Summit for children gives platform for expression

The 'Child Journalists Summit' organised by World Vision India in the national capital served as a platform for children to express themselves in front of an audience ranging from pre-school to adult.

Some 36 children representing thousands of other children from their communities screened their short documentaries, movies, and shared articles, photographs and skits to an audience of government representatives, NGO workers, journalists, students and the general public at Alliance Francaise and Dilli Haat.

The Nov. 11 – 14 event was designed to empower children living in difficult circumstances, know their rights and fight for themselves, than any adult speak or work on their behalf.

The 'child scribes' were shortlisted from over 100 children from Goa, Malda, Delhi, Jaipur, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore, and were part of a series of workshops that World Vision India conducted over a span of over 6 months.

The children were trained to come up with a story, write the script, break them down into scenes, shots and handle small movie cameras to shoot their short films. The stories for these films though fictional were all inspired from the lives of the children.

Total 14 workshops were held in some seven cities. During the workshops, the children screen their documentaries, and debate and discuss the issues that came up. There is also a question and answer session where the stakeholders can interact with the children

The children then proceed to study a theme close to their hearts like family, friends and school. They create mind maps, conduct surveys to see if the children in their larger community feel the same way as they do about these themes.

The Summit concluded on Children's Day, Nov. 14, and was centered on the theme 'My Life is a Story'.

It is an attempt by World Vision India to help children, mainly from underprivileged backgrounds, to voice their opinions and views on themes or topics that they want to talk about, the Christian charity explained.

Though children constitute such a huge percentage of the country, what children say is seldom taken as a serious opinion. Their lives, their opinions, their views and their stories are brushed aside by adults.

The Chennai-based humanitarian organisation points to Article 12 and 13 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to stress on children's 'right to freedom of expression' and 'right for their views to be respected.'