Gnanasekhar was just 14 when his cousin sister, one year elder to him, was about to married off. He, along with his friends from the Children’s Parliament, a Tamil Nadu-based collective for children, contacted the Childline and the local administration to get the marriage stopped. Since then, over the past four years, they have stopped quite a few cases of child marriage in Nagadasampatty village in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu.
“Child marriage is a huge problem in the region. My mother too got married at the age of 15. But now we have managed to stop a few. We are constantly in touch with Childline and government officials. We have also intervened in a few cases of child labour too,” says Gnanasekhar, who has now begun his BA course.
As film ‘heroes’
Gnanasekhar and his fellow ‘parliamentarians’ Gokulraj and Shakthi were at the second edition of the International Children’s Film Festival of Kerala, organised by the Kerala State Child Welfare Council. All of them hail from the same village and get themselves involved in various issues, from child labour to education and child marriage.
At the festival, Power to the Children , a documentary film on their efforts, directed by Anna Kersting, is being screened.
Shakthivel had tackled a personal issue first – his father’s drinking problem. The children started a campaign in the village against drinking. He took his father to a rehabilitation centre and got him enrolled in yoga and counselling sessions.
“His drinking is under control now. Later, we got together with the villagers to protest against an illegal liquor shop near our school. We also raised a complaint with the Collector and got it closed,” says Shakthivel, who has just joined an aeronautical engineering course. He loves acting, and has starred in a short film based on his life.
Gokulraj, who has completed Class 12, had to drop out of studies after his father’s death. He works in a fruit shop now, and his friends are now thinking of ways to help him continue his studies.
Books for all
They have also set up a library in the village, through books and funds which they got through online and offline campaigns.
“We had a library there a few years ago, but it became defunct. We petitioned government officials, but nothing happened. So we got together and managed to set up a library with 6,000 books. The library is called Inclusive Knowledge Source Centre,” says Gnanasekhar.
‘Seniors’ now
Now that all of them are turning 18 this year, they will all be ‘former’ children’s parliamentarians, but they want to continue their efforts with the experience they have gained in the past few years.
