NEW DELHI: Plan India, a child centered development organisation, has launched a campaign ‘Learn without fear’ to fight against violence on children in schools.
The campaign has been launched in the form of comics, cartoons, radio jingles, animation and short films.
Says Plan India executive director Bhagyashri Dengle, “The campaign will operate on many levels; from global work to partnership with national governments, communities and individuals to change attitudes and behaviour. We truly believe that success will require a concerted effort by all stakeholders, not least children themselves, who are ingenious and enthusiastic about devising the best strategies to address the challenges posed by the violence inflicted on them.”
The campaign is currently being launched in seven states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and New Delhi.
This campaign is about preventing all forms of violence which includes corporal punishment, sexual abuse, neglect, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, bullying, peer-to-peer violence, youth gangs, use of weapons, and harassment in school and on the journey to and from school.
“The use of violence on children is an expression of the unquestioning power the adult chooses to establish over the child. This abuse of power is often considered ‘essential and natural’. Such social acceptance to corporal punishment results in all other forms of violence against children. Plan India’s campaign to end violence in schools is indeed an important step to generate a public debate and discourse on violence against children, an attempt to promote learning without fear”, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Shanta Sinha.
The new campaign was unveiled by Indian actor Anil Kapoor alongwith National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Shanta Sinha and Plan International India country director Roland Angerer.
