Today I bring to your attention the global social issue persisting in the world, Child Health and Primary Education. Children are key to our success, yet many children across the world do not have some of their most basic needs met.
Child health and education go hand in hand. Malnutrition of children leads to permanent physiological damage, known colloquially as “stunting”. Children who are hungry cannot concentrate and, thus, cannot learn. Children who go chronically hungry for long periods of time can develop difficulties in their learning abilities and concentration due to hunger. This means they might not be able to achieve their academic or professional potential. Rates of under-five child mortality remain high. Children are the future of a nation. While we may know such problems exist in the world, we may not know how to act them. That’s why today as I discuss the condition of children, I also attempt to bring some small solutions and changes we can adopt which in turn can help.
Even when children are attending school, the quality of their education might be poor, or educational resources may be limited. This means that they might leave school without the necessary numeracy or literacy skills required. It’s estimated that approximately 600 million children are not mastering basic mathematics and literacy while at school. This is in the case of education and when it comes to health the story is even more depressing. When it comes to nutrition, the first 1,000 days are the most critical in a child’s development. Healthy food fuels growing minds and thriving communities. Many families suffering from food insecurity are forced to pull their children out of school to help with farming, having lifelong effects on the well-being of millions of youth around the world. Apart from this one of the major issues hampering the growth of children include child labour. In the last 20 years, almost 100 million children have been removed from child labour, bringing numbers down from 246 million in 2000 to 152 million in 2016. However, progress across regions is uneven. Almost half of the child labour happens in Africa (72 million children), followed by Asia and the Pacific (62 million). 70 per cent of children in child labour work in agriculture, mainly in subsistence and commercial farming and livestock herding. Almost half of all these children work in occupations or situations considered hazardous for their health and lives. To add to the crisis, the COVID-19 crisis has brought additional poverty to these already vulnerable populations and has also reversed years of progress in the fight against child labour. School closures have aggravated the situation and many millions of children are working to contribute to the family income. The pandemic has also made women, men and children more vulnerable to exploitation.
The aforementioned data is not to bore you or to show numbers for the sake of it. I only bought these statistics because it helps me make my point even stronger. While climate change and environmental concerns still are the most important problems to be addressed there are still other social issues that we must take action on. Children who are born in this era have not contributed to the growing global warming or it’s effects, hence why should they be left unattended. We must take action for their future at least. In our life we come across many instances where we watch social injustice taking place in front of us. Very few then step up and speak up but it’s imporant that we all unite and use our voice. Then wonders can happen, standing alone for justice can be scary but when people join hands and fight, there will be no place for injustice and inequality. When it comes to children we must take action. We may not be able to provide the kid with huge scholorships or adopt a kid but we can stop and provide him with very basic things like, books, a nutrituous meal or even a small talk on imporantace of education. If you know someone who’s kid is not going to school, motivate the chil to join a school, you could guide him/her and also provide with opportunites that you come across. There are many institutions and organsiations ready to provide the needs for children’s bright future, you can research them online, check the entire background and when it seems like everything is on track you can leave this opportunity to the child and let him/her decide. But it’s important that you persuade them and make them understand the importance of education. These are very little things we can try. We must speak up when time comes and maybe try before that so that awareness is spread and action is taken by every individual.
In this edition I just talked about a part from the sea of problems childrens face. While reading the data and surfing on internet I found so much infromation that was very depressing to read. By chance if you ever browse top global issues in the world, you will definitely find child health and education almost everywhere. So this is a very important concern and must be addressed, let’s take action like we do for other issues and become a voice for someone who are unheard.
I may not have been able to provide the best solutions but the basic steps include, persuading kids to join schools, providing food or extra food from your meals to some kids, contribute or volunteer to a organisation of your choice and do the bit you can. If possible you can also fund someone or bring them opportunites like comptetions, or providing them with books or tutoring someone you know who needs help.
Together we can achieve a lot and this is the biggest realisation we all need to learn.
Small yet simple contributions can together make a huge sea of solutions to the social and environmental problems persisting around us. Standing alone can be tough or scary but while we stand together we can be strong and powerful than ever.
Best Regards
Ganga