Children are leading actors in India !
Since the launch of Learn Without Fear last year, more than 200,000 children have been involved in different activities across India. Children have developed an anthem for the campaign and contributed to the creation of material such as posters and storybooks.
Girl recording a local radio show organised by Plan Children's Club
Children are the leading actors in the national radio programme Voices of Young Hearts. Anchored by children, the programme gives them a chance to express their concerns about issues affecting their lives such as corporal punishment and gender-based discrimination. The response received from the audience after the first episode was overwhelming and complaints against corporal punishment were received through SMS. Future episodes will involve government representatives and this will help to promote Learn Without Fear in India and keep it on the government’s agenda.
Plan India will also continue to use participatory theatre to generate dialogue and discussions on the issue of school violence and the results will be presented to the authorities. Now covering 150 schools in 3 States (Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi), the school contact programme will reach 150,000 students and teachers in 2010
You can find many more stories on Learn Without Fear Blog. Started by Plan India in 2009, the blog has already had over 21,000 visitors thanks to its interactive content featuring videos, cartoons and radio jingles created by children. The blog gives children, teachers and parents a platform to share their experiences and thoughts on violence in schools.
