Calendar depicts cost of migration on children

KOLLAM: In a noble gesture showing their empathy for children affected by human migration around the world, the students of a UP school in Kollam have come up with a theme-based calendar on migration. The calendar dedicated to lost childhoods depicts the stories of modern day mascot of migration – Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian boy – to famous migrants including Albert Einstein and Karl Marx. The calendar named ‘Palayanam 2018’ was prepared by the students of SNDP UP school at Pattathanam in Kollam.

“The calendar we envision is not just an indicator of time. It also invokes the memory of history. The calendar prepared by our students on the theme of migration bears the pain of children affected by human migration across the world. Each migration affects the children who are taken for an never-ending journey of which even the destination is not certain,” V. Anilal PTA vice president told Deccan Chronicle. The calendar has the cover photo of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who was found dead on a sea shore after their boat capsized during migration from Syria to Greece. 

The inside pages depict several migrations in human history including the Rohingyas who had to leave Burma after its independence, the African migrants of 1950, Vietnamese migrants during their civil war, Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka, Bangladeshi migrants, European migrants, and even the story of 75 Indian migrants who had to leave Pakistan during the division of India and Pakistan. The calendar was unveiled by human rights activist Teesta Setalvad at a function held on the school premises on Tuesday. 

“We are passing through a bad time. On the occasion of the 70th martyr’s day of Mahatma Gandhi, we should think why Gandhi was assassinated. The most important thing in education is to acquire the potential to ask questions,” she said while addressing the students. Each page of the calendar has a description on migration along with pictures.  The calendar also reminds one of the contributions  by some of the most successful migrants including Albert Einstein, Anne Frank, Karl Marx, Tasleema Nasreen, Dalai Lama, Victor Hugo, Sigmund Freud, and Sitting Bull( the leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux tribe who led his people's resistance against the United States, and was killed in 1890).