Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh): Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi has expressed his concern over the lack of attention to children's education in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. Satyarthi while delivering his address at 'Youth Leadership for Development of Future Generations' at AP SRM University in Amaravati on Monday said that even though the economic systems are recovering after Corona, the governments are not paying attention to the out-of-school children.
The Nobel laureate claimed that 16 crore students around the world missed their studies during Covid adding 40 per cent of people did not get electronic devices for their online classes. "Child marriages have increased. This effect is more pronounced in Bihar. Globally, 4.5 crore children have become child labourers due to Covid. Only four per cent of the country's GDP was allocated to education," he said.
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Satyarthi asked the government to increase the funds for infrastructure development and teacher training in the education sector. The implementation of the Right to Education Act remains a challenge, he said. He expressed his concern over the "non-stop child abuse, human trafficking and child marriage cases even though the country is progressing in various fields".
"We have made a lot of progress in India after 75 years of independence. In the same vein, the youth should fight against the child labour system. Atrocities against girls continue in a country where women are worshipped as Goddesses Durga and Saraswati," he said. Satyarthi lamented that the bill against the trafficking of women has not reached the parliament for four years now. He urged the Centre to extend free compulsory education from 14 years to 18 years. AP SRM Vice-Chancellor Vajja Sambasiva Rao and Registrar Premkumar participated in Monday's event.
