My opinion is not about academic classes during vacation. The “rights-based NGOism’, as in the West, is sadly moving to overcome every facet of our social consciousness. Child rights must not be used for protectionism, as saying that “during March and April months, school children must be protected from heat and dust!” A child’s right should be the right to tough upbringing, good discipline, good schooling and wise parenting. Children today are being spoilt by half-baked ‘experts’ who advise children to be brought up like kites, without letting them free.
Teachers today abdicate their responsibility of disciplining the pupils while ‘experts’ advise parents to be friends to children which has its pitfalls.
Vacations, on the other hand, must be wisely used to teach autonomy to children, to empower them to say no to drugs or behaviour addictions - to charge themselves positive and release that energy for group work, group games, skill-based activities, relationship building and social competence. These should ideally be done in a semi-supervised situation as in summer camps in schools.
The rights-based NCPCR is not protecting child rights by leaving children to the wolvesduring two months of vacation.
I can vouchsafe that my communication, social and motor skills were all learnt under the distant eyes of my family, mostly during vacations.
(The author is a child psychiatrist in Kochi)
