HUNGER AND POVERTY

Hunger concepts and definitions

Hunger defines a short-term physical discomfort as a result of chronic food shortage, or in severe
cases, a life-threatening lack of food. (National Research Council, 2006)

World hunger refers to hunger aggregated to the global level. Related terms include food insecurity
and malnutrition. Food insecurity refers to limited or unreliable access to foods that are safe and
nutritionally adequate (National Research Council, 2006). Malnutrition is a condition resulting from
insufficient intake of biologically necessary nutrients (National Research Council, 2006). Although
malnutrition includes both overnutrition and undernutrition, the focus for global hunger is
undernutrition.

There are two basic types of malnutrition/undernutrition. The first and most important is protein-
energy malnutrition (PEM), or a lack of calories and protein. Food is converted into energy by humans,
and the energy contained in food is measured by calories. Protein is necessary for key body functions,
including the development and maintenance of muscles. Protein-energy malnutrition is the more
lethal form of malnutrition/hunger and is the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world
hunger is discussed. This leads to growth failure. Principal types of growth failure are:

Based on physical measurements, like weight, malnutrition can be broken down into moderate acute
malnutrition (MAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM), with SAM being worse (Black et al., 2016).

There are two types of acute malnutrition. Wasting (also called marasmus) is having a very low weight
for a person’s height. Nutritional edema (also called kwashiorkor) is swollen feet, face or limbs
(UNICEF, 2015). See visual illustrations here.

Stunting is being too short for a person’s age. It is a slow, cumulative process and develops over a long
period as a result of inadequate nutrition or repeated infections, or both. Stunted children may have
normal body proportions but look younger than their actual age.

Approximately 896 million people in developing countries live on $1.90 a day or less. Between 1990
and 2008, efforts to impact this issue were successful, and the number of people living in poverty
decreased by nearly half, from 48 to 26 percent. But according to the latest United Nations reports
food prices are back on the rise, causing an increase in global poverty for the first time in nearly two
decades.

Poverty, food prices and hunger are inextricably linked. Poverty causes hunger. Not every poor person
is hungry, but almost all hungry people are poor. Millions live with hunger and malnourishment
because they simply cannot afford to buy enough food, cannot afford nutritious foods or cannot afford
the farming supplies they need to grow enough good food of their own. Hunger can be viewed as a
dimension of extreme poverty. It is often called the most severe and critical manifestation of poverty.

Rural households are the most heavily burdened by the consequences of poverty and hunger. In
addition to causing hunger, poverty limits a rural community’s ability to invest in its own development.
Over 30 percent of rural girls living in poverty are kept out of school to save money, opposed to the
15 percent of urban girls not in school. Studies have shown that lack of general education leads to
higher adolescent birth rates; births that in turn over-burden an already economically strained
community, perpetuating a cycle of gender inequality, poverty and hunger.

Recognizing the urgency of this issue, world leaders have made poverty a top priority as a part of
Millennium Development Goal 1.

Today there are 821 million people who are chronically undernourished. This is more than the 795
million in 2014, although still down from about 900 million in 2000. For more information on the rising
rate of global undernutrition, see our response to the 2018 State of Food Security and Nutrition
Report.

– 98% of the world’s undernourished people live in developing countries.

Where is hunger the worst?

– Asia: 515.1 million

– Sub-Saharan Africa: 236.5 million

– Latin America: 32.3 million

Progress in reducing the number of hungry people
The vast majority of hungry people live in lower-middle-income regions, which saw a 42 percent
reduction in the prevalence of undernourished people between 1990–92 and 2012–14. Despite this
progress, in 2016, the global prevalence of undernourishment has been rising (Food and Agricultural
Organization [FAO] et al., 2017). Africa has the highest prevalence of undernourishment, but as the
most populous region in the world, Asia has the highest number of undernourished people (FAO et
al., 2017). Prevalence is the proportion of a population affected by a disease or showing a certain
characteristic (expressed as a percentage), and number is simply the count of people in the population
with a disease or showing a certain characteristic.

There has been the least progress in the sub-Saharan region, where about 23 percent of people remain
undernourished – the highest prevalence of any region in the world. Nevertheless, the prevalence of
undernourishment in sub-Saharan Africa has declined from 33.2 percent in 1990– 92 to 23.2 percent
in 2014–16, although the number of undernourished people has actually increased (FAO et al., 2017).

