Indian's

Cartoons for Child Rights:"A Protective Environment"

2011-07-31T18:51:00.000+05:30

Cartoons for Child Rights: "Freedom from Discrimination"

2011-07-31T18:48:00.000+05:30

Cartoons for Child's Rights: "Self-Expression" (Chile)

2011-07-31T18:47:00.000+05:30

Cartoons for Child Rights: "Education" (India)

2011-07-31T18:46:00.003+05:30

Cartoons for Child Rights: "Education" (India)

2011-07-31T18:46:00.001+05:30

The Monkey and the Crocodile

2011-04-24T21:46:00.002+05:30

The Monkey and the Crocodile

Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a tree that bore juicy, red rose apples. He was very happy.

One fine day, a crocodile swam up to that tree and told the monkey that he had travelled a long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry. The kind monkey offered him a few rose apples. The crocodile enjoyed them very much and asked the monkey whether he could come again for some more fruit. The generous monkey happily agreed.

The crocodile returned the next day. And the next. And the next one after that. Soon the two became very good friends. They discussed their lives, their friends and family, like all friends do. The crocodile told the monkey that he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of the river. So the kind monkey offered him some extra rose apples to take home to his wife. The crocodile's wife loved the rose apples and made her husband promise to get her some every day.

Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile deepened as they spent more and more time together. The crocodile's wife started getting jealous. She wanted to put an end to this friendship. So she pretended that she could not believe that her husband could be friends with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the monkey shared a true friendship. The crocodile's wife thought to herself that if the monkey lived on a diet of rose monkeys, his flesh would be very sweet. So she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their house.

The crocodile was not happy about this. He tried to make the excuse that it would be difficult to get the monkey across the river. But his wife was determined to eat the monkey's flesh. So she thought of a plan.

One day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the doctor said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey's heart. If her husband wanted to save her life, he must bring her his friend's heart.

The crocodile was aghast. He was in a dilemma. On the one hand, he loved his friend. On the other, he could not possibly let his wife die. The crocodile's wife threatened him saying that if he did not get her the monkey's heart, she would surely die.

So the crocodile went to the rose apple tree and invited the monkey to come home to meet his wife. He told the monkey that he could ride across the river on the crocodile's back. The monkey happily agreed. As they reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that. The crocodile explained that he would have to kill the monkey to save his wife's life. The clever monkey told him that he would gladly give up his heart to save the life of the crocodile's wife, but he had left his heart behind in the rose apple tree. He asked the crocodile to make haste and turn back so that the monkey could go get his heart from the apple tree.

The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the rose apple tree. The monkey scampered up the tree to safety. He told the crocodile to tell his wicked wife that she had married the biggest fool in the world.

Nursery Rhymes - Johny Johny

2011-04-23T21:04:00.002+05:30

Nursery Rhymes - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

2011-04-23T21:02:00.002+05:30

Nursery Rhymes - Old McDonald

2011-04-23T21:00:00.002+05:30

Spotting the Adult Agendas: Investigating Children’s Historical Awareness Using Stories Written for Children in the Past

2011-04-20T01:25:00.002+05:30

Spotting the Adult Agendas: Investigating Children’s Historical Awareness Using Stories Written for Children in the Past

Pat Hoodless, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

Abstract This paper summarises an investigation of primary children’s understanding of the changing attitudes and values revealed in historical stories written at different times in the twentieth century. The investigation was a small scale case study, which used ethnographic methods, and produced qualitative data from small group discussions with children aged ten and eleven in two English primary schools. The choice of texts, drawn from a specifically English context, was intended to enable primary age children to understand familiar periods from the History National Curriculum. Findings suggest that children of this age were capable of identifying changing styles of presentation and different attitudes within historical accounts and stories written in different periods. Some children were aware how adult authors writing for children transmitted their attitudes and values through historical stories. The paper argues that such historical texts are excellent sources from which children can learn about the less tangible aspects of the past. It also argues that there are wider implications for the study of children’s conceptual awareness: children revealed very subtle understanding of chronology and change, as well as a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of how texts written for children are not only a product of the age in which they were written, but also a medium for the transmission of adult values and beliefs. It is suggested that further study of the use of such sources would enable a deeper understanding of how children acquire an awareness of these very important but less tangible aspects of the past.

Keywords: Childhood, Chronology, Values, Attitudes

Introduction: the research focus

This paper investigates how reading and talking about historical stories dating from different periods can reveal children’s understanding of the past. Young primary school¹ children often work with artefacts, historic architecture and sites to enable them visualise what the past was like in practical, concrete terms. They learn from visual and tactile sources and by first hand experiences such as reconstructions and re-enactments. However, these sources do not necessarily reveal the thoughts, attitudes and values of past ages. It is in this aspect of learning about the past that texts perhaps have their most important role. Recent research has raised questions about the suitability of dated reading material for young children and whether they would be able or motivated to read it (Hicks & Martin, 1997). Hannabuss (1999) and Evans (2000) have identified the potential of historical fiction as a means of entering into the social and cultural values and practices of the time of its writing. Evans argues that the literature published for children is ‘an untapped and rich vein of data’ (Evans, 2000, p.26) that provides insights into the real experiences of childhood in the past. They also provide a source of information about how childhood itself was perceived by adults within contemporary agendas in relation to children and their learning. Both the teaching of history in English primary schools and the style of writing about history for children have changed considerably over the course of the last century. I therefore set out to use texts about British history written at different times in the twentieth century as a tool for studying children’s awareness about the times in which the texts were written, a form of ‘unwitting testimony’. The texts provided a window through which the children might be able to ‘spot the agendas’ of authors of historical stories and how these agendas have changed over time. There were two aspects to the inquiry. Firstly, how would the children deal with texts from earlier times as historical sources? Secondly, how would they respond to them as a source of evidence about the less tangible aspects of the age in which they were written, such as contemporary attitudes and values, especially in relation to children’s historical education?

It is widely acknowledged that academic histories are a product of the age in which they are written (Marwick, 2001). Adult purposes in writing history for children have also changed significantly over time, reflecting changing views about what was deemed appropriate for children. For example, compare these two short extracts in terms of their approach to teaching about history. The first is an extract from a story about Boadicea, queen of a tribe of Ancient Britons at the time of the Roman invasion. This appeared in a book written for young children in 1930, ‘Stories from Greek, Roman and Old English History’,

Nearly a hundred years after Julius Caesar came to Britain, there lived a young British Queen called Boadicea. Boadicea’s husband Prasutagus was king of his tribe, and he and his people all lived together in and around a little town which they had built for themselves upon a tiny hill. …Not far away there were other tribes of Britons, each with its own king or chief; and the different tribes were constantly quarrelling and fighting with one another; so Boadicea’s life was not a peaceful one. But she did not mind this at all, for she loved nothing better than fighting.

(Sarson & Paine 1930, p.61)

The second extract is about the same queen, now called Boudicca, from a children’s book written in 1994, ‘The Rotten Romans’,

But the boldest of British women – maybe the bravest ever – was Queen Boudicca. That was what the Britons called her. Later generations changed her name to Boadicea. Some people say this change was made because Boadicea sounded nicer. Another story is that a mediaeval monk made a spelling mistake when he was copying an old history and his mistake was copied by later historians! Let’s call her Boudicca…

Boudicca, This is Your Life’ (Deary 1994, pp.40-41)

The purposes of the two stories are clear. The first is told in great detail, in a didactic, slightly patronising style deemed suitable for children at that time. The main purpose of the first story is the simple transmission of factual information, while the second is a humorous discussion of Boudicca’s activities, which raises the issue of different accounts of the events that took place, and the mistakes and further mistakes made over the years in writing about these. The version written in 1994 deals with history in a way that would have been quite alien to the writers of historical stories for young children during the first half of the twentieth century. At this time, the Victorian style of storytelling, moralising and hero-worship appears to have persisted in children’s historical tales. By the end of the century, it is clearly being replaced by a very different style, which invites the child reader to engage in independent, critical thought. I was interested to see whether primary school children (aged 10 – 11) were able to point out the social influences of different ages in stories written for children and whether they noticed the accompanying contemporary adult agendas, an issue eloquently discussed by Elwyn Jenkins in his work on the publication of indigenous folktales (Jenkins, 2002).

Background to the research

Two areas of interest prompted the enquiry. Firstly, there has been a resurgence of interest in the use of literature as a means of teaching history through the growing popularity of historical texts (Hicks & Martin, 1997) as part of the Literacy Hour at Key Stages 1 and 2 in England², and the extension of the Literacy Strategy into Key Stage 3 in England. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, interest has grown in the discussion about the real value of using literature and story to engage children’s interest in the past. Following the rise of the ‘new history’ in Britain, in which learning was based mainly on the analysis of historical sources of evidence, teachers and academics have questioned the demise of story. Hake and Haydn (1995) argued that history consists of both sources and stories. The case for the use of narrative in establishing a meaningful context for children learning about the past was re-established over a period of time (Self 1991, Levstik & Barton 1997; Bage, 1999, Nelson & Nelson, 1999). These authors and historians argue that children need a narrative in learning history, and that deep understandings can be achieved if children are carefully guided by a teacher, who can help contextualise their understanding of events. I set out, therefore, to explore what these qualitatively superior, deeper understandings might entail.

