City Kemp News
High school students from over forty private and government schools in Bengaluru decided to celebrate Independence Day in a unique manner on Aug 10. They took to the streets to survey the condition of civic amenities in the locality surrounding their schools. “We the children are going to make a difference”, was the fervent cry of the students of Baldwin Girls’ High School.
Equipped with a questionnaire that served as a guide, children studied the condition of green cover, storm water drains, roads, traffic junctions, etc and noted down the good and the bad. A student from Baldwin Girls’ High School Bengaluru said “We are citizens too! And we can do something to make our city a better place to live in. With the help of our CMCA teacher we will take the problems to the BBMP, BESCOM or BWSSB and make our school neighbourhood beautiful.”
Similarly, hundreds of students from Hosur, Mysuru, Hubballi Dharwad and Nagpur, also conducted the survey in their respective neighbourhoods owing to do their bit for clean, green and functional localities.
“We the children” For better neighbourhoods was borne out of CMCA’s (Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness – A non profit and pioneer in the field of citizenship education), experiential Citizenship Program – “The Civic Club” run across 300 schools in India, which enables young people to be active citizens. This campaign encouraged students to observe and learn about their surroundings and to engage with local authorities seeking solutions for improvement. Under the guidance of CMCA, children either on the same day or over the following days will present the findings to the relevant authorities seeking solutions. It could also be in the form of calling the help lines to lodge complaints, writing letters to officials or meeting them in person.
Ashish Patel, CEO of CMCA, aptly said, “As we celebrate Independence month, let’s be reminded of the freedom we have to participate in governance. Through “We the children” CMCA hopes to encourage citizen participation among young people. We hope to ignite a spark that will set them on the path to active citizenship.”
CMCA believes that children are important stakeholders in a country and it is during these formative years that they should be moulded and guided to understand their role as a citizen in a democracy. In doing this, CMCA hopes to create a generation of youngsters who will be Active Citizens.