In Southern Asia, which includes the countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the prevalence of
undernourishment is rising again, increasing from 9.4 percent in 2015 to 11.5 percent in 2016 (FAO et
al., 2017). Eastern Asia (where China is the largest country) and South-eastern Asia (including
Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam) have reduced undernutrition substantially.

Latin America has the most successful developing region record in increasing food security; however,
the prevalence of undernutrition has been rising again, especially in South America, from 5 percent in
2015 to 5.6 percent in 2016 (FAO et al., 2017).
2015 marked the end of the monitoring period for the two internationally agreed targets for hunger
reduction. The target for the Millennium Development Goals for lower-middle-income countries as a
whole was to halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015 from the base year(s) of 1990-2, or from
23.2 percent to ll.6 percent. As the proportion in 2014-16 is 12.9 percent, the goal has almost been
met. Following the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals aim to end all
forms of malnutrition by 2030

World Food Summit target. The target set at the 1996 World Food Summit was to halve the number
of undernourished people by 2015 from their number in 1990-92. Since 1990–92, the number of
hungry people in lower-middle-income regions has fallen by over 200 million, from 991 million to
790.7 million. However, the goal is 495 million (half of 991 million), which means that the target was
not reached.

Children and hunger

Children are the most visible victims of undernutrition. It is estimated that undernutrition—including
stunting, wasting, deficiencies of vitamin A and zinc, and fetal growth restriction (when a baby does
not grow to its normal weight before birth)—is a cause of 3·1 million child deaths annually or 45
percent of all child deaths in 2011 (UNICEF, World Health Organization [WHO], & The World Bank,
2018). Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and malaria. The
estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for
diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005).
Undernutrition can also be caused by diseases, such as those that cause diarrhea, by reducing the
body’s ability to convert food into usable nutrients.

Stunting
Globally 150 million under-five-year olds were estimated to be stunted in 2017. (UNICEF, WHO, & The
World Bank, 2018).

The global trend in stunting prevalence and numbers affected is decreasing. Between 2000 and 2017
stunting prevalence declined from 33 percent to 22 percent and numbers declined from 198 million
to 150 million (UNICEF, WHO, & The World Bank, 2018).
In 2017, about half of all stunted children under five years of age lived in Asia and over one-third in
Africa (UNICEF, WHO, & The World Bank, 2018).

Wasting and severe wasting

Globally, 50.5 million under-five-year olds were wasted (or low weight for height) in 2017 (UNICEF,
WHO, & The World Bank, 2018).

Globally, wasting prevalence in 2017 was estimated at almost 8 percent (UNICEF, WHO, & The World
Bank, 2018).

Approximately two-thirds of all wasted children under five years old lived in Asia and over one-quarter
in Africa, with similar proportions for severely wasted children (UNICEF, WHO, & The World Bank,
2018).

Micronutrients
Quite a few trace elements or micronutrients—vitamins and minerals—are important for health.
Three very important micronutrient deficiencies in terms of health consequences for people in lower-
middle-income countries are:

Iron

In many lower-middle-income countries, iron deficiency anemia is aggravated by worm infections,

malaria and other infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis.

The major health consequences include poor pregnancy outcome, impaired physical and cognitive
development, increased risk of morbidity (illness) in children and reduced work productivity in adults.
Anemia contributes to 20 percent of all maternal deaths .

Vitamin A

Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness and reduce the body’s resistance to disease. In children,
vitamin A deficiency can also impair growth.

An estimated 250 million preschool children are vitamin A deficient. An estimated 250,000 to 500,000
vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing
their sight .

Iodine

Iodine deficiency is one of the main cause of impaired cognitive development in children, especially in
iodine-deficient areas of Africa and Asia. About 38 million babies are born with iodine deficiency .

Iodine deficiency has a simple solution: iodized salt. Thanks to this intervention, the number of
countries where iodine deficiency is a public health problem has been halved over the past decade.
However, 54 countries still have a serious iodine deficiency problem. (WHO)

Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?

