The council of children is primarily to highlight the right of the children to express, be heard and participate as today’s citizen. This helps children to remain safe, protected, advance and learn in any atmosphere, however difficult it could be, as one can imagine. So, SPAN insist children to form their group, which they cherish, be it in school or in community.
18 children councils are active in the districts of South 24 Parganas, Purulia, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar and in urban slums of North 24 Parganas District of West Bengal. The member of Children councils are capacitated on child rights, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), democracy and Indian constitution. They track out-of -school children, practice on minimizing pollution, formulate their opinion on child labour, school education, child marriage, environment polution, etc. They also participated in the Gram sabha meeting through Shishu Sansad.
SPAN ensures all children to be informed adequately so that they could recognise what is good for them and their friend and what is not! Alongside the children are pursued about their academic performances. The platform also keeps an watchful eye on very member so that they stay safe and secured.
Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as “every human being below the age of eighteen years”. The Convention transforms children from passive object to active agents of rights. It demands that their views be considered and given due importance. Adhering the same SPAN thus ensure the platform for children to learn, speak and to be heard, which enables them to participate in the governance, provide them an opportunity to become the proponents of their own rights, and make responsible citizens motivated to uphold their rights to survive, develop and be protected.