Children must be shielded against all brutality, mental and physical.

One must agree that the wholesome growth of children is vital to the future welfare of any society. However, owing to their age and level of maturity, children are particularly vulnerable – more than adults – to inadequate living conditions such as poverty, ineffectual health care, nourishment, drinking water, shelter, and environmental deterioration.

In the face of all these severe conditions, the child right act pays attention to the rights of special protection and care given to minors. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has clearly defined a child as ‘any human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, a majority is attained earlier.’ With the increase of violation of children and child abuse, it becomes imperative to educate oneself about the importance of the child rights act.

Here are a few reasons highlighting the importance of the child right act:

1.Children are individuals and not an owned entity – by parents, organization, state, or nation. 

2. Children are dependent beings; they rely on adults to be nurtured and raised. 

3. The acts and policies of a nation’s governing body have an effect on children, ranging from education to healthcare; the government is responsible for the betterment of its children – the nation’s future. 

4. Political processes should hear children’s views and address them too; it is important to understand what affects the future of our country and provide them with an assurance of growth and development in the right direction. 

5. Alteration in the familial configuration, global development, climate change, technological advancements, large-scale migration, irregular employment prototype, and a diminishing communal welfare net have a strong impact on children, in varying degrees. 

The well-being of any society rests on the shoulders of healthy and able children. Thus children should know the value of their voices and the ability that they hold to make a difference. The costs to society of failing its children are huge and it has to be given emphasis!

Founded in 1919, Save the Children is a universal non-profit organization working towards helping the nation learn the importance of the child right act. Presently, it is India’s foremost autonomous child rights NGO, working in 19 states across India since its inception in the country in 2008. Registered as ‘Bal Raksha Bharat’, it is accredited to have changed the lives of over 10.1 million children to date. 

Would you like to do something too? 

Do your bit and make a child understand the importance of the child right act, today.