Thinking Differently – Opening Horizones

Fayazuddin Ahmad writes for DOT : 
Korail, one of the largest slums in Bangladesh, is located in Mohakhali, Dhaka. Most of the people who live in Korail have moved to the city from some of the parts where level of poverty is high in Bangladesh. Korail covers approximately 100 acres and is home to more than 50,000 residents. Korail slums are comprised of seven different slums, and there are a total of 64 schools, 30 Shishu Bikash Kendras for children aged under 4 years and 34 pre-primary schools for older groups of children.
Slum children in the urban scene, are sometimes victims to harsh behaviors from their surroundings and consistently feel detached from state and society. They can sometimes be seen to represent a confused identity without a sense of belonging to any particular economic social construct. Hence mostly feel aloof and detached from any efforts to improve or to come together on society building.
These children are also easy targets for radical group recruits and can sometimes blindside (or turn the other cheek) on malicious activities or events in the making. Currently efforts to educate them on the importance of their contribution to society or potential for adding value to the sustainability and future are not being undertaken by any organization or social group. Furthermore, the govt & law enforcement agencies can also seem to be misunderstood and cause hate to grow in the hearts of these children.
Slum children are regular targets of political and stronger economic groups for promotion and campaigning. This results in poor understanding of one’s personal preference (money usually becomes the only motivational factor), even if they do not believe in it. This poses a security risk as they can quickly become targets of radical groups for information, campaigning and assistance. Helping them understand the political and security context will help them strengthen their allegiance to the state.
It is crucial to engage children to feel a sense of belonging to state and country and encourage positive citizens thinking a number of activations and communication campaigns need to be made. Steps can be taken are- on spot interactive educational campaigns) through games, activations and competitions; distributing wristbands, hand fan etcetera engraved with communication materials (for resource links, in case they need to report an activity); and helping children meet and understand that law enforcement are their friends.
These will help them to be self-aware also helping them feel important, included and having an active role to play in the development of the society.
This program will need to be designed and executed with various partners and volunteers. The key methods and modalities may include- fun fair for gamified education of content that will be shown to educate them on the subject matter; communication materials will be handed out and ambassadors created to make sure the content is kept and accepted; interactive training to help understand protection and what to do in case of a crisis/situation; and inviting law enforcement officers to conduct ‘meet & greet’, ‘get to know’ sessions with the children for FAQ’s as well.
The children living in the slum areas are the targets of this activity as they are deprived in many social aspects of the society. Being undermined they are often target of the radical people who seek to use them in their hateful ideology. If the children can be made to feel included/aware of the harm, then we can protect them and the overall society from the dangers foreseen.
The writer is an Advocate.