ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE ON DEMOCRACY AMONG CHILDREN USING SOCIAL GROUP WORK METHOD THROUGH CHILDREN PARLIAMENT

The study is to enhance knowledge on democracy among children using social group work method through children parliament approach. This study intervenes among children to attain their basic rights and make recommendations to adopt the model. The main reason for the study is, India has been stated as flawed democracy by the global democratic Index, flawed democracy is a state where the country has issues like significant fault in democratic aspects, including underdeveloped political culture, low level of participation in politics and issues in functioning of governance. Children are going to be the future citizen, so the children need to understand the power relations and the leadership for their bright future. Multidimensional growth is needed for a child, which enables a good citizen. India is a democratic country where people can participate in decision making. In present scenario children are deprived from their basic rights. Children parliament is a model where political roles can be practiced and played by the children. Using quasi-experimental study, research was conducted with 40 children. Base line data and end line data was collected to examine the knowledge on democracy before and after the intervention. The result shows that knowledge on democracy has been imparted to the children through children parliament. Hence, children parliament is one of the effective methods for children’s integral growth and helps them to attain leadership skills and serves as a platform to practice the same.