The focus of the study arose from the comments of a ten-year-old child who had been reading a story by Rosemary Sutcliff, from the ‘Capricorn Bracelet’ (Sutcliff, 1973). The story was about a British soldier working in the Roman army, who is sent to fight in Rome itself, prior to the fall of the Empire. News is eventually brought back about the soldier’s death, and is received in an almost detached manner by his family. A friend returns from Rome and gives back the family bracelet to the narrator of the story, explaining that his father is dead. The child narrator comments:

I waited a little, outside in the dark; then I went in, and showed the bracelet to my mother. And we both knew that it was time to stop pretending.

(p.147)

The child who had read the story commented,

It’s too boring, and too predictable. You wouldn’t just go ‘OK then’ if you heard that your father had been killed. You’d scream and cry – all the family. Children nowadays’, he went on to argue, ‘want blood and gore, not writing that won’t upset anybody!

What this child had recognised, from his comment, ‘Children nowadays’, was that the writing of historical stories is rooted not in the time that the story is about, but in the time when it is written. Layers of contemporary values and attitudes about literature and about what is appropriate for children shroud historical stories and texts, and here was a 10 year-old who was beginning to articulate an understanding of this. This ten-year-old had indicated the ability to go unaided and spontaneously ‘Beyond the Information Given’ (Bruner, 1973). He could see beyond the Roman time in which the story was set, and identify the writer’s attitude towards her readership, an attitude influenced by the values of the mid-twentieth century. This somewhat hardheaded response is from a late twentieth-century child, who has grown up in a media age exposed to all the harsh realities of life. His critical comments resonate with those of an American child who had just listened to a traditional telling of a fairy story. Her response, described in the findings from research by Ann Trousdale and Sally McMillan (2003) into children’s views of patriarchal fairy tales in the USA, was:

Cinderella was a Wuss… She could have run away, you know.

(p.14)

The realisation that children of this age were capable of such insights prompted me to look more closely at how children make sense of the past as it is represented in story, and how much they understand about attitudes at the time in which they were written.

Methodology

The research was ethnographic and produced qualitative data; it was based on participant observation in group discussions and made use of methods encompassed by grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The quality of children’s involvement, the tone of their responses and the level of their engagement with the texts formed part of the data. Once the children had been introduced to the topic, and had examined and talked about the books and their relative ages, they each chose one story to read. I then prompted the children with open-ended questions to find out what they thought about the stories, their style, differences between them and what they had learned from them. The group discussions were tape-recorded and transcribed in order to analyse the children’s comments and, by inference, their understandings and perceptions. Illustrative examples of the different perceptions held by the children are quoted below. I used stories about Queen Boudicca, drawn from national schemes of work in England (DfEE & QCA, 1998), and familiar to children from their history lessons by Year 6.³The research, however, focused on the way the story was written and what this told them, rather than on its content. My own analysis of the texts was left until after the children had talked about them since I did not want my questioning to be influenced by my own perceptions, and wanted the children themselves to make their own comments.

The stories

There is a huge variety of types within the genre of historical fiction, as well as a very wide range of content areas that historical fiction might cover and a second consideration in the selection of the texts was their appropriateness for the task and for the children reading them. Aiken (1985), and Hicks and Martin (1997) have analysed the genres within this wide category, noting their complexity. I eventually decided to use different short historical stories about the same personality in the past. This would not be as exciting as pure fiction, perhaps, as I had used in earlier research, (Hoodless, 2002) but I thought it probably more appropriate for the primary children who would be reading short stories with familiar content. The selection of texts was an important part of the methodology. For purposes of comparison, I selected texts commonly used by school children aged between 8 and 10 years of age during different periods in the twentieth century.

The stories were about Queen Boudicca, a popular figure in the distant past of British history. Boudicca was Queen of an Ancient British tribe, the Iceni, and had fought several battles in an attempt to repel the invading Romans, inflicting severe damage, such as in the burning of Londinium (London). The story of Boudicca required considerable awareness of chronology and also the texts that I had collected were themselves set in a number of different historical periods. For my modern text, I chose a chapter about Boudicca from the fairly recent ‘The Rotten Romans’ (Deary, 1994) because of its popularity with children and, although not a textbook as such, its increasing use as part of history lessons in England. I had a version of the story of Boudicca from 1957, written by a well-known writer of school history texts (Unstead, 1957), and a post-war version, in a volume called ‘Our Island Story’, dating from about 1948 (Marshall, c.1948), and finally a version from 1930, from the ‘Piers Plowman’ series (Sarson & Paine, 1930). I hoped books taken from these different periods in time would give the children sufficient contrast to be able to make some useful comparative comments. A final decision was to use the original books rather than photocopied pages. The children would then be able to evaluate them as artefacts as well as texts.

Schoolbooks for the typical elementary school⁴ pupil would have been written in the serious style of ‘Piers Ploughman’. During the 1930s in England, children would have been expected to develop a deferential attitude towards their rulers. The style of the ‘Piers Ploughman’ book underlines this view and embodies the philosophy and social attitudes of the time. By contrast, in the last decades of the twentieth century, a truly irreverent attitude towards all things linked to the upper classes and the monarchy had developed. It was becoming appropriate in society to mock great rulers of the past. ‘The Rotten Romans’ has an element of this attitude embedded within its style, particularly in the use of the popular television theme, ‘This is Your Life’, to illustrate the famous defeat of an Ancient British Queen. ‘The Rotten Romans’ has become a popular best seller at the turn of the century, and is commonly used in classrooms as part of a new, enquiry based approach to the teaching history to young children. Comments mainly based on these two texts have been selected for analysis in this paper, therefore, on the basis that they provide a clear contrast between the two periods in which they were written.

The children

Hicks and Martin (1997) refer to the constraints of asking young children to work with out-dated texts. On the assumption, therefore, that the books, particularly the older ones, would provide a significant challenge for young children, I decided to work with the more able readers in the final year of primary school and to analyse their comments on a variety of texts. The children were 10 and 11 year-olds, all above average or very able readers for their age. They were organised for the discussions in four groups of four, for clear communication and recording purposes, and matched for gender and reading abilities. The groups were drawn from two very different schools. School A was situated in a predominantly working class estate, with high numbers of children on free school meals and with behavioural and learning difficulties. School B was in a fairly wealthy, middle class area consisting mostly of professional families living in expensive private accommodation. However, both schools placed great emphasis on the children achieving high standards in literacy. I used schools in these very different kinds of areas to ascertain any marked differences in the children’s responses and approach to the texts and also to obtain a small, but contrasting sample on which to base my conclusions. Despite the different social contexts, however, all the children in the groups were highly competent, well-motivated readers, who experienced no difficulties in reading the texts, although the children in school B were more adept at interpreting and commenting on them, since their skills in discussing the texts appeared to be more highly developed.

Findings

An extensive range of different understandings emerged from an analysis of what the children said, from which some tentative theoretical hypotheses can be drawn. The responses ranged from an initial appraisal of the books as artefacts, with children commenting on their surface appearance and detailing changes in style, to some very perceptive comments, which revealed considerable understanding of the past and of the skills and hidden agendas, or unwitting testimony of the authors.

Selections of fact

The group in school B noticed the different selections of fact in the stories from 1930 and 1994. For example, in discussing Boudicca’s death, the ‘The Rotten Romans’ clearly explains what the historical sources say, and asks children to make up their own minds,

Big Boud faced another flogging. The Roman historian, Tacitus, said she took poison and died. The Roman Historian, Dio, said she died of a disease. Believe whichever one you like … or neither. Perhaps she just died of a broken heart. Boudicca, that was your life.

(Deary 1994, p.44)

On the other hand, the version from 1930 does not mention the way she died at all:

She fought bravely and died gladly, rejoicing to think that she would be a slave no

more.

(Sarson & Paine, 1930, p.66)

McGeorge, writing about the content of Victorian school reading books, comments how sensitive issues, such as death, were often dealt with in great detail in Victorian books, when a moral purpose underlay the story. Modern children’s literature seems to be returning to this, he argues, after a period when such issues were considered unsuitable (McGeorge, 1998). This argument is certainly borne out by the stories cited here. While the version from 1930 carefully avoids even a mention of her death, the version from 1994 explains a variety of ways she could have died and asks the child to make their own mind up about it. With some prompting, the children discussed the possible reasons for these different ways of writing about Boudicca’s death. Most of the children noted that the oldest version tended to skim over the facts and not really give useful detail, while issues like death or suicide were openly discussed in the most modern text.

Some children also pointed out that if you wanted to know how Boudicca looked, then the 1930 version told you nothing or very little, merely commenting how ‘she had a husband’, or ‘she was a queen’, while ‘The Rotten Romans’ gave great detail:

She was very tall. Her eyes seemed to stab you. Her voice was harsh and loud. Her thick, reddish-brown hair hung down below her waist. She always wore a great golden torc [band] around her neck and a flowing tartan cloak fastened with a brooch.

(Cassius Dio [trans E.Cary], 1917 in Deary, 1994)

The influence of the time

All the children were aware of the style of the texts and the changing devices used to appeal to the child reader, pointing out how ‘The Rotten Romans’ was ‘done like a TV show’, ‘Boudicca, this is your life’, comparing this to the romanticised story-telling style of the post war period and 1930s text. They thought that the term, ‘Big Boud’, used frequently to describe Boudicca in ‘The Rotten Romans’, sounded like slang. They thought this style would not have been acceptable in earlier times, because of the disrespect it showed to a queen. They were also aware that older versions of the story would not have used words like this or like ‘wimp’, used to describe Boudicca’s husband, the king. They compared this with the description in the oldest text from 1930, which described Boudicca as, ‘a young British Queen’. They thought the 1930 version was written ‘like a basic story’ and they found the old story more respectful to her. Whereas in ‘The Rotten Romans’, Boudicca’s husband is portrayed as a ‘wimpy king’, in the older version they noted that it says he ‘did the right thing’. They felt that the treatment of the subject in ‘The Rotten Romans’ was harsh, while Boudicca was ‘worshipped almost’ in the 1930 book – she was ‘the best’, and ‘did nothing wrong’. Some children thought that the style of the older texts was ‘more mature’, the author writes as if she was there, whereas in ‘The Rotten Romans’ the author just uses facts from other books. Some preferred the older version, because they thought the style was better and they thought it ‘told the history better’. They liked phrases such as ‘O brothers and sisters’.

