★ DEFINITION OF CHILD IN DIFFERENT
Teachers in schools deal with children belonging to various backgrounds. Some teachers shout at children, some try to talk to them to resolve the matter and some become ignorant. However, to handle children with diverse background is not that simple. This exposes us to the reality that we, as adults or as teachers are not well equipped to understand the classroom contexts.
This results in our lack of engagement with children in diverse contexts. Do you think these situations have something to do with how children are placed in the society? Apparently, it may not appear so. In the subsequent paragraphs, we will begin to explore this question.
As adults we feel that we fairly understand childhood and children’s experiences. Let us ask some questions to ourselves. Can we ‘define’ childhood? We all have experienced childhood; would it be possible for us to ‘define’ a child? If you ask these questions to people, most may use some of the following adjectives to describe children:
Children are:
innocent, God’s gift, pure and truthful, sweet, cute, playful, childish, funny, idiot, naughty,fragile, protected, soft like potter’s clay, fearful
These are some general perceptions that most of us have about children. If we closely examine these perceptions, we will realize that these do not explain children’s experiences. Some children come from a deprived context, and therefore appear to be having different experiences. Do you think all children, including those coming from better-off families, have same experiences?
We may say that it is less likely to be so, but we cannot say anything for sure. This is because every child has different conditions to live in. Since experiences of children are different, it would be incorrect to think of children as one category, and attribute one single ‘definition’ of childhood.
It might sound a little unusual to some of us, but there are different and even conflicting perspectives about the meaning of child. The English word ‘child’ comes from the Teutonic root and from the Gothic word for womb. The English word ‘baby’ is originated from the first sounds made by an infant which sound like “be-be” or “ba-ba”. In English a baby is also referred to as an ‘infant’, which has its roots in defining a person who cannot speak (in = not, fans = speaking).
★ DEFINITION OF CHILD IN DIFFERENT
In Japanese the newborn baby is called ‘aka-chan’ (aka = red, and chan = title given to children). This is simply because the skin of the baby appears reddish in colour. In the next paragraph, we will discuss how a child is defined on the basis of age criterion, legal point of view, as a labour, and social policy.
i. The age criterion: Most commonly ‘age’ is a criterion to define child. Generally, child is defined on the basis of age. A human being is considered to be a child from birth till the onset of puberty, that is, the age span from birth to 13 years, in the average child. Childhood in this age span ranges from birth to puberty. There is a debate around this demarcation of age. Some argue that child comes into existence and the childhood starts, even before the child is born. That is, in the fetal stage itself. Furthermore, some argue that childhood extends till a period one gains all legal rights as ‘adults’. That is, unless one is legally an adult, one is a child. In India, this would mean that till 18 years of age one is a child.
ii. Legal view: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as a human being below the age of 18 years. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) considers a child as a person who is in between the age group 0-18 years. While the Juvenile Justice Act in India considers persons below 14 years of age to be children, the Right of Education Act 2009 narrows the definition down to persons between 6 to 14 years. The different articles of Indian Constitution and Acts put various age limits for a child. Article 21 A of the Constitution of India says that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children within the ages of 6 and 14.
Article 45 of the Constitution specifies that the State shall endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of 6. Under the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986 a child is a person who has not completed 14 years of age. The Indian Mines Act defines children as those below 18 years. While perusing all these acts or articles a uniform age range cannot be seen. It will be interesting to note that all over the world the age for legal adulthood differs.
In India it is 18 years, in Iran it is 15 years, in Scotland it is 16 years, in Japan it is 20 years, and in Egypt it is 21 years. What do you think are the implications of legal age on life? Till one attains legal adulthood, one is a protected citizen. Therefore, children, adolescents or minors, are the responsibility of their guardians and the government. Their food and health, clothing, shelter, education and good life, are responsibilities of the guardians and the government.
After attaining the age of adult, one is legally responsible for oneself. One can enter an employment, vote, contest election, marry, file a case, buy property, drive, and the like. However, there are many contradictions within this legal criterion. For example, the legal age of entering into work in India is 14 years. The ‘child’ lacks right to vote at this age and other adult rights. A person, who has not attained rights as adult, would be more vulnerable in employment. Do you think it is healthy physically and mentally for 14 years old to engage in labour?
iii. Child as a labour: Despite the fact that child labour is illegal, large number of children work in factories (carpet weaving, bidi making, bangle making, cracker factories etc.) at small shops, does domestic chores (cleaning, cooking, taking care of sibling, etc). Many are in situations where they have to engage themselves in begging. Childhood in poverty, and experiences of children in impoverished contexts, are very different than that in better off situations. Children in such cases are perceived as helping hands in family’s subsistence. Mostly, children in such situations do not live more different than adults
iv. Child in social policy: In educational policies children are pictured as learners and future citizens of a nation. The responsibility of providing education to children falls upon the adults. Parents spend vast amount of money for the education of children. Right to EducationAct, 2009 ensures that any cost on education, up to 8 years (Class I-VIII) of schooling will be borne by the State. In social welfare policies, children are considered as vulnerable group who are easily subjected to physical punishment, sexual abuse and emotional abuse. In media, children are depicted as sale promoters in advertisements.
In many societies, the term child is used to indicate a kin relationship but also to indicate a state of servitude. Biological determinants were not always taken into account while indicating childhood. In Medieval Europe, infancy was generally considered to occur at birth or at the end of breast–feeding which prolonged up to age of three. The stage of childhood was considered to end at around seven years when an individual attained the competency to perform certain domestic or industrial tasks. The eighteenth–century philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau considered childhood occurring between birth and twelve years. Hence, there is no universal definition of child and childhood.
Check Your Progress
Notes: (a) Write your answer in the space given below.
(b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of the unit.
i) Why is it not possible to give a universal definition of child?
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