Kerala: Bal panchayats change civic body

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Student parliament is usually a staged performance with slurs thrown into the script, probably for comic relief. Hence, it was hard to believe when children discussed their real problems like child marriages, thrashed out ideas and came up with solutions during a school parliament in Nilambur, Malappuram. Their activities led the municipality to increase its expenditure on children, as per a guidelines book on child friendly local administration, brought out by Unicef and Kerala Institute of Local Administration.

This is a good example in which children became equal participants in local governance, according to UNICEF Chennai Policy, Planning and Evaluation Specialist Akhila Radhakrishnan. She was in Thiruvananthapuram to attend the Child Rights Week valedictory function. The idea of student parliaments is not new. Ms Akhila revealed how in the formative years of Kudumbashree, Unicef had supported it, and bal panchayats was a fallout.

The children of Kudumbashree women would be gathered to form such panchayats. The bal panchayat is one component of a child-friendly panchayat. But it provides a forum for children to get courage to speak about abusive experiences, according to KILA’s Peter Raj. “In addition the children become more politically and socially aware,” he says.