Three hundred schoolchildren, each representing a parliamentary constituency of the country, placed their demands in a face-to-face meeting with the members of parliament on Thursday.
The event, titled the National Session of Generation Parliament, was jointly organized by the UNICEF and Bangladesh Debate Federation on the National Parliament premises, said a press release.
In this first-of-its-kind event of the country, the children among themselves discussed issues of child marriage, child labor, health, education, climate change, violence against children, road safety, psychological wellbeing of children and budgetary allocation for children by the government, etc.
Later, the child parliamentarians also presented their findings before the deputy speaker of the national parliament in a mock parliamentary session.
The deputy speaker and chief advisor of the parliamentary caucus on child rights, Fazle Rabbi Miah MP, as the chief guest and the same caucus president, Shamsul Haque Tuku MP, as a special guest attended the event.
Maurizio Cian, head of cooperation of the European Union, and Veera Mendonca, (officer-in-charge) representative of UNICEF Bangladesh, were also present.
Generation Parliament aims to help children articulate and voice their demands and concerns. It builds a bridge between children and policymakers through online platforms as well as through face-to-face interaction twice a year.
> Puza Sarker Snigdha
