celebrating it every year.
Apart from making India independent, Pandit Nehru had also contributed tothe growth of the youth of the nation. Even the children of the nation loved him the most. Because of their utmost love for the great leader of India, children called him ‘Chacha Nehru’. Through the five years’ plan in India, he focused on providing Indian children with basic and compulsory education and made it their right.He also established many institutes and organizations for children to attain higher studies in the nation. He had spent and major share of his life with children. It made the world observe his birth anniversary as Children’s Day annually.
Why Do We Celebrate this Event
Like other major events in India, there is a strong reason behind celebrating Children’s Day on such a huge level in the nation. Children’s Day is like dedicating a whole day of the year to the children of the nation, planning for their bright future, and providing them with a safe, healthy, and active and learning environment. Keeping aside the burden of education and syllabus, children are free to play, enjoy, and learn whatever they want on the day.
On Children’s Day, societies are made to focus on the problems that young India is facing now, and it also makes us realize our responsibilities towards children. This is the day when the government also thinks only about the policies related to the children. A collective effort of people in making the lives of children better on Children’s Day will definitely succeed. It can’t be possible without a Children’s Day.
Methods of Celebration
There are numerous ways of celebrating Children’s Day on various levels.
On this day, the parents bring gifts for their children and set them free to enjoy the day in a way they want. They also bring a cake for them and start the day by cutting them by their children. Some parents also plan a trip, tour, picnic, or a holiday with their children on Children’s Day.
In school, children decorate their classes and organize some activities with their friends. They also set stalls of different goods to make their school look like a small supermarket. They offer their goods and services to their teachers. They also perform dance, sing songs, and play dramas to entertain their teachers. Some students start social campaigns like plantation, cleanliness and save water, etc. to celebrate the day.
Some people like to spend their entire day with children on orphanages playing with children. They offer foods, chocolates, and gifts to orphans so that they can add some moments of happiness and joy in their life.
The national and international government launches various programmes, missions, and seminars on the day for children. These all remain centred at the growth of the children. Since the children are the future of the nation, they require special attention and also a separate event like Children’s Day. Also, TVs and radio broadcast various educational and inspirational programmes for children.
Objectives and Significance
We all know that there is a strong reason behind celebrating any event in India, and so is in the case of celebrating Teacher’s Day.
On Teachers Day, the entire nation focuses collectively on the growth of the children from every perspective. They also try to do every possible thing that can change their lives and make their future bright. It is also a day for children to relax from their education so that they can refresh their minds for further studies.
It is Teacher’s Day on which, we can concentrate on the problems related to children in India like lack of basic education, child labour, child abuse, and child marriage, etc. Also on the day, we get a chance to spend some time with poor children in our neighbourhood and can give them some moments of joy and happiness. It is also a day to contribute something to make the future of the children better. For it, we can plant as many trees as we can, save water, and clean surroundings for them. These will make their life easier.
What We can Do on Children’s Day
Children’s Day is a day of children in the world. There are many things that we can do for children of the nation on the day. We should make children learn new things and activities related to their interests. We can also motivate them in what they are doing.
On the day, we can arrange a party for them. Also, we can spend some time with children in the orphanage providing them with some gifts and chocolates. We can bring them some dresses and toys as well. There are a lot of other things that we can do for them.
On Children’s Day, the children should be free to enjoy, and we should not stop them from doing what is right. We can involve them in various social activities like plantation and cleanliness etc.
61 Years of Children’s Day
There have been 59 years since the first celebration of Children’s Day in India. In these years, Indian society has gone through several changes which have positively and negatively affected the children of the nation.
In the past few years, there has been a constant growth in the literacy ratio of children in India. Starting from the absence of awareness and lack of basic education which lasted in India for a long time has now almost removed. The literacy rate of children in India used to be much below 50% has now risen to about 75% of the population of children in India.
With the help of ‘Right to Education’, the government has assured the education for children’ especially those who are below 18 years of age. The launch of MNREGA, Mid-Day Meal, and other several programmes has reduced the case of child labour by 45% from 2005 to 2010. Since 2010, there had been around 64% reduction in the cases of Child Labour. The cases of child marriage have also reduced with a great margin because of schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojana, and Dhan Lakshmi Scheme, etc.
All the efforts by the government and also by the citizens themselves have significantly reduced the number of crimes against children and have helped in providing them with a safe and secure environment to learn and grow.
Some Issues that Still Exist in India
Though there has been a significant improvement in the condition of children of India, we can’t say that we have done all that we could do. There still exist several problems the children in India are going through. Some of them are discussed here.
- Child Trafficking-India is still considered to be the hub for Child Trafficking. Though it is an international issue, the cases in India of child trafficking are more than the other parts of the world. Thousands of children here are trafficked every year for many illegal purposes.
- Lack of Education –Though the literacy rate of India is improved in the past few decades, there are still some places where people have still not been in touch with education. They even don’t have any source of education or information related to it.
- Child Labour –Child labour is still a major problem in India. Though it is declared illegal in India, many people practice it ingloriously. Child labour is because of a lack of knowledge and the existence of poverty in India.
- Child Marriage –Though the government of India has made several laws regarding the marriage in India, child marriage is perhaps the longest-serving problem related to children in India. Some families adopt it because of illiteracy and poverty. The cases of Child Marriage are now minor in India.
Universal Children’s Day
Like Children’s Day of India, there is a Universal Children’s Day to be observed in the entire world. The Universal Children’s Day falls on the 20th of November every year. In 2022, it will fall on Sunday. The entire World celebrates it together, and the International government makes many plans for the children of the nation.
Though most of the nation in the world have their National Children’s Day, Universal Children’s Day is celebrated by every nation. It is hosted by the United Nations and accepted by the world. The main focus on Universal Children Day remains on the global problems on Children. The first and most important of them is Child Trafficking. This is the major problem that the world is facing and working together to eradicate completely on Universal Children’s Day.
Conclusion
Children’s Day is a day for the children of the nation. We should celebrate it with great joy and happiness. On Children’s Day 2022, pledge to spend quality time with children of the poor families also. Your small contributions to them can bring great pleasure to them. Teach them to respect others and love them the most. Make your Children’s Day actually a day for the children only.