When it comes to building a sports-loving atmosphere at home, always teach your children how to strike the right balance between sports and academics. | SOURCE: Tata Tea
Alarm Bajne Se Pehle, Jaago Re
An unprecedented number of people have come forward to request the HRD Ministry to make sports education and gender sensitisation compulsory subjects in schools across the country. Here’s what happens next.
Why do we wait for things to go wrong? Why can’t we wake up and act much before fundamental issues such as sexual assault and failing sportsmanship become news headlines? To drive home these points, Tata Tea came up with a new version of its #JaagoRe campaign this year, which urged citizens to inculcate a sense of ‘pre-activism’— or the habit of taking timely action before any unfortunate incident occurs. In other words, ‘Alarm Bajne Se Pehle Jaago Re’.
The initiative also aimed at encouraging viewers to petition the relevant authorities to drive change on ground. Supporting the movement, nearly 1.8 million people came forward with the request to make sports education and gender sensitisation compulsory subjects in schools across the country. On February 8, Tata Tea submitted these petitions to the HRD Ministry. After all, if we have to make our society safer for women, it is important that we change mindsets and eliminate all kinds of bias. If we want to build a culture of sports in the country, it is imperative that we motivate and enable young athletes to pursue their passion.
Mr. Puneet Das, Marketing Head, Tata Global Beverages presenting petitions to Shri Prakash Javadekar, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. | SOURCE: Tata Tea
Change begins at home
Former American president Barack Obama once said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
You may have done your bit to support the #JaagoRe initiative, but have you been pre-acting by practicing gender sensitisation at home? Or, encouraging your child or relative to take up a career in sports? If you haven’t, here are a few ways you can start:
To begin with, never discriminate between your daughter and son when it comes to educating them or providing resources. Further, never let the girls or the women in your life hold back on their aspirations. Always stand up against sexual harassment: if you get to know of any such instance in your family, immediately raise your voice against it.
Shri Prakash Javadekar, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, speaks on the necessity of gender sensitisation. | SOURCE: Tata Tea
When it comes to building a sports-loving atmosphere at home, always teach your children how to strike the right balance between sports and academics. If your child loves playing a game, it shouldn’t be such that they feel compelled to quit it because of pressure from home. Allow them to participate in as many activities as they want, and never label academics as a more rewarding career option than sports. It is also important that your child develops an appreciation for all kinds of games, and can look up to athletes as role models. Only then will we be able to cultivate a positive environment for the development of all kinds of sports.
Every time our country fares poorly in a game, or a woman gets sexually assaulted, we feel angry. A lot of us also feel helpless thinking that such issues are too big for an individual to tackle. Jaago Re's purpose is to make citizen involvement in these cases far easier and more practical—by inspiring a whole generation of pre-activists to take up the mantle and drive real change in an organised and impactful way.
Keep the conversation going at www.jaagore.com.
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