Prime Minister at 16: Young girl from Child Parliament

Kalpana Yadav is an inspiration for many children in her village, she stood against all odds to fight for her right.

Hailing from a socially excluded family, Kalpana was like any other girl who wanted to pursue education, but social stigma and difficult situations were curtailing her dreams. After completing the fifth standard her parents her to stay at home and help in domestic work but Kalpana wanted to continue her studies.

DEHAT, one of the implementing partners of Suraksha – Anti-Human Trafficking programme in Uttar Pradesh through Swaraksha Anti-Human Trafficking program provided a golden opportunity in the form of Child Parliament to make her dream true.

She joined the Child Parliament and soon got elected as a child prime minister. Kalpana through the support of parliament members and DEHAT staff convinced her parents for her admission into Shree Acharya Ramesh Chandra girl’s college. She could not afford a cycle for herself to reach the school, but this did not discourage her; she went walking 6km daily to the school.

Along with herself, Kalpana succeeded in admitting 18 girls of her village in the same school and now these girls are connected to mainstream education and continuing their education.

Likewise, under her leadership, village level child protection committees were formed. She was also instrumental in convincing people to construct toilets in their houses. Achievements like extra classes for weaker children, child parliament center, door-to-door campaigning has made her the role model for other children.

Child Parliament as a platform has helped the village children to know about their rights namely, Right to Survival – to life, health, nutrition, name, nationality, Right to Development – to education, care, leisure, recreation, cultural activities, Right to Protection – from exploitation, abuse, neglect, Right to Participation – to expression, information, thought, religion. Along with the children, the women and youth of the community were made aware about the emergency helpline numbers. Child Parliament was proven as a source of inspiration to everybody as the process motivated every child to act for their rights and entitlements.

Suraksha focused on creating awareness among Women, Children, and Youth against Human Trafficking. The programme is operational at the Nepal Border area and the chances of being trafficked especially among children is very high. Under Swaraksha AHT Program 30 Child parliaments are functional and all children are very much aware of their rights. Not only they are aware of the rights but now they are urged to advocate for their rights.