Page 96 - Up_and_Aware_Class_7

UP AND AWARE - 7

Paired Exercise (on page 9):
Discuss answers given by learners.

Children learn about and understand their rights and the rights of others through introspection. This, in
turn, promotes empathy and helps them to see others’ points of view. When we help children think about
and speak up for what they need and exercise their right to an opinion, we promote democracy. When
children learn about what other children might be feeling or thinking, they begin to think of the world
as larger than and beyond themselves. Children who experience this, acquire the ability to be sensitive to
others’ needs. This leads them to the eventual ability to take another person’s perspective. Viewing others
with empathy helps children recognise that each of us has the right to be safe, learn, play, and make
friends. This helps them make respectful behavioural choices.

The next exercise will help learners establish, determine, respect and practise their own and others’ rights,
in and out of the classroom.

Explain the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“…The UN Convention consists of 41 articles, each of which details a different type of right. These rights are
not ranked in order of importance; instead they interact with one another to form one integrated set of rights.
A common approach is to group these articles together under the following themes:
Survival rights: include the child’s right to life and the needs that are most basic to existence, such as nutrition,
shelter, an adequate living standard, and access to medical services.
Development rights: include the right to education, play, leisure, cultural activities, access to information, and
freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Protection rights: ensure children are safeguarded against all forms of abuse, neglect and exploitation, including
special care for refugee children; safeguards for children in the criminal justice system; protection for children
in employment; protection and rehabilitation for children who have suffered exploitation or abuse of any kind.

Participation rights: encompass children’s freedom to express opinions, to have a say in matters affecting their
own lives, to join associations and to assemble peacefully. As their capacities develop, children should have
increasing opportunity to participate in the activities of society, in preparation for adulthood.

The UN Convention includes four articles that are given special emphasis. These are also known as ‘general
principles’. These rights are the bedrock for securing the additional rights in the UN Convention.
- that all the rights guaranteed by the UNCRC must be available to all children without discrimination of
any kind (Article 2);

- that the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children
(Article 3);

- that every child has the right to life, survival and development (Article 6); and
- that the child’s view must be considered and taken into account in all matters affecting him or her
(Article 12).

Exercise and Discuss (on page 12):
This exercise should lead to establishing ‘rights’ for all learners in the classroom.
Ask learners to share their list. Write down all those rights that learners unanimously agree upon. The
next step is to take them through establishing ground rules so that everyone observes the commonly

commitment
du
li
a
i
d
n
iv
t
e
c
t
p
y
re
s
l
y
t
t
e
s
trust
tr
i
u
a
q
u
o
ed
n
d
96 honesty open-minded i individuality trust integrity respect com m i t m e n t tr u s t equality open-minded com m i t m e n t
e
p
i
n-m
n
o
h
e
t
s
y
r
i
y
t
g
n
i
te
n-m
i
e
p
o
n
d
ed
commitment
re
respect
s
t
n
y
t
i
g
r
te
individuality integrityintegrity com p e i c m e n t e q u a l i t y honesty equality i individuality i integrity honesty i individuality i integrity re s p e c t
y
respect
t
n
i
g
r
te
equality
a
l
i
e
q
u
y
t
t
iv
li
y
du
i
a
e
n
s
y
t
n
d
o
h
iv
i
d
individuality
n
t
y
li
du
a
t
t
m
y
commitment
o
h
n
s
e