Hi everyone! Today I am going to speak about Kailash Satyarthi - the Indian social reformer who won a Nobel prize for stopping child labor. On his first day to school, he saw a small boy working with his cobbler father shining shoes. Kailash almost immediately began to contrast his life with that of the cobbler’s son. Kailash became sad.
Kailash’s inquisitive nature disturbed him as several questions kept echoing in his mind. Inside the class he asked his teacher about the cobbler’s son not attending school. His teacher evaded his question. He repeated his question and the angry teacher sent him to see the head of the school. When he met the headmaster, he asked him the same question about the cobbler’s son not attending school.
After school, back home he asked his parents the same question. For weeks, he remained disturbed and tries to ask everyone he knew for an answer. Finally, one day he asked the cobbler “Why don’t you send your son” The cobbler tried to dodge his question. But when Kailash pressed for an answer, he replied “no one has ever asked me a question like this. My father worked as a cobbler, I am a cobbler and therefore my son would also be a cobbler.”
The cobbler’s reply confused Kailash even more. Kailash’s parents had told him that everybody is born to attain good education, get a good job, do good deeds, and make a name for oneself. He asked himself, why didn’t the cobbler’s story match what Kailash’s father had explained to him about life? Why were the cobbler and his son on a different journey in life? Are there more children whose journey is not as blessed as his?
Kailash always felt very strongly that all children are born equal and therefore have the right to lead a good life. However, schooling was not free when Kailash was around eleven years old. Therefore, with the help of a few friends, Kailash started a football club and used the membership fee to support the school fees of few such children. Later, they used to put snack stalls at fairs and cultural events to raise more money towards school fees of poor children. He continued his fight all along.
In 1998, he led the Global March against Child Labor wherein he went on an 80,000 kilometers long march across 103 countries to create awareness and make people stop child labor. His organization Bachpan Bachao Andolan have liberated more than 1,02,000 children in India from child labor, slavery and trafficking. In 2014, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for ”struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."
It sad to know that over 4 million children are still in forced child labor and that over 263 million children don’t go to school. We need to support people like Kailash Satyarthi and also do our bit in eradicating child labor.
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