Updated on: Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thiruvanathapuram: CRY has sought amendments to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009,arguing that the gaps will result in unequal access to the fundamental right for children.
Speaking at a 'public hearing' organised here as part of its national campaign, CRY (Child Rights and You) Director Regina Thomas said the coming winter session would be an opportunity to press the Government to amend the Act and make its provisions reach every child in the country, a CRY release said.
It said CRY and its 200 grassroots NGO partners working with 6700 villages and slums in 18 states would garner support for the list of demands to be submitted to government by collecting half a million signatures from across India. The campaign would culminate on December 11, anniversary of the day India ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The charter would be submitted to the President in the form of a symbolic book,the release said.
The experience narrated by some children from the state before an independent panel comprising jurists and media experts threw light into 'deficiencies' in quality and access to education of the marginalised children and communities in Kerala, it said.
The existing system served the needs of only the mainstream sections in Kerala glossing over the needs of marginalised communities like dalit, adivasi, unorganized workers and fishing communities, the release said