Children’s Day : Its Significance in Child Development
Children’s Day is celebrated in India on 14th November each year to mark the birthday of the first and longest-serving Prime Minister of India , Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru . He is remembered as the architect of modern India and the pioneer of the Non-Aligned movement in international arena . Children’s day should not be seen as a mere celebration of Nehru’s birthday as Nehru fondly called as "Chacha Nehru” was fond of children . It then will be just an apparent perception . His love for children also reflects his basic and in-depth love for his motherland . This is the vast land of an ancient civilization , with a vatiety of flora and fauna , beautiful landscapes , mountains and rivers , diverse culture and people , belonging to different languages , caste creed , and religion , which in entirety is called India or Bharatvarsh . Children are future custodians of this vast heritage and to bear the responsibilities , they have to be treated with universal love and compassion , there in we find the emergence of Chacha Nehru . Nehru strongly believed , the inherent strength of India lies in her people , blended with centuries old , yet continuously evolving rich culture , universal brotherhood soaked in highest spirits of the world’s great religions , Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism , Islam , Christanity and other faiths which lead to the manifestation of the highest order of humanity as a whole .
“Did I know India?” the question arose in the mind of young Nehru. His quest to answer this very question led him to discover India in her enlightened spirit . He discovered , it is not the geographical boundary , neither the rivers nor mountains or the landscape that constitute India ; rather , “Bharat Mata" , Mother India is the millions of people of India . Everybody is a part of Bharat mata” .
In the context of Children’s day , it is the duty of all parents , teachers and citizens of this vast country to implant this very question in the budding minds of the children belonging to India ; “Did I know India ?" . To help them to introspect and discover the answer will be the significance of celebrating Children’s day .
Nehru believed in inculcating a free mind , full of reasoning and scientific temperament . One that know to avoid all dogmas , leading to absolute freedom and detachment in the midst of vibrant work habit for the upliftment of the society .
Nehru’s vision was to build a strong India . In his word --- “India is constituted as She cannot play a secondary part in the world . She will either count for a great deal or not count at all . No middle position attracted me . Our main purpose is to raise the whole levels of Indian people" .
His vision has been manifested in his work like setting up of IITs in independent India for technological upliftment of this nation , setting up of AIIMS for health care and medical education of international standard, formation of UGC for standardization of higher education , constituting Lalit Kala Academy , Sahitya Academy for study and practice of nation's rich, diversified culture and languages.
He believed that right education includes all-round development of the human beings . It should harmonise our internal conflicts and impart us the capacity to cooperate with others .
While emphasizing the importance of setting up Sahitya Academy , he wrote -- “One of the principal functions of the Sahitya Academy is to encourage all these great languages of India and to bring them closer to each other . Their roots and inspiration have been much the same . It may , therefore , be said that each of these languages is not merely the language of a part of India, representing the thought and culture and development of this country in its manifold forms .’’
Through his life and in his literary works like , “The Discovery of India” , ” Glimpses of World History" , "Jawaharlal Nehru : an Autobiography’’, ‘’Letters from a Father to His Daughter” , he preached universal brotherhood , the spirit of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” -- the world is one family , inherent in every Indian . To sum up , the celebration of Children’s day will attain its true meaning if the thoughts and teachings of Pandit Nehru reaches the budding minds of the children , where lies the root of holistic development of India .
Writer's address:Debashis Das
Debashis Das
Astt. Executive Engineer,
Life Insurance Corporation, India
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