Child Rights Education for Participation and Development: Primary Prevention

The aims of child rights education are to make children and their primary duty-bearers aware of child rights so that they both can be empowered to together advocate for and apply them at their family, school and community levels. This sourcebook focuses on child rights education for primary prevention with reference to participation and development.  

The introductory chapter covers child rights values of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and justice and child rights principles of dignity of the child, primary consideration to the best interests of the child, universality and non-discrimination, and state and societal accountability. Child rights to participation focuses on child rights for playing a decisive and responsible role in their own life and a participatory role in the family, schools, associations, community and with the state as citizens. Child rights to development includes child rights to free, compulsory, comprehensive and quality education, free of discrimination and violence; child rights to play, recreational, cultural, and artistic activities and media literacy; child rights to health with reference to physical health and hygiene, healthy and hygienic food and nutrition, sexual health and prevention of substance abuse; and child rights to environmental education with reference to child rights to environmental harmony and hygiene and child rights to sustainable environment. 

This is a must-read for researchers, trainers, and other professionals working on child rights issues across the world, and especially in developing countries. 

Sheetal Goel has an M.A. in medical and psychiatric social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Thereafter, she began her career as a social work practitioner in a Mumbai-based special school for children living with disability. Further, in 1999, she joined the Cell for AIDS Research Action & Training (CARAT), a field-action project of TISS. In 2002, she also worked as a lecturer at the Medical and Psychiatric Social Work Department in TISS. She has spent a large part of her working life as an HIV counsellor, trainer, activist and researcher in Mumbai. The thrust and focus of her work area are health and sexuality-related issues. She has engaged with children, youth and professionals (that include doctors, nurses, social work students and practitioners and school teachers) through varied training sessions in HIV-related issues and life skills training.  Sheetal relocated to the United Kingdom in 2014 and currently works as a social work practitioner in the adult social care team of Surrey County Council.