'Don't employ Children, Empower them thro' Education'

1st May is celebrated as International Labor Day and on this occasion, children from Smile Foundation, the national development organisation empowering underprivileged children and youth through various education and health care initiatives, took the initiative to create a silent procession in front of Church Gate station. The objective of the procession was to sensitize privileged citizens to prevent the practice of children labor and instead empower them with the power of education.

To make this awareness powerful, few celebrities also graced the occasion including the very popular Dulhann Divyanka Tripathi, Mauli Dave (host of Rock N Roll Family), Tanmay, Rohanpreet and Vasundhara of ZEE TV Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and Saxena Family, one of the participanting families in Rock N Roll Family.

When asked Divyanka the reason for supporting this cause she said, “For me voicing against Child Labor is not social work, but I feel it is the responsibility of every citizen. Social work was never in my mind when Smile Foundation approached me with this proposal. The first thing that came to my mind was that I could get out of my shooting schedule and help these people in their cause”. When asked whether she was associated with any NGO in the past, the actress stated, “No, this is the first time I am connected with this association, but I plan to work more for it in the future”. Also, Divyanka was quick enough to state that, “If every family contributes to the education of one such kid, we can eradicate this problem thus providing the kids with the much-needed education. We need to remember that they are the future of our country”.

Mauli Dave who was also present expressed that she had already met these kids when they came to the sets of Rock N Roll Family. “They invited me when they came to our sets, and I could not say no to them”. Talking about the practice of child labor, Mauli pointed out that, “This is the biggest problem that our country is facing right now”.

Kudos to Smile Foundation for creating awareness on the vulnerability of underprivileged children in our society. With this, Smile Foundation would like to appeal to the privileged individuals - 'Don’t employ children; help empower them through education.'

Reporter and Author: Ranjini Nair