Children: Unnoticed in development strategy

Long ago William Blake in his "Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience" showed how the innocent children after coming from the heaven becomes experienced in the society, how the glimpse of heaven gradually disappears from their faces and the evils of the society engulf them. Only the children are not responsible for their being desperate and committing crimes; rather the major fault lies in the society and the society people indeed. Quite often in our national and in even international level, children and adolescents are not given proper importance while formulating developmental policies. According to a UNICEF report, almost 1.2 billion people are forgotten worldwide while any developmental strategy is taken. The report emphasises that it is very urgent need to invest in the world's 1.2 billion 10-19 year olds, an invisible generation. Adolescence is the turning point in the lives of the children. This is the time when young people, especially girls, are at the highest risk of dangers such as child marriage, forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. UNICEF argues that in the current global economic climate, a stronger focus on adolescents is becoming increasingly crucial as children are now reaching adolescence when the world is gripped by social and political insecurity, spiralling food prices and rising unemployment Again, the latest International Labour Organisation (ILO) report showed that youth unemployment is now a significant concern in almost every national economy. More than 20 per cent of multinational and international companies consider inadequate education of the potential workforce to be a significant obstacle to higher investment and faster economic recovery. Though some people argue that social chaos is not new, rather it has been the focus in the public now for the increased coverage of media, the severity of this is on the rise for many reasons. The more we are being involved in the process of globalisation and modernization, the more tension and disintegration among people is growing. Familial bondage and social norms are getting withered and young children are getting less from the family and society. They are given less attention and less nourishment by the family and by some other institutions. The more parents are engaged in their career centric activities, the less the children get the company of their parents. In such situation the other agents try to influence the germination process of humanity in a child. But of course, increased income of father and mother gives the opportunity to the children by providing better education and better food. But it cannot ensure the mental health to the children always. Again, according to UNDP, of the types of crimes juveniles commit more often were theft (70%), drug related crimes (70%) and sex related crimes (24%). Physical torture (16%) committed by the juveniles was also noticeable. Crimes, such as, violence against women and children (7%) and murder (2%) committed by the juveniles were relatively low. Opinions on types of crimes committed by the juveniles differed substantially between localities - urban and rural areas, and between religious and ethnic groups. Causes for committing crimes by the male and female juveniles include poverty, unemployment, lack of opportunity, powerinfluence, sexual urge, frustration, addiction, sudden impulse, peer (religious leaders) influence, association with criminals and political cadres, lack of parental care and school dropout and others. Reasons attributed to male and female juvenile crimes differ considerably. Main reasons for crimes committed by male juveniles viewed as most important by the respondents are lack of parental care (57%), addiction (54%), unemployment (48%), poverty (47%), powerinfluence (38%), lack of opportunities (36%), greed (33%), peer influence (31%), school dropout (27%) and sexual urge (23%). The same for crimes committed by female juveniles are lack of parental care (47%), sexual urge (26%), opportunities (23%), poverty (22%), peer influence (20%), unemployment (18%), addiction (18%), school dropout (17%) and greed (14%). The reasons for juvenile crimes differ considerably across the base categories of the respondents, a UNDP report shows. In the comparative data representation of UNDP, some are very common between male and female as regards committing crimes. The major force-parental care is common for both of them. It also proves that for the aberration of young children, parents are more liable and this thing can be addressed by raising individual awareness properly. Unemployment, poverty and want of power are some other important factors that entice young males to commit crime, while sexual urge and opportunities drive female to do so. But one thing is noticeable that among maximum of the reasons, economic frustration is anyhow involved. Again, to UNICEF, poverty is one of the biggest threats to adolescent rights. It catapults young people prematurely into adulthood by pulling them out of school, pushing them into the labour market or forcing them to marry young. The World Bank estimates that approximately 73 per cent of the population in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa live on under US$2.0 per day. These are also the two regions with the fastest growing adolescent populations. How can a young man kill the parents of his beloved after being rejected in love by the girl? How the school-going boys become involved in all sorts of criminal activities? How can they pass their entire day just standing in front of girls' schools or colleges? What do these tendencies symbolise? We are just plunging into a more and more demoralised age and the future of our next generation is not that much peaceful. Twenty one per cent of the population is young and undoubtedly they are the future torch bearers of the country. If they are outrageous, it will, like a poison at the very beginning of a stream, destroy the entire nation. Punishment, in this regard may work a little; rather, creating more enabling environment for the children should be given priority. They should be given the hope to be enlightened, and in this regard both the government and the parents should come up to support the promising children. In the national and international level, there should be more emphasis on how to make a child an asset both for the family and for the nation. And of course, in the development strategies adopted in any level, importance should be given on the programmes that can help children to be molded in a better humane and skilled way. And importantly, programmes should be designed in such a way that they can address the poverty of economically deprived children. These will, at a time secure child right, decrease child labour and in the long run the nation will get some soldiers to depend on following the way of development. The writer is a Development Researcher, and can be reached at e-mail: mithunmds07@gmail.com