It is common in urban Kashmir and is an invisible traditional form of child labour. The problems faced by these children include that they don’t get any free time and have to entertain employer’s children while they suffer from different ailments and many are found anaemic.
Of late there has been a phenomenal increase in physical abuse of pupils by their teachers. Reports of child beating in schools in the name of acquiring accolades by teachers have gone up. Although there are clear instructions from Education department that teachers should desist from physical violence against the students, it is more violated than respected by the teacher community.
In Kashmir, even children are not spared from imprisonment which is a clear violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000. According to the Act, there should be correctional disposition than punitive one when dealing with a juvenile offender.
- Dr Arshad
“Childhood is an age of innocence, vulnerability and an age which is best suited to mould an individual’s personality. It should go like that and there must be help from every quarter to make our children turn into normal adults,” observes Dr Arshad.
