For A Golden Future
Ashim Kumar Paul
The African proverb that
says ‘it takes a whole village to raise a child’, no doubt, emphasises the crying need for caring the children with
much weight and responsibility. Therefore,
the issue of child care has turned out to be a
crucial constituent of life in the world. If the quality of child care is
ensured, a considerable distinction in children's development can be made.
But it is sad to say that though today’s child is deemed
the architect of the golden future, the pages of the newspapers are often
overwhelmed with the news of those children who are badly deprived of basic
rights and are exposed to risky and appalling jobs. Thus, for the sustainable
development of the entire country, it is, in truth, essential for taking proper
functions to secure a congenial environment for the children to be brought up.
Given the allowance of fund in the national budget
allocated for the child welfare in Bangladesh, on April 27, 2013, a press conference was
arranged by the department of Development Studies of Dhaka
University in cooperation with The Child Rights Parliamentary Caucus, CSID, CRGA and Save the Children at
Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University. “Like women and poverty budget,
a discrete budget analytical paper about the allocation in national budget for
the children is needed to appraise how much the children are reaping the benefits of the budget allowance,” told the speakers at the
press conference.
President of The Child Rights Parliamentary Caucus, Asma Zerin Jhumu, MP chaired the
session while honourable Pro Vice-Chancellor
(Administration) Professor Dr. Shahid Akthar Hossain was present as the chief
guest and Advocate Mir
Showkat Ali Badsha,
honourable Member of Parliament as the special guest. Dr. Abu Eusuf, Associate
Professor of department of Development Studies, Dhaka University, delivered the
welcome speech at the conference. Dr. Kazi Maruful Islam presented an analytical
framework on the budget for the children. Birgit Lundbak, country director in Bangladesh of Save the Children, and Joaherul Islam Mamun,
Chairman, Swid Bangladesh
also delivered their
speech.
Dr. Maruf said, “We want no new budget. What we want
is an analysis framework on the present budget structure so that the amount of
the allowance for the children in national budget can be perceptible”. He presented an analytical framework.
Asma
Zerin Jhumu, MP, said,
“Present government is women and children-friendly government. Certain goals
and purposes for ensuring child-right and development in Bangladesh have been
taken in ‘National Child policy 2011’ and ‘the sixth five-year plan’. The government has
legislated ‘Children Act 2012’. But it is necessary to scrutinise
and evaluate the endeavour that how much allocation is needed and how much the estimation
is playing an important role for implementing the endorsed policy, law, act and
strategy. Therefore, determining discretely the amount of allocation the
government is dealing out is imperative”.
Dr.
Shahid Akthar Hossain put importance on child psychology. He said, “Their
(children) views should be taken into cognisance for their appropriate growth. Mr.
Birgit Lundbak said, “Almost half of the population of Bangladesh is children. The
allowance is insufficient notwithstanding having beneficial policies. Advocate Mir
Showkat Ali Badsha,
MP said, “The budget allocation for the children in proportion of the
population is highly needed”. Khondokar Johurul Alom, Executive Director of
CSID, read out the speech of thanks in the session.
Some proposals were placed at the press conference
for the allocation of funds for the children in the upcoming budget for the
fiscal year 2013-2014. The proposals are:
1. Like
women and poverty budget, a discrete budget analytical paper ‘Children’s Budget’
appraising the amount of benefit that
the children are getting from the budget allocation should be legislated.
2. Given the Child Right Charter, the Constitution of
Bangladesh and National
Child policy 2011, identifying the right, safety,
protection, development and balanced growth of all children in the country as
the indicators national budget should be legislated so that the allocation of
fund for the children can be detected separately. In this regard, endorsement
of this matter should be done and formation of detailed research and analytical
framework can be initiated in the upcoming budget.
3. Roadmap for the protection and
development of the children living in Dhaka including orphans, working urban
children, handicapped children, and tribal children is necessary to be
legislated. Special allowance of fund can be allocated in the budget for the
improvement of the skill of these children and human resource development.
4. For ensuring safe water supply,
sanitation, education and health for the children living in the slums, special allowance of
fund for their safety and growth should be allocated in the budget.
5. For governing the Child Welfare Board in national,
district and upazilla levels properly, sufficient fund should be allocated in
the budget.
6. In proportion to the capability of the poor and the
slum-dwellers, special programmes for low price accommodation should be set in
the budget.
7. For instituting children-friendly urban
governance under the Ministry of Local Government and in light of the approaches declared by UNICEF and
UN-Habitat (1996), specific programmes can be initiated for children-friendly
works in urban, cities and municipalities.