Others understood that the writer of ‘The Rotten Romans’ had used slang expressions and humorous words to make the text easier to read and to aim it at children’s interest level, ‘in a way that we can understand it’. These children, thought that the use of speech bubbles to show that it was Boudicca speaking, made it much easier to follow for the reader. Several children commented how they thought the reading was harder in the past,

There was, like, different words that we don’t use now. There was words that mean different from what they mean now.

They were conscious of the writer’s purpose and how the style had been designed to suit the intended child audience.

Because the children had been able to analyse surface features, such as changing font and illustrative styles, they had little difficulty in ordering the stories chronologically. They were not able to place them in specific historical periods, or give accurate dates, but were easily able to place them accurately in the correct sequence in terms of publication, and were able to see how old they were in relation to each other. They were aware that in the past they would not have had books written or illustrated in the style of the ‘The Rotten Romans’:

Child: There wouldn’t have been ‘The Rotten Romans’ in the 1960s would there?

Researcher: Why not?

Child: … well things like ‘Rotten Romans’, I don’t think they would have really appreciated that.

The children were aware that not only would such a book not have appeared at that time, but also that its style would not have been acceptable in an earlier age.

Viv Little (1986) points out how contemporary influences affect the writing of historical stories and comments how the heroes of G. A. Henty, whether cast in his novels as Ancient Greeks or Tudor adventurers, are always the same modern young gentlemen from English public ⁵schools. Little recommends discussing with children how historical fiction is written, and the findings of this study appear to confirm the notion that some young children are able to understand contemporary influences on writers of history. One child in school B noted the way the stories were influenced by the prevailing spirit of the time in which they were written, ‘it seems to come out of the time’. He commented of ‘Our Island History’:

This reads like it was just written after the war, all proud about how we defend ourselves.

The group in school B entered into an interesting debate about which text provided the most useful image of Boudicca. One child argued that:

You don’t know when you read a description of Boudicca in the older stories, whether this was really what she was like, or just the image they had of her at the time it was written.

Another commented:

You have an image of what other people thought of her, how she was very brave. The problem with that is, that because of the time it was based in, you don’t know if that’s what she was actually like …

The first child replied,

I think it’s like based on the time. Stories change in the time they’re told. If at that time you don’t think much of people, you kill people, you’d be writing about them

in a horrible way. It can completely change the image of someone.

Phrases such as ‘because of the time it was based in’ and ‘stories change in the time they’re told’ clearly demonstrate the awareness of the children in school B that the attitudes and values held at the time of writing can be more significant than the content of an historical story.

Adult agendas

During the discussion, the most able readers were able to see how the teaching of history itself has changed depending on the view of childhood held by the authors. The story telling changed from ‘here is a story that I think will be suitable for you’, in 1930, to ‘here is the gist of two sources that contradict each other. Make up your own mind’ in 1994. The children in school B noticed how ‘different books missed different bits out’ and began to think about possible reasons for this. In talking about the way the earlier story explained Boudicca’s death, they commented,

In there it (suicide) was something they were ashamed about…not many people did it and it was kind of like a weird thing to do…if they put it down, and they probably thought it was a bad thing to do.

Also, they wanted somebody like Boudicca to set an example.

They argued it was ‘…so bad that children might think it was the right thing to do.’ They were aware of the moral purpose of the author of the 1930 version, whereas the modern version set out recorded facts, not avoiding the unpleasant details or aiming to show Boudicca in a heroic light.

Children in both schools commented how they preferred making their own decisions to just hearing ‘they did this, they did that.’ They argued that if they were constantly taught in this way, ‘children might think that everything was just a story.’ They were aware of the fact that learners can use different sources and versions to create their own image of the past. One child even suggested that they might be disadvantaged in later education by writing history in a story-like style themselves. They seemed to be beginning to grasp the quite sophisticated point that some fiction obscures and distorts the truth. At the same time they recognised that although ‘The Rotten Romans’ was written in a ‘jokey way’, there were more facts in it, for example:

The 10,000 Romans were well organised. The 100,000 Britons charged around the way they always did. The result was a great victory for the Romans.

(Deary, 1994, p.44)

While some enjoyed the romantic tales of the past, most of the children in the discussion groups thought it was better to allow children to make their own minds up, and one child in school B pointed out that people’s opinions, written up as stories, might be wrong, a highly perceptive comment for a ten-year-old.

Discussion

‘History stories’ from the past are an immense resource already used in teaching literacy skills in England. Children in both sample groups were able to analyse them as artefacts, noting the subtle differences in style and presentation of books published in different eras. They enabled the children to reveal sophisticated understandings of chronology and change, as well as their developing inferential skills. Some children in the sample were able to go beyond the surface features of the stories and analyse their authors’ preconceptions and also the prevalent social attitudes of the times of writing. Several children in School B related their readings of the stories to their knowledge and understanding of different historical periods, demonstrating inferential skill in distinguishing between authors’ perceptions of what was appropriate for their child readership at different points in the past. The children then began to appreciate the values and attitudes of those different times about sensitive issues such as death, war and suicide and to understand how the telling of history changes with each re-telling according to the attitudes and agendas prevailing at the time. Possibly, because of well-developed skills in source analysis, the children in School B were able to treat the stories primarily as sources and apply considerable evaluative skill to their discussion of them.

There are also wider implications of this type of learning for children in other countries in Europe and other parts of the world. Changes in values and attitudes have been very gradual in Britain and are often difficult to identify. However, in societies where there has been considerable, rapid political and social change, and where democratic values are now promoted, such as in Eastern Europe, learning about how and why life has changed can be significant at a number of levels. Children can not only learn about the material changes in their country’s past, but also the changes in values, attitudes and beliefs that underlay shifts in policy. Reading earlier history text books and stories can, for example, reveal a great deal about the values that underpinned the choice of curriculum content and the style in which it was taught.

These seem very sophisticated ideas for young children. However, it was clear from the comments they made during these informal conversations, that some are quite capable of these insights and understandings. Indeed, one child brought to the discussions considerable prior knowledge and understanding of the values and attitudes of the early twentieth century. Knowing about different attitudes towards children at different times in the past is a valid area of study for able child readers and further research to identify suitable texts would enrich the resources available to develop these important skills. Knowledge about such texts at an international level would be useful for developing subject knowledge and with it, a deeper understanding of chronology in the form of contemporary attitudes and values. Spotting the adult agendas is another way of children ‘doing history’ and learning to appreciate and analyse the texts which transmit not only the history itself, but also the unwitting testimony of the time in which the texts were written.

Notes:

1. Primary schools in England include children between 3 and 11 years.

2. In the English education system, Key Stage 1 refers to children aged from 5 to 7, Key Stage 2 to those from 7 to 11, and Key Stage 3, to those aged 11 to 14.

3. Year 6 refers to children in the final year of primary school, aged 10 to 11.

4. Elementary School: A term used in the first half of the twentieth century in Britain to denote schools run by the State.

5. English ‘public’ schools: private, or fee-paying schools used by the wealthy upper classes.

The Children’s Story…but not just for children” – James Clavell

2011-04-20T01:21:00.000+05:30

The Children’s Story…but not just for children” – James Clavell

What symbols of your country do you have in your classroom or school?

What activities do you participate in your school each day or over the year to connect you to your country or your religion?

Do you know all the words to your national anthem and can you explain what they mean?

For many years American schoolchildren have started each school day with a short ceremony in their class which includes pledging allegiance to their country.

The six-year-old daughter of the author of the story below came home one day very proud that she had learned the pledge of allegiance. When her father asked her if she understood what it meant he discovered she had no idea. That day he asked several people if they knew what it meant and discovered that no one had been taught about it at school although they could all recite it by heart. This inspired James Clavell to write “The Children’s Story”.

Look at the title of the story. Can you think what James Cavell might mean by it?

“The Children’s Story…but not just for children” – James Clavell

Part I

The teacher was afraid.

And the children were afraid. All except Johnny. He watched the classroom door with hate. He felt the hatred deep within his stomach. It gave him strength.

It was two minutes to nine.

The teacher glanced numbly from the door and stared at the flag which stood in a corner of the room. But she couldn’t see the flag today. She was blinded by her terror, not only for herself but mostly for them, her children. She had never had children of her own.

In the mists of her mind she saw the rows upon rows of children she had taught through her years. But she could distinguish no one particular face. Only the same face which varied but slightly. Always the same age or thereabouts. Seven. Perhaps a boy, perhaps a girl. And the face always open and ready for the knowledge that she was to give.

The sound of footsteps approached and then stopped. The door opened.

The children gasped. They had expected a monster – like the outer-space monsters you think about when the lights are out and Momma and Daddy have kissed you good night and you’re frightened and you put your head under the cover and all at once you’re awake and it’s time for school.

But instead of a monster, a beautiful young girl stood in the doorway. Her clothes were neat and clean, all olive green – even her shoes. But most important, she wore a lovely smile, and when she spoke, she spoke without the trace of an accent. The children found this very strange for they were foreigners from a strange country far across the sea.

