Daily Times

November 20, is Universal Children’s Day. This day is specifically held to celebrate children. Ha! What a joke? Since there were no celebrations of any kind held on this day in Lahore. Not any that I know of. Can you imagine that on a day specifically designated to celebrating children, there was no mention of this day. None! Zilch! Of course around the world much was done to applaud children on this day but in Lahore, it was just another regular Tuesday.

I don’t think many people even know about this day, so allow me to start with a bit of a history lesson. The Universal Children’s Day was first celebrated by the United Kingdom in 1954. This day was established to encourage all countries to decide on a day to promote understanding among children across the world. To those who care about children, this day holds a lot of importance since it was on 20th November, 1959, that the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

Let’s see what happened on Tuesday. Well basically, nothing. Children dressed up in uniform and went to school. They came back and did their homework. That’s about it. No one wished us! Nobody congratulated us! No one was even bothered about the 20th of November being a day of any importance at all for us children.

In a country where Valentine’s Day is without exaggeration celebrated for at least one month, and where Mother’s Day and Father’s Day have become entire productions, the fact that Universal Children’s Day is ignored so blatantly speaks of our priorities

In a country where Valentine’s Day is without exaggeration celebrated for at least one month, and where Mother’s Day and Father’s Day have become entire productions, the fact that Universal Children’s Day is ignored so blatantly speaks of our priorities. We are more than happy to drop thousands on Valentine’s Day, and to buy flowers and gifts for parents and even teachers on days celebrating them. Disclaimer: I love Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Teacher’s Day.

But how is it fair to have the Universal Children’s Day ignored so blatantly? Why did not any school plan on holding an event to honour children of special abilities? Why did no college conduct an exhibition of the talents of children on this important day? Why did the government which is eager to hold events for every kind of Day, not deem children important enough to celebrate?

This omission makes me mad! It enrages me that this is the importance our country, our society and our people are giving our children! It also saddens me! If this is our significance to our country, it is indeed a sad to be a child in Pakistan.

7-years-old Aahil Saleem Nasir is Pakistan’s first and only kid bloggers and blogs at www.aahilkeyaan.com. He is a champion swimmer, and is obsessed with horse riding, playing dress-up and winning football matches

Published in Daily Times, November 25^th 2018.