Equality and Inequality Of Oppurtunities

A few days ago, I happened to witness a pitiful event. Just outside a local momo shop at Jawalakhel, a bald gentleman was mercilessly beating a boy of 12 – 14 years of age. After a casual investigation, it was known that the boy was a child labour working at the momo shop and the thrasher was his boss. Blood inside me was boiling, tempting me to strike the abuser but I was no match to him in fight (the way he was beating the boy assured me of it).

After what seemed like ages to me, two brave members of the mass intervened and at lest the horrible drama was over for the time being. While I walked back home, I was anxious whether the poor boy got beating inside the shop.

In no time, I was thinking about all those many children who are living a life where their rights are appallingly violated. The ones who don’t have a home to stay in, who live in streets or work at local momo shops, who carry a large bundle of plastic bags from rubbish or carry a school bag for their masters’ children. These children are like roses. If a magnificent rose plant is thrown off in a desert with no water, scorching sun and heated sand, sooner or later, it will perish. If not so, its beauty will simply be crumpled.

According to CWIN, there are thousands of these crumpled roses in Nepal. CWIN reports that out of 100 children in Nepal, 80 are admitted to school, but only 51 complete primary level education. There are at least 5000 children who are working and living on the streets and 40,000 children who are bonded laborers. Approximately, 2.6 million Children (5-14 years' age group) in Nepal are child labors. It further reports that about12, 000 children are trafficked every year from Nepal. ILO states that 127,000 children in Nepal are forced to work in "worst forms of child labor".

In the much feared armed insurgency, CWIN reports 465 children to have died; more than 8000 children were orphaned. Bomb explosions directly affected 32 schools. Thousands of children have been displaced.

And without doubt, the living conditions of these disadvantaged children are not only inadequate but also very hazardous for their overall development. A high majority of these children live without the love of parents. They don’t have hygienic food, let alone education. Even if some of them are fortunate enough to go to a school, they are given no time to study. Considerable numbers of them are physically and sexually abused by inhuman bosses. These children’s physical wounds, if they have any, may be cured but the wounds in their psychology are set to remain for a long time. Under these unimaginably torturous conditions, how can they prepare adequately for their future lives and will these children be left out in the so called “new Nepal”?

It has often been stated that today’s era is the age of meritocracy; where everyone is judged and rewarded according to their merits or qualities. And, meritocracy is always accompanied by the phrase – ‘equality of opportunities’. But when certain issues like that of disadvantaged children are noticed, it seems that there exists meritocracy but only for the privileged ones. Personally, it feels as if the underprivileged children are ignored by the state, they are not provided with the chance to widen their qualities or merits. So, if a well fed tiger and an under nourished one are to race, doubtlessly, the well fed one will be the winner.

Though Nepal has already ratified the Convention of Child Rights (CRC) and ILO convention number 138, as of now, they are partly ‘invisible’ to the state despite the fact that many politicians may have seen them in a street corner from their glossy imported vehicles.

Whatever happened in the past, it can’t be changed but it can be redressed. We are in the threshold of making a new constitution. This upcoming constitution should materialize what the state had promised to do in the international conventions like CRC. In doing so, it must make education free and a compulsion for all children in Nepal. It should provide shelter for the homeless children and health services preferably at no cost. Only when these modern basic requisites for the overall development of a child are fulfilled, then only shall people be assessed and rewarded as per their caliber. A single child is a universe of possibilities. If he/she is provided with proper opportunities, they can also turn themselves into a Girija Prasad Koirala, a Baburam Bhattarai, a Sanduk Ruit, a sister Nirmala or a Rajesh Hamal. Let the roses be watered and matured in fertile soil and we will witness countless rose gardens in our nation.