A parliamentary forum has recommended that some of the seats be reserved for girls in schools and stressed that "child budgeting" be done on the lines of gender budgeting.
The Parliamentary Forum on Children, headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, made the recommendations during a recent meeting of the panel and the report will soon be sent to the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, sources said. During the meeting, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath and senior Biju Janata Dal leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said "child budgeting" should be done on the lines of gender budgeting, which have provisions for women-specific schemes.
It was necessary to focus on overall development of children, promotion of education among them and checking incidences of child trafficking, they said. Tirath told the Forum members that her ministry was working with the Ministry of Home Affairs for effective implementation of the law prohibiting child trafficking.
Meira Kumar said in the meet that arrangements should be made to reserve some of the seats for girls in schools at a time when discussions were on to provide reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies, the sources said. She observed that there was a need to make policy makers sensitive on the issue.
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal suggested that arrangements be made in all schools for making health profile of students, they added. He said there was a need to look at children's development from wider perspective instead of making policies and suggested that experts and social representatives should be involved in deliberations in the next meeting of the Forum.
The Forum expressed concern over the school children "facing more problems than earlier" and observed that they face much pressure for giving outstanding performance. Sibal said education has become a "mechanical" activity for children due to "heavy burden of books on their back and absence of creative activity in schools". Forum members were unanimous in their view that without an environment supporting their physical, mental and emotional growth, children cannot be made a responsible citizen of the future.
The sources said reports of the meeting will be sent to the concerned ministry and necessary amendments be made in related law on the basis of the recommendations made by the Forum.
Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress leader Oscar Fernandez were also present in the meeting.
