The Classroom - The right to free education. Rights of the Child

Congratulations to Sonu Thakur from West Bengal - India, whose video "The Classroom" has been named the winner of UNICEF's CRC 20th Anniversary one-minute video contest.

The Classroom was chosen for best expressing an issue that promotes every childs right to know more, say more and do more about the world they live in. Judges noted the video as inspiring and touching, created with a specific, well-expressed theme.

Eleven year old Sonu Thakur's winning video will be featured during UNICEF's celebration on the 20th Anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of Child, which will take place in New York on 20 November 2009. It will also be made available for broadcast by UNICEF for the 2010 'The International Childrens Day of Broadcasting'.

The theme of the film, 'every childs right to education', was what actually impressed UNICEF. As UNICEF writes to Sonu, "The judges were incredibly impressed with the expression of the theme of the rights of the child, the technical qualities of the video, and your overall creativity."

It is a great time for little Sonu. Sonu is a slum dweller of Eastern Bypass area and studies in the informal school of the Adivasi Kalyan Sangh. He was a part of the UNICEF workshop held in Kolkata with prominent broadcast journalists as resource persons. It was then that for the first time he could ever hold a camera. Exhilarated, Sonu says, "We were asked to tell our tale and then do a video of it. My mother always wanted to go to school but she could not. So, I told this story of every childs right to study".

Sonu lost his father when he was very young. It was at the behest of his mother that he continues to go to school despite hardships in the family. He wants to grow up as a film-maker and story-teller. Sonu learned the nuances of the camera in the three-day workshop by children held by the UNICEF Kolkata office. From the storyboard to rolling the camera to writing the script, children got to learn all during the workshop held in the month of August 2009.

Along with Sonu, two other boys with similar situations, Chhatu Kumars film 'Self help' and Rahool Goswamis film 'A Story' had also been shortlisted for the contest amongst the twelve semi-finalists from across the world.

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Category:

Education

Tags:

• education
• child
• rights
• girl
• convention
• declaration
• free