By IANS
New Delhi : Expressing solidarity with Tibetan children, more than 500 kids of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), an international NGO fighting child labour, will participate in a peace march with Tibetan youth in the Indian capital Friday.
“There is a denial of fundamental rights, especially of education, to the Tibetan children. Even if there is any facility of schooling, there is imposition in terms of curriculum, language and restraining of thoughts and beliefs,” Abha Duggal of BBA told IANS.
“Children are not responsible for war, yet it robs their childhood them from. We strongly feel for this cause and the children of BBA, in association with some other organizations, are organizing a peace march tomorrow, to highlight the Tibetan children’s cause,” she said.
The march will conclude Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘samadhi’ at Rajghat.
According to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2007-08 report, the overall illiteracy rate among the Tibetan youth is 54.86 percent and more than a third of the children have never been to school.
“And due to the present crisis most of the Tibetan schools and monasteries are closed in Lhasa in Tibet,” Duggal said.
“The danger now is that a large number of forced migrations and trafficking is looming along the borders. The young Tibetans exiled in Nepal and India for better prospects but their future is not promising as most of them do not have quality education,” she added.