BHOPAL: Adolescents in the state say that online teaching is posing lots of problems for them. It is not easy to understand what is being taught and also face connectivity issues. They want political parties to work out alternative methods of imparting education and include this issue in their manifestoes.
Child Rights Observatory, an organisation working for child rights in Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday, shared with the political parties what adolescents want them to include in their manifestoes for the upcoming Assembly by-elections. President of the organisation, Nirmala Buch shared the demands of the teenagers with all the political parties.
The work of collating voices of adolescents was done in partnership with UNICEF.
Adolescents want that when schools reopen, all children should have access to facemasks and sanitisation and that optimum measures should be followed for protection against COVID-19. They say that all schools need to have playing areas, boundary walls, electricity, water supply, and separate toilets for girls and boys. They have also asked political parties to include in their manifestoes measures to deal with the shortage of teachers. They have also wanted support for facing psychological issues confronting them.
They also spoke on the challenges of growing child labour, violence against children, child marriage and provision of protective environment for them. They spoke on challenges of immunisation, reducing deaths of children and mothers, challenges of malnutrition, especially vis-a-vis children who are weak and severely malnourished. Adolescents also want that there should be a separate budget for children and special focus on girls and women.