“Good morning, children, I’m your new teacher,” the New Teacher said. Then she closed the door softly and walked to the teacher’s desk, and the children in the front row felt and smelled the perfume of her – clean and fresh and young – and as she passed Sandra who sat at the end of the first row she said, Good morning, Sandra,” and Sandra flushed deeply and wondered with all the other children, How did she know my name? and her heart raced in her chest.

The teacher got up shakily. “I, er, I – good morning.” Her words were faltering. She, too, was trying to get over the shock.

“Hello, Miss Worden,” the New Teacher said. “I’m taking over your class now. You are to go to the principal’s office.”

“Why? What’s going to happen to me? What’s going to happen to my children?” The words gushed from Miss Worden, and a piece of hair fell into her eyes.

“He just wants to talk to you, Miss Worden,” the New Teacher said gently.

Miss Worden saw the New Teacher’s smile but she wasn’t touched by it. “Good-bye, children,” she said. The children made no reply. They were too terrified by the sound of her voice and the tears. And because she was crying, some of the children cried.

Questions

1. Why is everyone afraid at the beginning of the story?

2. What change is taking place in the children’s lives?

3. a. What surprises them about their new teacher?

b. Mention three things they notice about her.

4. Why do you think the pupils were surprised when the New Teacher didn’t have an accent?

5. Why were the children frightened by their old teacher at the end of Part I?

Part II

The New Teacher shut the door behind Miss Worden and turned back into the room. “Children, no need to cry!” She said. “I know. I’ll sing you a song! Listen!”

And she sat down on the floor as gracefully as an angel and she began to sing and the children stopped crying because Miss Worden never, never sang to them and certainly never sat on the floor, which is the best place to sit, as everyone in the class knew. They listened spellbound to the happy sound of the New Teacher’s voice and to the strange words of a strange language. It was a child’s song and it soothed them, and after she had sung the first chorus she told them the story of the song.

It was about two children who had lost their way and were alone in the prairies and were afraid, but they met a fine man riding a horse who told them that there was never a need to be afraid, for all they had to do was watch the stars and they would tell them where home was.

“For once you know the right direction, there’s never a need to be afraid. Fear is something that comes from inside your tummies,” the New Teacher said radiantly, “and good strong children like you have to put food in your tummies. Not fear.”

The children thought about this and it seemed sensible. All the children were happy and calm. Except Johnny. He hated her even though he knew she was right about fear.

“Now,” said the New Teacher, “what shall we do? I know, we’ll play a game. I’ll try and guess your names!”

The children, wide-eyed, shifted in their seats. Miss Worden never did this, and often she called a child by another’s name. The New Teacher’ll never know all our names! Never! they thought. So they waited excitedly glad that they were going to catch out the New Teacher.

But they were not to catch her out. The New Teacher remembered every name!

Johnny put up his hand. “How’d you know our names? I mean, well we, haven’t had a roll call or anything, so how’d you know our names?”

That’s easy, Johnny,” the New Teacher said. “You all sit in the same places every day. So I learned your names from a list. A teacher must work very hard to be a good teacher, and so I worked for three days learning them. That’s very important, don’t you think, for a teacher to work hard?”

Johnny frowned and half-nodded and sat down and wondered why he hadn’t figured that out for himself, astonished that she had worked three days just to know everyone the first day. But still he hated her.

Questions

1. To what is the New Teacher compared by the author?

2. How is she different from the Miss Worden?

3. What do you think the message of the New Teacher’s song is?

4. Why do you think Johnny hated her?

5. How did she surprise them?

Part III

“Johnny. Would you tell me something please? How do you start school? I mean what do you do to begin with?”

Johnny stood reluctantly. “We first pledge allegiance. “

The New Teacher smiled. “All right. So we should pledge.”

Obediently, all the children got up and put their hands on their hearts and the New Teacher did the same, and they began in unison, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of –“

“Just a moment,” the New Teacher said. “What does pledge mean?”

The children stood open mouthed; Miss Worden had never interrupted them before.

“What does allegiance mean?” the New Teacher asked.

The children stood in silence. Then Mary put up her hand. “Well, pledge is ah, well, something like – sort of when you want to do something very good. You sort of pledge you’re going to do something like not suck your thumb ‘cause that makes your teeth bend and you’ll have to go to the dentist, which hurts.”

“That’s very good, Mary. Very, very good. To pledge means to promise. And allegiance?”

Mary shrugged helplessly and looked at her best friend, Hilda, who looked back at her and then at the teacher and shrugged helplessly too.

So the New Teacher explained what allegiance meant. “…so you are promising support to the flag and saying that it is much more important than you are. How can a flag be more important than a real live person?”

Johnny broke the silence. “But the next thing is – well, where it says ‘and to the republic for which it stands.’ That means it’s like a like a …” He searched for the word and could not find it. “Like a well, sort of sign, isn’t it?”

“Yes. The real word is a symbol.” The New Teacher frowned. “But we don’t need a sign to remind us that we love our country, do we? You’re all good boys and girls. Do you need a sign to remind you?”

“What’s remind mean?” Mary asked.

“It means to make you remember. To make your remember that you’re all good boys and girls.”

The children thought about this and shook their heads.

Johnny put up his hand. “It’s our flag,” he said fiercely. “We always pledge.”

“Yes,” the New Teacher said. “It is a very pretty one.” She looked at it a moment and then said. “I wish I could have a piece of it. If it’s so important, I think we should all have a piece of it. Don’t you?”

Then Danny said, “If we had some scissors we could cut a little piece off.”

“There’s some in Miss Worden’s desk,” Brian said.

The New Teacher found the scissors and then they had to decide who would be allowed to cut a little piece off, and the New Teacher said that because today was Mary’s birthday (How did you know that? Mary asked herself.) Mary should be allowed to cut the piece off. And then they decided it would be very nice if they all had a piece. The flag is special, they thought, so if you have a piece, that’s better than having just to look at it.

So the flag was cut up by the children and they were very proud that they each had a piece. But now the flagpole was bare and strange – and useless.

The children pondered what to do with it, and the idea that pleased them most was to push it out of the window. They watched excitedly as the New Teacher opened the window and allowed them to throw it into the playground. They shrieked with excitement as they saw it bounce on the ground and lie there. They began to love this strange New Teacher.

Questions

1. How did the New Teacher break with the tradition of reciting the pledge of allegiance in two ways?

2. Why do you think she broke with tradition?

3. a. What does the New Teacher decide to do with the flag? Why?

b. What do you think about her idea?

4. Why do you think the pupils began to love her at the end of Part III?

Part IV

When they were all back in their seats the New Teacher said, “Well, before we start our lessons, perhaps there are some questions you want me to answer. Ask me anything you like. That’s only fair, isn’t it, if I ask you questions?”

Mary put up her hand. “Why do you wear those clothes?”

“Well, it’s like a sort of uniform nurses wear. We think that teachers should be dressed the same. Then you always know a teacher. Do you like the color?”

“Oh yes,” Mary said. “You’ve got green eyes too.”

“If you like, children, as a very special surprise, you can all have this sort of uniform. Then you won’t have to worry about what you have to wear to school every day. And you’ll all be the same.”

Johnny said, “I don’t want to be dressed like that.” I’m never going to wear their clothes, he said to himself. I don’t care if I’m going to look different from Danny and Tom and Fred.

Then Mary asked, “Why was our teacher crying?”

“I supposed she was just needed a rest. She’s going to have a long rest.” She smiled at them. “We think teachers should be young. I’m nineteen.”

“Is the war over now?” Danny asked.

“Yes, Danny, isn’t that wonderful! Now all your daddies will be home soon.”

“Did you win or did we lose?” Mary asked.

“We – that’s you and I and all of us – we won.”

“Oh!”

The children sat back happily.

Then Johnny’s hatred burst. “Where’s my dad? What’ve you done to him?”

The New Teacher got up from her seat and walked to Johnny’s desk and the children’s eyes followed her.

“He’s going to a school. Some grown-ups have to go to school as well as children.”

“But they took him away and he didn’t want to go.” Johnny fought back the tears.

“He’s no different from all of you. You sometimes don’t want to go to school. With grown-ups it’s the same – just the same as children. Would you like to visit him? He has a holiday in a few days.”

“Momma said that Dad’s gone away forever!” Johnny stared at her incredulously. “He has a holiday?”

The New Teacher laughed. “She’s wrong, Johnny. After all, everyone who goes to school has holidays. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

The children shifted and watched. And Johnny said, “I can see him?”

“Of course. Your daddy just has to go back to school a little. He had some strange thoughts, and he wanted other grown-ups to believe them?”

“But my dad never thought nothing bad.”

“Of course, Johnny. I said wrong thoughts – not bad thoughts. But it’s right to show grown-ups right thoughts when they’re wrong, isn’t it?”

“Well, yes,” Johnny said. “But what wrong thoughts did he have?”

“Just some grown-up thoughts that are old-fashioned. We’re going to learn all about them in class. Shall we?”

“All right,” Johnny stared at her, perplexed.

And the other children nodded, and they wondered if all their parents should go back to school and unlearn bad thoughts.

Questions

1. Look at the quotes below from Part IV. What does each quote show us about the lessons the New Teacher is trying to teach her new pupils? What do the quotes have in common?

“If you like, children, as a very special surprise, you can all have this sort of uniform. Then you won’t have to worry about what you have to wear to school every day. And you’ll all be the same.”
“We think teachers should be young. I’m nineteen.”
“Your daddy just has to go back to school a little. He had some strange thoughts, and he wanted other grown-ups to believe them?”

