subject: Children's Participation – The Akshaya Patra Foundation [print this page] Polite social etiquette requires that children should be heard and not seen', an old adage that perfectly describes society's expectations of a well behaved child. But just how much harm is this attitude really causing? Can children deprived of emotional expression ever really expect to grow into well adjusted adults?
The answer to this question may be found in the changing perceptions of world leaders when, in May of 2002, they declared to change the world with the participation of these children at the United Nations General Assembly. After all, how can we ever understand what children are going through unless we encourage them to speak up?
Akshaya Life Skills focuses on exactly this aspect of child development. Begun in 2002, it was formed with a vision is to "enabling young children to develop into responsible social beings with a competence to respond to their personal, social & cultural needs".
With programs such as awareness, talent and leadership development programs, Akshaya Life Skills works towards nurturing the child as a whole, so that they can be competent individuals in life. In the academic year 2008-2009 alone, it reached it out to nearly 30 000 children in Karnataka, and plans are afoot to increase that number by 40 000 this year.
Life skills training gives children the opportunity to express themselves in many ways. By doing so, they can not only learn to understand their own feelings, but also contribute to bringing about changes in society as a whole.
