Getting to Know my International Contacts

Poverty in India

For this week’s assignment, I am yet to receive a response from my conversational partner. I have therefore decided to look at poverty in India through Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center (CHIP) website www.childhoodpoverty.org.  India is the second most populous country in the world with an estimated 1.03billion people in 2001. Over the last five decades the government of India has made efforts to alleviate poverty through liberalization of the economy, targeted programmes, land and tenancy reforms, participatory and empowerment based approaches and the provision of basic services. Despite these efforts, the absolute numbers in poverty remain very high. The social services sectors face major challenges of providing education for about 33million children from poor families,  dealing with communicable diseases, malnutrition, maternal and perinatal illnesses.

Childhood Poverty in India.

India has an estimated 400million of its population to be children from 0 to 18years.  They account for 20% of the world’s out of school children, it has the largest number of working children and serious gender discrimination. The reason for gender discrimination is a perception that boys are permanent members of a family while girls are only temporary members. The on-going gender discrimination leads to lower rate of school attendance among girls, less exposure to the outside world, and emphasis on domestic skills. This situation made life very difficult for many indian children especially the girls.

Action to Address the Situation.

Three main anti-poverty programmes in India are - Rural Employment Creation and Infrastructure Development Programmes; Self-Employment; and Food Subsidy Programmes. All these three have been subjected to reform in recent years to ensure better targeting and coverage. The largest food subsidy programme is the Public Distribution System, which is explicitly targeted towards the poor. Integrated Child Development Services Programme (ICDS) is the largest programme specifically targeted at children in the 0-6 age group. It is a centrally sponsored scheme covering all states. However, more needs to be done.

In conclusion, I will suggest that Indian should emulate what China has done. Remove all the cultural barriers, abolish gender discrimination, support gender equality in employment and birth control. Lack of foresight on the part of government and culture barriers are the main causes of poverty. When there is increase in population and the infrastructures are not increased it is bound to bring poverty. These approaches reduced China’s poverty rate drastically.

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center (CHIP) Findings:

Findings from CHIP website about what works to reduce poverty are as follows:

1.      Maximising the potential of growth-oriented policies for children in poverty requires substantial investment in social infrastructure, particularly universal basic education and comprehensive social protection - preferably before major liberalisation takes place.

·         One effective form of redistribution is cash transfers for poor families - income supplements and minimum guaranteed incomes tend to have the greatest poverty reduction impacts. Programmes that integrate cash transfers with other key services are likely to have the strongest impacts on child wellbeing. Cash transfer refers to financial subsidy to indigenous poor homes.

·         The relationship between poverty, population trends and childhood poverty is very context- and culture-specific. Overall, the poorer the country and the higher the fertility level, the more beneficial the effects of decreasing fertility rates for children's wellbeing. However, policies aimed at reducing population growth should be implemented alongside wider development programmes in order to achieve substantial improvements in childhood wellbeing.

·         Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes can make a substantial contribution to the quality of especially vulnerable children's lives and provide safe childcare for working parents. Substantially more resources are needed if ECD is to make a greater contribution to the wellbeing and development of poor children.

 

Reference

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org

 

CHILDREN IN DETENTION

THE GLOBAL END IMMIGRATION DETENTION OF CHILDREN CAMPAIGN
Going through the Early Childhood Australia (ECA) website, the above heading caught my attention. On a further search, I get to understand that the International Detention Coalition (IDC) lunched a global campaign this year to stop the growing trend of children immigration detention by governments. It is on record that children fleeing abuse, poverty, human trafficking and war are locked up simply because they do not hold the needed documentation. Evidence has shown that immigration detention has devastating effects on their physical, psychosocial and cognitive development. Not to talk about the educational setback. Hence, all involved must be stopped. IDC estimates hundreds of thousands of children are placed in detention yearly in places like Australia, Greece, Israel, Malaysia South Africa Thailand and United States of America.

Some refugee children of Burma standing behind bars with other detainees in a crowded detention cell in Mae Sot, Thailand.

 In a press release May 2012, the ECA then Chief Executive Officer Pan Cahir acknowledged that a compassionate and responsible government must promote and protect the right of children including the ones seeking asylum. Refugee children like every child need healthy development which depends on nurturing and stimulating environment. They need to cope with the trauma of loss, uprooting from culture and relationships. Living such children that are already hurting in detention would only make their condition worse. The ECA is adding their voice to the rest of the world to compel the Australian government to ensure that not one more child is placed in detention in their country. The ECA suggested the following to their government:

1. Families with children and unaccompanied minors should be placed in the community while their claims are assessed. 

2. In the event that an application for refugee status is unsuccessful and families or unaccompanied minors cannot return to their home country, families and unaccompanied minors should continue to live in the community until such time as they can return home.

3. Families should have access to the support they need to care for their children and participate in the community.

It is quite unfortunate that anybody could forget that children are children no matter the circumstances and should be treated with care. These children are very vulnerable and are already exposed to so many challenges. Therefore, keeping them in detention must be abolished. They are victims of circumstances, and I wonder where the Social Justice, Equity, fairness and love go. I sincerely hope that every government will take this issue very seriously. I always hear “children is our future” but the future is here as “children” irrespective of their circumstances. We must take hold of the future now. Optimal development is the right of every child and the appropriate environment must be provided by any responsible government. I like the statement of IDC “We believe that children should be treated as children first and foremost, regardless of their immigration status and wherever they are in the world”.

 For more details on this check the following links:

http://www.theworkcontinues.org/news.asp?id=1757

 http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/early_childhood_news/may_2012_media_release_government_must_act_to_end_child_detention.html

ESTABLISHING PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS

ESTABLISHING PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS

The first person I contacted is Mrs Bimbo Are, the owner of Ajoke International School, Ibadan, Nigeria. During our discussion, I asked her question on issues that are affecting Early Childhood (EC) field. Her response is that government of Nigeria has accepted EC as the foundational education but could not demonstrate the political will to embrace the program wholly. Currently it is in the hands of private practitioners. Individuals run Centres and schools based on what they believe are right for the children. Quality control system is weak for now. Government have managed to allocate 5% budget to education and what gets to EC is not defined. Implementing the agreed standard is not currently practicable. The second person is Jane lee; she is a member of association for Early Child Hood Education Singapore. In Singapore, the reverse is the case because the government is actively supporting EC and higher institutions are being equipped to train caregivers and teachers. She believes that it is only when teachers and caregivers have relevant knowledge about children development that they can function as scaffolding for children.

EXPANDING RESOURCES

 I explored Early Childhood Australia (ECA) website. It is amazing with wonderful resources, especially from their archive called Voice Archive. The mission of this organisation is to advocate and ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the care and education of young children from birth to eight years. They act as knowledge broker linking quality assured EC knowledge and information to those who need it. Government seems to be supporting the organisation as they have Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia as their Patron. One thing I picked from this website is the statement of the incoming CEO Early Childhood Australia, Samantha Page. “The strength of ECA today is the result of many years of hard work”. Therefore, the result to be seen tomorrow must be cultivated today. It is in our hands now.

NEWS LETTER

One newsletter I cherish very well is from zero to three. The newsletter is free for subscription and it is called “baby to big kids”. It provides information about how children grow and develop. It contains research studies covering developments in areas of language, brain, body, cognitive and psychosocial. This can help parents and EC professionals to dictate developmental delays for early intervention. Zero to three is a nongovernment organisation that trains and supports parents and stakeholders in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. In their word “early experience matter”(zero to three).

 

Reference

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/voice_newsletter/voice_archive.html

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/