2. Look at the quote below.

“Did you win or did we lose?” Mary asked. “We – that’s you and I and all of us – we won.”

Who is Mary referring to when she says “you” and “we”? What does the teacher mean when she answers “we won.”

Part V

“I have a lovely surprise for you. You’re all going to stay overnight with us. We have a lovely room and beds and lots of food, and we’ll all tell stories and have such a lovely time.”

“Oh, good,” the children said.

The New Teacher smiled. “Perhaps we should say a prayer now. But let’s pray for something very good. What should we pray for?”

“Bless Momma and Daddy,” Danny said immediately.

“That’s a good idea, Danny. I have one. Let’s pray for candy. That’s a good idea, isn’t it?”

They all nodded happily.

So, following their New Teacher, they all closed their eyes and prayed for candy.

The New Teacher opened her eyes and looked around disappointedly. “But where’s the candy? God is all-seeing and is everywhere, and if we pray, he answers our prayers. Isn’t that true?”

“I prayed for a puppy of lots of times, but I never got one,” Danny said.

“Maybe we didn’t pray hard enough.”

So the New Teacher and all the children prayed very hard. But there was still no candy.

Because the New Teacher was disappointed, the children were disappointed. Then she said, “Perhaps we’re using the wrong name.” She thought a moment and then said, “Instead of saying ‘God,’ let’s say ‘Our Leader.’ Let’s pray very hard to Our Leader for candy and don’t open your eyes till I say.”

So the children shut their eyes tightly and prayed very hard, and as they prayed, the New Teacher took out some candy from her pocket and quietly put a piece on each child’s desk. She did not notice Johnny watching her through his half-closed eyes.

She went softly back to her desk and the prayer ended, and the children opened their eyes and they stared at the candy and were overjoyed.

“I’m going to pray to Our Leader every time,” Mary said excitedly.

“Me too,” Hilda said. “Could we eat Our Leader’s candy now, teacher?”

“Oh, let’s please, please, please.”

“So Our Leader answered your prayers, didn’t he?”

“I saw you put the candy on our desks!” Johnny burst out. “I saw you. I didn’t close my eyes, and I saw you. You had ‘em in your pocket. We didn’t get them with praying.”

All the children stared at him and then at their New Teacher. She looked back at Johnny and then at all of them.

“Yes, Johnny, you’re quite right. You’re a very, very wise boy. Children, I put the candy on your desks. So you know that it doesn’t matter whom you ask, whom you shut your eyes and ‘pray to’ – to God or anyone, even Our Leader – no one will give you anything. Only another human being.” She looked at Danny.. Only I or someone like me can give you things.”

Then we don’t say prayers? We’re not supposed to say prayers?”

The puzzled children watched her.

“You can if you want to, children. If your daddies and mommies want you to. But we know, you and I, that it means nothing. That’s our secret.”

The New Teacher said, “We’re going to have lots of wonderful secrets together. You can eat your candy if you want to, and because Johnny was especially clever, I think we should make him monitor for the week, don’t you?”

They all nodded happily and popped the candy into their mouths and chewed gloriously. Johnny was very proud as he chewed his candy; he decided that he liked his teacher very much. Because she told the truth. Because she was without fear. Because she was right about God. He’d prayed many times for many things and never got them, and the one time he did get his skates, he knew his dad had heard him and put them under his bed for his birthday and pretended he hadn’t heard him. I always wondered why He didn’t listen, and all the time He wasn’t there, he thought.

Questions

1. Why do you think the New Teacher has decided to have the children sleep at the school?

2. a. What does the Teacher suggest the children pray for?

b. Why do the children usually pray?

3. Why was Johnny so upset?

4. How did the Teacher explain what she had done?

Part VI

The teacher waited for them to finish their candy. This was what she had been trained for, and she knew that she would teach children well and that they would grow up to be good citizens. She looked out of the window, at the sun over the land. It was a good land, and vast. A land to breathe in. But she was warmed not by the sun but by the thought that throughout the land all children, all men and all women were being taught with the same faith.

She glanced at her watch….

It was 9:23.

Questions

1. How was the Teacher feeling at the end of the story?

2. Why did she feel this way?

3. What do you think her beliefs were?

4. Why do you think the time is mentioned at the end of the story?

In Depth

1. What methods does the New Teacher use to convince her pupils? Be specific.

2. What is good about the New Teacher’s method of teaching? What is bad?

3. With which of the Teacher’s lessons do you agree? With which do you disagree? Why?

4. Who do you think was a better teacher, Miss Worden or the New Teacher? Why?

4. Why do you think the author has included Johnny in this story?

5. Which basic values did the children come in with at the beginning of the lesson? Which ones did they leave with at the end?

Literary device - A moral or message

Children’s stories are usually written to teach children a lesson about life which is often called “the moral of the story.”

Think of at least two children’s stories that you know and explain the moral of each of them.

“The Children’s Story” came into being that day. It was then that I really realized how vulnerable my child’s mind was – any mind, for that matter – under controlled circumstances.“

In the quote above James Clavell explains why he decided to write his children’s story. Explain in your own words what lesson he was trying to teach his readers in this story. Why does he say that the story is not just for children?

Writing

Write an article for your school newspaper about one of the following:

What I consider most important to learn from my teacher. You might choose from the following: subject matter, values, general knowledge, life skills, etc.

Should teachers challenge their pupils’ beliefs about their family, their religion, their country to make them understand them better or to even change them.

STORIES: THE BRIDGE OF UNDERSTANDING

2011-04-20T01:16:00.002+05:30

STORIES: THE BRIDGE OF UNDERSTANDING

“Storytelling has the power to teach us to care deeply and think clearly.”

(National Storytelling Association, 1994)

Story and storytelling can be used as effective educational tools that inspire children’s learning and exploration of social justice issues. Stories are a primary means of developing an educated imagination and are a powerful conveyor of cultural mores and human experience. On examining the course of human evolution, it appears that once language developed as a means of communication, stories arose to explain the unexplainable (Jennings, 1991: 6), and by resolving enigmas, stories clearly presented themselves as educational.

Stories act as a reference point for children as they decipher what living in the world is all about. Vandergrift (1980 cited by Raines & Isbell, 1994) explained this value of story with the notion that each experience a child has with a story, builds on previous interactions and provides a structure for stories that will follow. “Literary and general linguists insist no story can be understood at a single level” (Bruner, 1986). One story shared with a group of people will be experienced by each person differently. The story will trigger different personal connections, different messages and different levels of meaning. In the same way a story shared with a child recurrently over time will have an evolving sense of meaning, as the child’s knowledge and understanding of the world develops. Saxby (1992) identified that ‘preschoolers have a natural tendency to explain and explore both their inner and outer worlds through narrative’.

Dyson and Genishi (1994) also declare that stories have ‘interrelated evaluative and social functions” in that “through stories we fashion our relationships with others…expressing in ways subtle and not so subtle our feelings about the people around us’. Nolan Clark (1969) also acknowledges the vibrant cultural interchange of stories, in that they nurture a free and joyous interchange of acceptance and respect among all peoples (cited by Cooper, Collins & Saxby, 1992). The sharing of cultural stories in respectful ways plays an essential role in embracing positive cross-cultural relations and global harmony.

Given the power of story and the nature of young children – storytelling can be an effective means of exploring social justice issues with young children. ‘In the early childhood field Social Justice specifically is about the promotion of equity for those individuals and groups in society who are ‘disadvantaged’ in some way’ (Holmes, 1997). To gain an understanding of social equality, children need to develop empathy and concern for others. Most people no matter what their age need to feel the emotion of another’s personal experience in order to feel empathy and be motivated to take on social action; this readily occurs with stories that speak to the heart.

In Remote Control Childhood Diane Levin defines five steps for young children taking social action:

1. Help children take action on matters in their own lives that they really care about.

2. Give children many opportunities to problem solve and take responsible actions on issues related to their home/ school environment.

3. When children become aware of social concerns they can become activists that help others understand these concerns and problems.

4. Provide opportunities for children to talk to other children about what they have learned in the process of problem solving around an important social justice issue.

5. Help children learn that they can take action to promote change in the wider community.

(Levin, 1998)

A toddler group at a child care centre had been experiencing stories that explore empathy. This is a beginning goal to taking social action. For example, the children had frequent experiences with the picture book ‘Come on Daisy’ by Jane Simmons that tells of a duckling losing her mother. The children readily connected with the emotions of missing their mother and they were all greatly excited when the duckling found her mother. These children then began to demonstrate empathy to one another in such ways as getting another child’s comforter for them. This is a demonstration of Levin’s first step for taking social action. The children have acknowledged that another child has a need that they can relate to and so they have taken action to resolve the need, by getting their blanket or bear to comfort them.

At the same child care centre, the preschooler group had many experiences throughout the year 2000 with Aboriginal Reconciliation, which involved taking social action at a broader community level. The children and staff were learning together that they can take action to promote change in the wider community. Some of the experiences included attendance at the Social Justice in Early Childhood Group’s National Healing Day Picnic where they participated in Aboriginal crafts and music and planting a ‘Sea of Hands’. Many of the children also walked across the Harbour Bridge with their families for Corroboree 2000. These events were then followed up at the centre through discussions, stories, displays and decorating a ‘Sorry Book’. One of the stories shared with a group of ten preschoolers was a persona doll story.

