April 13,2019:
In an initiative by KSCF’s (Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation) Bal Mitra Mandal, Children at Sanjay Camp, Chanakyapuri in the capital contested their first Bal Panchayat election on 11th April.
The little voters voted for their sarpanch out of the 11 shortlisted candidates. Ahead of the upcoming national elections, the Bal Panchayat elections is an initiative by Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation to inculcate leadership qualities in children and bring children's issues to the fore in the elections.
Children aged seven were standing in a queue with their school IDs and Aadhaar cards at the voting booth. Some demanded clean toilets, drinking water and functional toilets in school to ensure cleanliness in school and Sanjay camp.
Aditya, aged 14, whose election symbol, is a bag aims to ensure quality education for all children. He wants to make Sanjay camp free from child labour and child sexual abuse. His father does the job of a photographer and mother is a homemaker.
The mood was exuberant while walking into the gullies of Sanjay Camp, Chanakyapuri, a slum community with over 10,000 people, as children were showing off their stamped wrists proudly and saying that they had cast their vote. Children as young as seven were standing in a queue with their school IDs and Aadhaar cards at the voting booth. Some demanded clean toilets, drinking water and functional toilets in school to ensure quality education. Others demanded safety, equality and security in school and Sanjay Camp.
Aditya, a 14-year old is studying in class 10 in a government school, from Sanjay Camp, Chanakyapuri stood cheerfully with the 10 other children running for election. The camaraderie between the candidates was visible as they had all campaigned together and designed their election posters side-by-side. Each child picked an election symbol that represented their campaign.
After 3 hours of frenzied voting, the results were announced amidst great excitement and cheering. Amongst the 11 candidates, Aditya was elected as the Bal Sarpanch and Pooja as the Bal Upsarpanch. The remaining candidates took positions of Ministers in various areas such as Sports, Education, Safety, Environment, and Culture or executive body members.
Aditya, whose election symbol is a bag, aims to ensure quality education for all children. He wants to make Sanjay camp free from child labour and child sexual abuse. His father is a photographer and mother is a homemaker. Aditya, said, "It gives me immense happiness to become the Bal Sarpanch of my Sanjay Camp. I wish to get all the children in school, so that their future gets a good shape."
Pooja, aged 12, whose election symbol was a bird, wants freedom and equality for all. “I aim to finish caste discrimination and gender inequality in my Sanjay Camp”, says Pooja. Pooja became the Bal Upsarpanch of Sanjay Camp.
The goal of the Bal Panchayat is to build leadership amongst the children so that they become change agents in their community and learn to advocate for their rights.
KSCF works in 3 other slum communities in New Delhi. Nuzhat, a 13 year old girl, got elected as the Bal Sarpanch in Indra Kalyan Vihar, Okhla. Inder and Israil Camp in Rangpuri Pahadi will have their elections on April 15 and 19.
Some background information about KSCF and the Bal Mitra Mandal Program:
The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), set up by Nobel Peace Laureate, Mr. Kailash Satyarthi, is a global thought leader for prevention of exploitation and violence against children. KSCF works for the creation of a child-friendly world through direct interventions and programmes, research and capacity building, and campaigns for the mobilisation of mass support and behaviour change.
KSCF is currently working in 4 slum communities in New Delhi through the Bal Mitra Mandal (BMM) programme where we aim to build child-friendly urban slum communities - where every child is safe, free and educated. The objectives of the BMM program are:
- Ensuring every child in the community is in school
- Eliminating all forms of exploitation of children in communities
- Strengthening child protection committees in the community
- Strengthening education systems to ensure quality education in community schools.
- Increasing children’s participation in the community by creating a Children's Council (Bal Panchayat) at the community level
- Improving water, hygiene, sanitation, health, livelihood, and learning through partner NGOs
- Engaging the local community surrounding each slum through volunteer activities
The communities we work in are:
- Sanjay Camp, Chanakyapuri
- Indra Kalyan Vihar, Okhla Phase 1
- Inder Camp, Rangpuri Pahadi
- Israil Camp, Rangpuri Pahadi
Here is a flyer about the BMM program and fact sheet about Sanjay Camp.
About (BMM) Bal Mitra Mandal:
Inspired by Bal Mitra Gram, BMM aims to implement the same concept in urban communities where children are actively engaged in various programs and sessions which help them in building leadership skills and empowering them to advocate for their own rights. BMM, in association with organizations like Each One Teach One and American Embassy School, provides quality academic support to children through remedial classes to mainstream them into the formal education system.
