These children are working toward a better society

When children their age are busy prepping for their exams, these children are busy trying to make the society a better place to live in. On Children’s Day, CT talks to some of those special students, who have been trying to create a change in the world they live in. Take for instance, 11-standard student from SBOA, B Haripriya. This young girl is busy working on a project that deals with malnutrition that aims to educate the public on the need for every child to get adequate nutrition.Interestingly, the project is titled Chotta Bheem. “There is a story behind the name,” tells Haripriya.
“Chotta, as we know is small, but BHEEM is an acronym, which means building a healthy environment to eradicate malnutrition. My project focusses on underprivileged children, who do not have access to adequate nutrition. The project begins right from the growth of the foetus, which is one of the critical periods of children’s growth, throughout pregnancy and the breastfeeding stage. It later delves into their eating habits. I began the project last month from Kovilpalayam and visited many other areas that had underprivileged children, including the migrant population settlements. I designed a game on the likes of snake and ladder for children to understand why they need to have proper nutrition. I worked on a similar project for water conservation as well a couple of years ago,” says Haripriya.
12-year-old Sabari Venkat, who has a retinal detachment, loves inspiring people through his motivational speeches. “I want the world to be more disabled-friendly,” says the blind speaker. “I have been giving motivational speeches from my first standard and have already spoken in over 200 stages. I am a big fan of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Swami Vivekandanda and that’s where the inspiration for speaking comes from. I want to eradicate corruption and illiteracy and I want India to become a leading nation by 2016. I enjoy addressing those issues through my speeches,” says Sabari, who was recently featured in a calendar titled Í’m special’.
S Ramya had received an award from the late President APJ Abdul Kalam in 2013 for her presentation at an environment camp. She tells CT that she will continue to follow the teachings from the camp in a big way. “I learnt a lot during the week. Earlier, when I would see a running tap on the road, I wouldn’t bother to close it. Today, I am extremely particular about water conservation, throwing garbage in the dustbin and separating biodegradable waste from the non-biodegradable. I am teaching the same to my relatives as well, who have also started following suit. This apart, I am doing a study on the Singanallur Lake, and monitoring the insect population there,” says the 11th standard student from PSGG Kanya Gurukulam, who is an avid bird-watcher.
9th standard student M Madhuranthagi, who has been trying to spread awareness about the country’s freedom fighters through her rice drawings, has another agenda in mind as well-to eradicate polio. Her father, M Manoharan tells us, “The current generation does not know much about our freedom struggle and that’s what she is trying to educate through her drawings. She recently attempted a Guinness record by making a rice drawing with 2 lakh grains in which she portrayed a polio drop falling into a baby’s mouth. Back home in our hometown, Dharapuram, she planted 500 saplings, inspired by the former president late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. She is now planning to put up an expo of the freedom fighter drawings to create awareness about the struggle.”