The concept of persona dolls was developed by Kay Taus (a member of the Anti-Bias Task Force, USA) in the late 1980’s to explore social justice issues with young children. These dolls have a developed personality, with details of their family, home and personal experiences that children can relate to. The doll tells her story, exposing the children to issues of diversity and social justice in a way they can understand – simply because it is a personal story.

A persona doll called ‘Elsie’ was used to share her own Stolen Generation story with the group of preschoolers. Elsie told the group how she was taken away from her mother by the government and what her life was like in the mission afterwards. This story was loosely based on some of the life stories shared by Aboriginal women in the book ‘Murawina’.

The children responded very strongly to this story with feelings of anger towards the government –

Child: “Put them in a brown bear cage”

Child: “Hang them upside down”

The children were then asked what they do at the centre when something unfair happens -

Child: “You tell them you don’t like it”

Child: “You say sorry”

From here we went on to talk about what we could do help Elsie address the ‘unfair’ situation that had happened to her. The children clearly expressed that “we have to tell the government to say sorry”. Letter writing was collectively decided as the best way to express this message. However there were some sceptics who felt that the government would just throw their letters into the bin. Here are a few of the messages that the children verbalised to express the sentiments of their drawings.

“The Government took Elsie. Elsie sends a letter to the government to say my mother didn’t die.” (Girl, 5 years old)

“Say sorry to the Aborigines. You’re not very nice government ‘cos you didn’t say sorry to the Aborigines” (Boy, 5 years old)

“I took all the Aboriginal children (the sisters, brothers and Elsie) back to their mother” (Girl, 5 years old)

The next day we wrote a group letter to the Government together to enclose with their drawings and messages. We all decided that it would say:

“To the Government,

Could you please say sorry to the Aborigines for stealing children from their families and home, and invading their land. Please find enclosed our drawings and messages.”

Immediately on completing the ‘s’ of ‘messages’ the children stood to sign their names on the bottom, and some suggested that we invite John Howard to come to their child care centre to say sorry, so they all could hear and see him say it.

This example shows that the children can quite readily became very passionate about a community issue of injustice, however they perceived the situation as a rigid dichotomy: Elsie is ‘good’ and the Government is ‘bad’. This is important to address so that the children do not consolidate a belief that the Government is always ‘bad’. Levin (1994) argues that this is typical of young children’s thinking when addressing issues of social justice. Situations of unfairness will often be perceived as one party being ‘good’ and the other party being ‘bad’. We can guide young children’s thinking by helping them to perceive more than one attribute to a category. To assist in creating a balanced perception of the government for this group of preschoolers other issues of social justice that involved government taking positive action (such as the gun ban) were discussed. Levin states that a change in children’s thinking can occur when they have new experiences that give them new content to use in trying out and building new ideas. The use of stories that speak to our hearts and minds play a powerful role in drawing in children’s attention to share with them new meanings, content and ideas. And if these stories are shared again and again over time and their content and messages explored in many different ways (drawing, dramatic play, discussions, construction and displays), children’s understanding of the complexities of social justice can be deepened.

Child Labour in India (Sivakasi,TamilNadu)

2011-04-19T00:12:00.000+05:30

Child Labour is a Crime

2011-04-19T00:07:00.001+05:30

IPC section 374

According to this section that whoever unlawfully compels any person to labour against the will of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or both.

The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986

The act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 in factories, mines and in other forms of hazardous employment (including domestic labour and service industry), and regulates the working conditions of children in other employment.

Government servants are prohibited from employing children as domestic servants. Through the recent notification effective from 10 October 2006, the government has imposed these restrictions on everyone.

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000
Under this act any person responsible for abuse assault and neglect or causing physical or mental suffering can be punished for up to 6 months and/or fined.

Also any person who procure a juvenile or the child for hazardous work, keeps him in bondage and withholds the child's earnings or uses them for his own purpose is liable for imprisonment up to 3 years and also a fine.

Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976Under this act any kind of forced labour including child labour is a punishable offence. There are many incidences where judiciary has acted for elimination of child labour and has dealt with it as forced labour or bonded labour.

Supreme Court Directions on Child LabourThe Supreme Court of India, 1996 has given certain directions regarding the manner in which children working in the hazardous occupations are to be withdrawn from work and rehabilitated, and the manner in which the working conditions of children working in non-hazardous occupations are to be regulated and improved.

The judgment of the Supreme Court envisages:

Withdrawal of children working in hazardous industries and ensuring their education in appropriate institutions;
Contribution of Rs.20,000 per child to be paid by the offending employers of children to a welfare fund to be established for this purpose;
Employment to one adult member of the family of the child so withdrawn from work, and if that is not possible a contribution of Rs.5000 to the welfare fund to be made by the State Government;
Financial assistance to the families of the children so withdrawn to be paid out of the interest earnings on the corpus of Rs. 20,000 or Rs. 25,000 deposited in the welfare fund as long as the child is actually sent to the schools

In a nutshell, the recent notification regarding child labour simply means that any body employing children of 14 years of age, can be prosecuted as a criminal. It also means that government is accountable to deal with child domestic labour as a crime, and should make all efforts for its control and elimination. It should also make arrangements to provide justice, compensation and rehabilitation to the victim

Child Labour What Could be Done?

2011-04-19T00:04:00.000+05:30

I. Introduction

The issue of child labour has been gaining considerable international attention particularly as it is linked to the rights of the child. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted by the General Assembly in 1989, calls for the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and any work that is likely to be hazardous, interfere with the child’s education or harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. It is not accepted when children work at a young age, for long hours, with little pay, in hazardous conditions or in slave-like conditions (UNICEF, 1993).

With the difficulty of measuring the size and shape of child labour, ILO estimated that in 2000 some 211 million children aged 5-14 years are engaged in some form of economic activity around the world. Of these, roughly 186 million children are engaged in child labour to be abolished, including the worst forms of child labour (ILO, 2002).

The reasons children work are linked to both supply and demand factors, which need to be analyzed in-depth in order to design appropriate country-specific remedial measures. On the supply side, causes include poverty, popular perceptions and local customs and traditions regarding the work of children, in addition to limited availability or low quality of schooling. On the demand side, employers prefer to hire children not only due to their lower cost but also children are usually easier to manage than adults and do not enjoy the same rights and protection as their adult counterparts.

Developmental agencies have been continuously faced with the question of what could be done to better the lives and opportunities of these children and to help them get out of this cycle of poverty and disadvantage. This is with particular recognition of the structural underlying causes that are leading children to work at a very young age and in conditions that are harmful to their growth and development, and the demand and supply factors that continue to push these children to work. In an attempt to address this issue, this paper aims to present a strategy currently applied in the Egyptian context and supported by UNICEF. This strategy includes both preventive and protective dimensions for dealing with children at work and child labour.

II. The Case of Egypt

Estimates of child work prevalence in Egypt generated by recent surveys vary widely, mainly due to how the surveys define child work and the type of methodologies they used. For example, the Labour Force Sample Suvey of 1988 and Egypt Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (EMICS) of 1996 estimated that 12% of children 6-14 are working while the Demographic and Health Survey of 1995 estimated the prevelance of work among 6-14 year olds as only around 3%.

Evidence from small-scale sample surveys suggests that many children work in conditions that violate the CRC and other international conventions governing child labour. A 1999 survey conducted in Greater Cairo found that both male and female child workers worked an average of more than nine hours per day (exceeding the maximum number of working hours permited by law – six hours) and more than six days per week (Nassar, 1999). Available evidence also suggests considerable hazardous work conditions leading to workplace injuries. A 1991 Greater Cairo study found that 43 percent of children had sustained a work-related injury of which two-thirds have been injured more than once (NCSCR, 1991).

In additional to potential harm inflicted on the children from hazardous conditions in which they work, children working are also at a disadvantage with regards to their education. This limits their current and future development prospects and opportunities. According to the Labour Force Sample Survey of 1998 survey, 45% of paid child workers are deprived of schooling.

Almost all child labour studies conducted in Egypt highlight family poverty and the need to supplement family income as the main reasons for children entering the work force. School-related factors also have a clear relationship to child work, which include academic failure and working as a better way than school to learn a profession. According to the Greater Cairo Study of 1991, half of employed children sought work to increase their family income and their earnings account to almost 23% of the household income. Moreover, the same survey indicated that 53% of working boys cited academic failure as one of the main reasons for working.

Despite this situation, Egyptian children enjoy significant legal protection from exploitative work. The Child Law passed in 1996 prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14, and the new Labour Law expected to come out in the near future will also link the age of employment to the age of completion of compulsory schooling (to be in-line with the ILO Minimum Age Convention No. 138). The Child Law, however, allows governors, in agreement with the Minister of Education, to permit the employment of children 12-14 years in seasonal work deemed not harmful to health or affecting school attendance, and 12-14 year-olds may also participate in vocational training. According to the law, employers are required to administer a preliminary medical check-up and annual check-ups, the child cannot work more than six hours with a maximum of four consecutive hours, and should be provided with 200 grams of milk a day. The law also regulates the types of work that those below the age of 15 cannot work in, like oven handling in bakeries, ice making factories, processes of bleaching, dyeing and printing fabric, and those under the age of 17, such as mining, melting and processing glass, car paint and tanneries. Moreover, Egypt has ratified both ILO Convention No. 138 (Minimum Age Convention), and ILO Convention No. 182 (Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour).

There are, however, shortcomings with regards to the existing legal protection. The law does not cover children’s work in domestic service and family undertakings although considerable in number. Moreover, there are clear weaknesses in the enforcement of the current law as evident from the violations mentioned earlier in this section.

