14th of August was an important day for people who believe that children can change the world. Over 60 thousand children from 337 Panchayats of Krishnagiri District participated to voice their opinion about their issues.
A one-of-a kind initiative in the country saw hundreds of children in the ages 8 to 16 vote for issues that are dear to them.
Children representatives from 337 panchayats joined together in July to identify their top ten issues. These issues were made into a poster. On 14th August each child marked three important issues on the poster.
The poster was presented at the Grama Sabha that was held on Independence day. Grama Sabha is held 3 times in all Panchayats (Jan 26, Aug 15, and Oct 2) every year in Tamil Nadu. The problems of the Panchayat and the achievements are discussed between the elected representatives, district administration and the common public.
This event was organised by the District Administration and the Content, Training and methodology was provided by NalandaWay. The programme was assisted by UNICEF.
This year the Grama Sabha was conducted with more participation from the village community. It was extremely heartening to find that the issues discussed were based on the Bala Sabha Issue Poster finding submitted by the children representatives.
Bala Sabha was reviewed in the following newspapers.
Click on the link to view the article.
The Hindu – 15th August 2006
http://www.nalandaway.org/pdf/Hindu-150806.pdf
Dina Thandhi – 15th August 2006
http://www.nalandaway.org/pdf/DT-150806.pdf
Please click on the following link to view the photographs of the training and the event.
Gallery: Bala Sabha in Krishnagiri Dist. TN
http://photos.yahoo.com/nalandaway_photos
Comments are welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment