New Delhi: An unique two day art exhibition was held at Arpana Fine Art Gallery, Siri Fort, in New Delhi. While art has always been a medium for expression, you are unlikely to find many exhibitions where the subject is child labour and the artists are underprivileged children, some of whom have first-hand experience of this distressing practice.
Formally opened by Mr Aseem Srivastav, member secretary of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the exhibition displayed reactions of members of the Children’s Advisory Board (CAB) to Child Labour.
CAB is a unique initiative to provide forum to children from all walks of life, who join together to discuss issues affecting them & peers and lobby decision makers to take action. According to 14 year old Raja, a member of CAB, “Child Labour has to stop. Education is the key to our futures. If children end up in child labour then their chance to be educated is taken away, and with it their future”, this is what I have shown in my picture.
16 year old Chandi, one of the artists said, “Having someone like representatives of NCPCR, education departments here, who have the power to make decisions that can affect our lives makes me happy as it given us assurance that our voices are being heard.”
The initiative was jointly organized by NGOs CHETNA and Plan India. According to Mr Sanjay Gupta; Director of Childhood Enhancement through Training and Action (CHETNA), “participation is a wonderful catalyst when it comes to empowering children. We organized this event for two key reasons; first to give children a chance to participate and allow their voices to be heard, and secondly to create a platform for decision makers to look at issues affecting children from the perspective of a child”. The exhibition will now move to various locations and we have written to Shri Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister, with the request of having an exhibition in Delhi Secretariat,” added Mr Gupta.
'Children have given very good suggestions, their expression and anger can be seen from the paintings. We will develop some posters and send to various police stations and labor department,' said Mr Aseem Sirivastav, Member Secretory NCPCR.
The event was attended by many stakeholders including Street and Working Children, chilren from government and private schools, who took inspiration from seeing their peers opinions displayed. 13 year old Jyoti commented, 'why should a child work? why not their care givers? I am confused when government says children can work after school. Where are these schools? I hope people will take note of this exhibition and do something about it'.
The artists’ ages ranged from 8 – 16 years old. From hope to abuse, problems to solutions, the exhibition had some incredibly powerful images and statements. Although the paintings on display varied hugely, the message remained the same. These children want action to be taken on child labour and they won’t stop until they are heard.
The Children Advisory Board will be empowered to give advise on various development issues, and scope of work will expand from Delhi to other states in coming year, said Hasina Khan, coordinator of Children Advisory Board.