III. UNICEF, Egypt Country Office’s Strategy to Deal with the Issue of Child Labour

In tackling the present situation of working children and child labour in Egypt, UNICEF in Egypt has been supporting a strategy in the urban areas of Cairo and Alexandria in partnership with NGOs, which includes both preventive and protective dimensions. Preventive measures reach out to those children that are risk of becoming working children and protective measures are targeted to those currently engaged in the workforce. Following is a synopsis of the strategy with both its dimensions.

A. Preventive Dimension

UNICEF has been supporting a community monitoring mechanism aiming at early tracking and providing support to children-at-risk, both girls and boys. The cases are identified at the community level by social workers and community leaders, who then forward the cases to a monitoring/expert committee that proposes appropriate interventions.

Most of the cases identified so far include potential school dropouts, children in families with financial difficulties, children in families with inter-familial problems, and children experiencing health problems. Assistance provided to the identified children includes education interventions such as supporting the children’s re-integration in schools, subsidizing school support classes and covering school fees, in addition to linking the families of children-at-risk with social assistance schemes/pensions supported by the government targeting vulnerable families, and referral to governmental health services. The social workers are requested to make sure that the suggested interventions are implemented, and monitor closely the cases for some time, sometimes reaching years, until the child is considered out of the ‘danger zone’.

Another preventive approach is also applied which is providing credit and training to mothers of working children and vulnerable mothers to enhance their income generating ability. The purpose of this approach is to try to increase the income of the household so as to release the pressure pushing the children to work and enable the vulnerable mothers to send their children to school.

B. Protective Dimension

Complementing the preventive measures, UNICEF has been supporting protective measures to improve the working conditions of working girls and boys (between the ages of 8 – 18) and to contribute to developing their personalities, talents and abilities. The main protective activity is a day-off weekly gathering when the working girls and boys receive a full-range of services – nutritional meals, participate in recreational and sports activities, participate in cultural and social activities, and have regular medical check-ups. As the children are not part of the formal education system, by either not enrolling at all in school or dropping-out, they are provided with alternative education through literacy classes conducted at hours convenient for the children.

Additional protective measures include training and raising the awareness of workshop owners and working children on occupational safety measures complemented by periodical meetings with workshop owners and employers, the aim of which is to monitor the conditions of work and make sure that potential harm is limited. Also, building a link with the parents through visits to the families by the NGO social workers and parental education training workshops on health, social, psychological issues is another protective activity. In many instances through this link with the families, further cases of children-at-risk are identified to be addressed by the preventive dimension presented earlier.

The above-mentioned preventive and protective dimensions have been directed to both girls and boys and are implemented in three urban areas, namely West Alexandria (Alexandria), West Helwan (Cairo) and El Nahda (Cairo) through partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In Cairo, UNICEF is collaborating with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, while in Alexandria, the intervention is managed by a supervisory committee formed from representatives of three NGOs – namely Regional Maritime Scouts Association, Sidi Ali El Sammak Association and Sidi Gaber Association – and headed by the Chief of the West Alexandria District who coordinates the different components.

IV. Epilogue

We need to be realistic when dealing with the issue of child labour and recognize that it cannot be eliminated as quickly as is aspired due mainly to its complexity and structural causes.

It is critical to deal with the supply factors of child labour mainly the economic situation of the families and the quality of the schooling system. These need large-scale policy interventions. Schools need to be more accessible and with improved quality that will be more attractive and useful for children in poor families. The children and their families need to feel that the schooling system is beneficial and functional to them by being linked more, for instance, with the needs of the labour market. Moreover, in any society there are groups that for reasons of inequity of distribution of resources, unstable economic structures and unemployment, are unable to support themselves financially and, therefore, need to be supported through social assistance schemes that will help in releasing the pressure that makes them send their children to work. In addition to dealing with the supply factors, special attention needs to be directed to the demand factors through effective enforcement of existing laws and legislation that put pressure on the employers so as not to employ child labour. In Egypt, the current legislation although is in accordance with the international conventions has been poorly put into practice particularly with regards to workplace monitoring. It is important to try to address both the demand and supply factors contributing to child labour.

Moreover, we cannot ignore that we need to remedy the situation that already exists and will continue to exist for some time. We should work on protecting those already working from potential harm and to provide them with a chance of learning through vocational training schemes and appropriate learning models in addition to providing them with the opportunity to enjoy being a ‘child’. It is important to try to trace those that could become working children and child labourers and intervene at an early stage before their situation worsens.

I would like to end with posing a couple of questions for discussion:

Who should be responsible for protecting and preventing child labour? What should be their main strategies? And how could the strategies be sustainable?
How can we best intervene with children if they are falling out of the education system before the minimum age of work? How can we use this period to give the child an opportunity to learn a skill and prepare the child for work in a skilled profession?

NATIONAL CHILD LABOUR PROJECT

2011-04-19T00:02:00.003+05:30

In pursuance of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and the National Child Labour Policy, 1987 the Ministry of Labour and Employment has been implementing the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme, which is a project based action programme. The scheme provides for setting up of project societies at the district level under the Chairmanship of the Collector/ District Magistrates for overseeing the implementation of the project which aims at withdrawing and rehabilitating children working in identified hazardous occupations and processes through special schools and finally mainstreaming them to the formal education system. Apart from providing education and vocational training these special schools provides nutritious meals, health care & monthly stipend as supplementary income.

STATUS OF SANCTIONED NCLP's IN RAJA5THAN

The state is having 29 National Child Labour Projects (NCLP) of which 6 were sanctioned in recent past and are in process of establishing. Four districts-Barmer, Sirohi, Rajsamand and Pratapgarh are the districts where projects are still to be started. 14234 Child Labour have been mainstreamed so far through NCLPs in the State.

Important component of the Project:-

Suryey: Survey is the starting point for the Child Labour project. The Project Society conducts the survey in the project area to determine to target group. The survey ordinarily provides information on the magnitude of child labour, its classification by occupation, age and its geographical distribution.

Accommodation : The scheme allows the project society to rent suitable accommodation for having the special school.

Nutrition : Children in the special school are served cooked nutritious meal on a daily basis. A provision of Rs.5/- per child per day has been made for this purpose. The Project Society can converge with other developmental programme and provide better nutrition.

Stipend : Every child in special school, has to be paid a stipend of Rs.100/- per month. The amount has to be deposit in the saving account opened in the Post Office/Bank in the name of the child. The accumulated amount can be withdrawn by the beneficiary only at the time of mainstreaming.

Health Check-up : The Project Society ensures regular health check-up of the children enrolled in special schools. The scheme provides for involvement of one doctor for every 20 special schools of 5 children each. Health Card in respect of every child is available at the school.

Educational Instructor : Every special school of 50 children involves two educational instructors and one vocational instructor. An amount of Rs.10000/- per school per year has been provided for educational and vocational material.

Vocational Training: Vocational training has been given special emphasis in the scheme. The reason is that the children enrolled are mainly in the older age group of 9-14 years and have had previous experience.

Staffing Patters : Projects society & Special Schools : The Project Society will implement all project components in the district under the Chairmanship of District Collector/Magistrate. The Project Director will have the direct responsibility for implementing the project under the overall supervision and guidance of the Chairperson. At the Project Society level the Project Director will be assisted by two field officers, one Clerks-cum-Accountant, one Steno/ Data Entry Operator and a Peon.

At the Special School Level for every special school of 50 children the scheme provides for two Educational Instructor, one Vocational Instructor, one Clerk-cum-Accountant, and one Peon/Helper. In addition to the above, the scheme also provides for one Master Trainer at the district level and one Doctor for every 20 special schools.

Child Labour

2011-04-18T23:55:00.000+05:30

ரகசிய சுவிஸ் வங்கிக் கணக்குகளை அம்பலப்படுத்துகிறது விக்கிலீக்ஸ்

2011-04-18T23:48:00.001+05:30

சுவிஸ் வங்கிகளில் முக்கியப் பிரமுகர்கள், தொழிலதிபர்கள், அரசியல் தலைவர்கள் போட்டு வைத்துள்ள பணம் குறித்த விவரங்களை விக்கிலீக்ஸ் வெளியிடப்போவதாக அதன் நிறுவனர் ஜூலியன் அசாஞ்சே தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

இதுவரை அமெரிக்க தூதரக ரகசியக் கடிதங்களை வெளியிட்டு பரபரப்பை ஏற்படுத்தி வந்த விக்கிலீக்ஸ் தற்போது சுவிஸ் வங்கிக் கணக்குகள் பக்கம் கவனத்தைத் திருப்பியுள்ளது.

முக்கியமான சுவிஸ் வங்கியான ஜூலியஸ் பேயர் வங்கியின் முன்னாள் தலைவராக இருந்தவர் ருடால்ப் எல்மர். இவர் தனது வங்கியில் கணக்கு வைத்துள்ள பல்வேறு நாட்டுப் பிரபலங்கள், அவர்களுக்கு எவ்வளவு பணம் உள்ளது என்பது குறித்த தகவல்கள் அடங்கிய சிடியை அசாஞ்சேவிடம் ஒப்படைத்துள்ளார்.

லண்டனில் நடந்த நிகழ்ச்சியில் இதைக் கொடுத்தார் எல்மர். இதைப் பெற்றுக் கொண்ட அசாஞ்சே, எல்மருக்கு நன்றி கூறினார். பின்னர் இதில் உள்ள விவரங்களைப் பரிசோதித்த பின்னர் விக்கிலீக்ஸ் இணையதளத்தில் இவை அனைத்தும் வெளியிடப்படும் என்று அவர் கூறியுள்ளார்.

இந்த சிடியில் ஆசியா உள்ளிட்ட பல்வேறு நாடுகளைச் சேர்ந்த 40 அரசியல் தலைவர்கள், தொழிலதிபர்கள், முக்கியப் பிரமுகர்கள் ஜூலியஸ் பேயர் வங்கியில் போட்டு வைத்துள்ள பணம் குறித்த விவரங்கள் அடங்கியுள்ளதாம்.

இதையடுத்து இந்த வங்கியில் ரகசியமாக பணம் போட்டு வைத்துள்ளவர்கள் பீதியடைந்துள்ளனர்.

இதற்கிடையே, வங்கி ரகசிய காப்பு உத்தரவாதத்தை மீறியதற்காக எல்மர் மீது சுவிடசர்லாந்தில் வழக்கு தொடரப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஆனால் அதை தான் பொருட்படுத்தவில்லை என்றும், வரி ஏய்ப்பு செய்வோரையும், ஊழல் செய்வோரையும் தான் அம்பலப்படுத்தும் நோக்கிலேயே இதுகுறித்த தகவல் அடங்கிய சிடிக்களை விக்கிலீக்ஸிடம் கொடுத்ததாகவும் அவர் கூறியுள்ளார். கடந்த 2002ம் ஆண்டு டிசம்பர் மாதமே எல்மர் அவரது வங்கியிலிருந்து டிஸ்மிஸ் செய்யப்பட்டு விட்டார் என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

Wikileaks@ 40 Indians black money

2011-04-18T23:45:00.000+05:30

Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, told Britain's Observer newspaper that the files contain details of about 2,000 accounts held in offshore financial centers. He says the account holders include celebrities, business leaders and lawmakers from the US, Britain and Asia. Elmer is scheduled to hold a press conference in London Monday with a representative from the secret-spilling website. The banker previously leaked documents to WikiLeaks in 2007. He has been ordered to appear before a Zurich regional court on Wednesday to answer charges of coercion and violating Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws.

The Indian politicians and Corporates honchos are shivering with the news, as per Assange(Founder of Wikileaks), there are 40 Indians placed in the list. He may release the list within a week time. The media may start speculating on names in the list, especially in AP media. These news channels may probe all political scams and corporate scandals happened since independence of India. Of course, the partial list restricted to one bank in the Switzerland; there are the several banks in Switzerland which allow to deposit the unaccounted money by providing the complete secrecy, out of these banks UBS is the biggest. If UBS officials leaks the information, the entire system will get exposed.

Swiss banks hinder black money probe

2011-04-18T23:39:00.000+05:30

Swiss banks hinder black money probe

Making it more difficult for the Indian government to crack the black money case, Swiss banks took a U-turn and asked their government to reject any "mass-requests" for account details.
Earlier, on February 15 Swiss government had announced that it would relax some norms for sharing information on secret bank accounts of overseas tax offenders by allowing varied modes of identification. Now, rolling back this decision, Swiss banks have warned the Switzerland government against signing any automatic information exchange agreement with any foreign country.

This certainly would act as a hindrance for India as the government was expecting European nation to relax its norms for sharing banking information and help in gathering details of the amount of Indian money as well as the names of Indian account holders in Swiss banks.
Swiss banks, through their apex body Swiss Bankers Association (SBA), have told their government that any system of automatic information exchange and mass-requests for banking information must be resolutely rejected to safeguard the interests of Swiss financial centre in global banking system.
The views were expressed by the banks through an SBA statement to explain their position on the Swiss government's proposed relaxations to its banking information sharing norms.
The move is expected to obstruct India and other countries in their respective black money trails.
The Indian government is facing intense pressure from Opposition, as also the courts, to act tough against those who have amassed illicit wealth in foreign countries that have strict secrecy rules, such as Switzerland.
A treaty between India and Switzerland to pave way for authorities here to seek details of illicit wealth stashed away by Indians in Swiss banks is before the Swiss Parliament.
Reacting to their government's move, the Swiss banks said that the Switzerland government should ensure that "the proposed revisions must not make any substantial difference to administrative assistance procedures in practice."
"So-called fishing expeditions and also mass-requests for information must continue to be ruled out and administrative assistance must continue to be based on justified requests," SBA statement said.
SBA also said that "positive identification of an individual must continue to be the rule" to provide assistance to countries with taxation treaties with Switzerland.
"Within the context of the OECD the interests of the Swiss financial centre must be represented in a consistent and robust manner and any attempts to introduce a system of automatic information exchange must be resolutely rejected," SBA further said.
As per the existing practice, a foreign country having an information exchange-facilitating treaty with Switzerland can get help from the Swiss government after providing name and address of the suspected tax offender, as also those of the concerned bank.
As per the revision, other means of identification, such as bank account number, should also be admissible.
Switzerland decided to relax its norms after concerns were raised over its information sharing mechanism by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which sets international standards for tax information exchange agreements between various countries.
An OECD review report found Switzerland's requirements for administrative assistance to be too restrictive and possible hindrance to an effective exchange of information.

Total black money in India

2011-04-14T23:51:00.000+05:30

Swiss bank revealed India has more money than rest of the world

This is so shocking.. ..If black money deposits was an Olympics event..
India would have won a gold medal hands down. The second best Russia has
4 times lesser deposit. U.S. is not even there in the counting in top
five! India has more money in Swiss banks
than all the other countries combined!

Recently, due to international pressure, the Swiss government agreed to
disclose the names of the account holders only if the respective
governments formally asked for it.. Indian government is not asking for
the details... ..no marks for guessing why?

We need to start a movement to pressurize the government to do so! This
is perhaps the only way, and a golden opportunity, to expose the high
and mighty and weed out corruption!
.
Please read on..and forward to all the honest Indians to..
like somebody is forwarding to you...
and build a ground-swell of support!for action !
.
Is India poor, who says? Ask the Swiss banks. With personal account
deposit bank of $1,500 billion in foreign reserve which have been
misappropriated, an amount 13 times larger than the country's foreign
debt, one needs to rethink if India is a poor country?

DISHONEST INDUSTRIALISTS, scandalous politicians and corrupt IAS, IRS,
IPS officers have deposited in foreign banks in their illegal personal
accounts a sum of about $1500 billion, which have been misappropriated
by them. This amount is about 13 times larger
than the country's foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor
people can get Rs 1,00,000 each.

This huge amount has been appropriated from the people of India by
exploiting and betraying them. Once this huge amount of black money and
property comes back to India , the entire foreign debt can be repaid in
24 hours. After paying the entire foreign debt,
we will have surplus amount, almost 12 times larger than the foreign
debt. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount
of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central
government. So even if all the taxes are abolished,
then also the Central government will be able to maintain the country
very comfortably.

Some 80,000 people travel to Switzerland every year, of whom 25,000
travel very frequently. 'Obviously, these people won't be tourists..
They must be travelling there for some other reason,' believes an
official involved in tracking illegal money.. And, clearly,
he isn't referring to the commerce ministry bureaucrats who've
been flitting in and out of Geneva ever since the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) negotiations went into a tailspin!

Just read the following details and note how these dishonest
industrialists, scandalous politicians, corrupt officers, cricketers,
film actors, illegal trade and protected wildlife operators, to name
just a few, sucked this country's wealth and prosperity.
This may be the picture of deposits in Swiss banks only. What about
other international banks ?

Black money in Swiss banks - Swiss Banking Association report, 2006
details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of
following countries :

TOP FIVE

INDIA $1,456 BILLION

RUSSIA $470 BILLION

U.K. $390 BILLION

UKRAINE $100 BILLION

CHINA $96 BILLION

Now do the math's - India with $1,456 billion or $1.4 trillion has
more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot
since 1947:

Can we bring back our money ? It is one of the biggest loots witnessed
by mankind - the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common man) since 1947, by his
brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by
politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen.

The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots
with impunity and without any fear. What is even more depressing in that
this ill-gotten wealth of ours has been stashed away abroad into secret
bank accounts located in some of the world's
best known tax havens. And to that extent the Indian economy has been
stripped of its wealth. Ordinary Indians may not be exactly aware of how
such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and regulations that
go on to govern such tax havens. However,
one may well be aware of 'Swiss bank accounts,' the shorthand for
murky dealings, secrecy and of course pilferage from developing
countries into rich developed ones.

In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a
conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing
the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western
world explicitly encourages the movement of
scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich. In March
2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding
demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore
by rich individuals across the globe.

The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was
managed from some 70 tax havens. Further, augmenting these studies of
TJN, Raymond Baker - in his widely celebrated book titled
'Capitalism' s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the
Free Market System' - estimates that at least $5 trillion have
been shifted out of poorer countries to the West since the mid-1970.

It is further estimated by experts that one per cent of the world's
population holds more than 57 per cent of total global wealth, routing
it invariably through these tax havens.

How much of this is from India is anybody's guess ...????
if India is doing like this the annual tern over will be less and our market will have to close down (BSE\NSE)

we have to trace out the black money when the polities have kept ? where there they use ? but they don't have correct tax details . all are illegal only

Note: There are comments associated with this question. See the discussion page to add to the conversation.

Bollywood Actress Priyanka Chopra becomes UNICEF National Ambassador New Delhi, India,

2011-04-13T18:15:00.000+05:30

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2011-04-13T18:13:00.001+05:30

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2011-04-13T18:12:00.001+05:30

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2011-04-13T18:11:00.001+05:30