The world produces enough food to feed everyone. For the world as a whole, per capita caloric
availability and food diversity (the variety of food groups in a diet) have increased between the 1960s
and 2011 . This growth in food availability, along with improved access to food, helped reduce the
percentage of chronically undernourished people in lower-middle-income countries from about 30
percent in the 1990-92 to about 13 percent two decades later . A principal problem is that many
people in the world still do not have sufficient income to purchase (or land to grow) enough food or
access nutritious food. This is an element of “food security”. The FAO defines four dimensions of food
security, all of which must be fulfilled simultaneously, for food security to exist. The four dimensions
are: 1) physical availability of food, 2) economic and physical access to food, 3) food utilization, and 4)
the stability of those other dimensions over time.

What are the causes of hunger?

Poverty is the principal cause of hunger. The causes of poverty include lack of resources, unequal
income distribution in the world and within specific countries, conflict and hunger itself. As of 2013,
when the most recent comprehensive data on global poverty was collected, about 767 million people
are living below the international poverty line of less than $1.90 per person per day (The World Bank,
2016). This was a decrease of about 1 billion people below the poverty line from 1990 (The World
Bank, 2016). However, although the number of people living in extreme poverty globally has been
declining, in lower-middle-income regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, the number is actually growing

Hunger is also a cause of poverty, and thus of hunger, in a cyclical relationship. By causing poor health,
small body size, low levels of energy and reductions in mental functioning, hunger can lead to even
greater poverty by reducing people’s ability to work and learn, thus leading to even greater hunger.
See Victoria et al. 2008.

Conflict.

More than half (489 million) of the 815 million hungry people in the world live in countries affected
by conflict

. Ranging from non-state and state-based violence to one-sided violence, some of the conflicts that
result in internal or international displacement have occurred in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, among many other countries throughout the world.
In addition, most of the 19 countries listed by FAO as countries in complex, prolonged conflict are
located in Africa.

In 2016, the average prevalence of undernourishment in countries undergoing conflict was about four
percentage points greater than the prevalence in non-conflict countries. About 75 percent of children
in the world who are stunted live in conflict areas

Conflict in rural areas interferes with food and agriculture production, when transportation or market
infrastructure are affected, land is seized or resources are destroyed, or the violence forces
displacement from home .In addition to impacting food systems, conflict can also impact the
economy, driving up food prices and making it difficult to buy necessary foods. In areas of severe
violence, it may be difficult to deliver humanitarian assistance to address undernutrition

Political instability. In countries facing political instability, the resulting decline of the economy
reduces the value of the country’s currency, leading to higher food prices and less nutritious food
available for purchase The loss of jobs in a declining economy also impacts people’s ability to afford
food, as income declines as well Countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Yemen
and Venezuela are examples of countries in which political instability is currently affecting food
security

Food and agricultural policy. A lack of adoption of more productive technologies for agriculture in
lower-middle-income countries contributes to large differences in amount of crops produced when
compared with upper income countries. Within regions, the gap between potential crop yield and
actual crop yield can be as large as 76 percent, as seen in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Also, past agricultural practices implemented to increase crop yield have unintended consequences in
the form of land and soil degradation, and using up or polluting the available groundwater. This then
affects future capacity for food production, as these resources have been permanently depleted.
However, more countries are beginning to adopt “conservation agriculture,” where various strategies
are used to prevent the rapid depletion of scarce natural resources.

Climate change. Throughout the previous 30 years, natural disasters have become increasingly
common . Unstable weather patterns can lead to drought – in 2016, El Niño was responsible for
conditions of severe food insecurity for 20 million people. On the other extreme, hurricane and
cyclone seasons have produced more powerful storms, causing damage to livelihoods, agricultural
production and local market prices, in countries in the Caribbean and Asia . In agricultural-driven
areas, especially in parts of Africa (Somalia, southeastern Ethiopia, and countries in West Africa),
drought has driven economic, food production and political stability crises. For countries facing
prolonged conditions or yearly disasters, undernutrition worsens, as there is little time for recovery .

The ecological impacts of climate change can affect the emergence or re-emergence of diseases on a
larger scale, especially those with vectors (like mosquitoes and fleas) that thrive in warm humid
environments . Disease caused by these vectors can prolong the cycle of malnutrition .
 BULLYING
Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate or aggressively dominate others.
The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully
or by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power, which distinguishes bullying from conflict.
Behaviors used to assert such domination can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault or
coercion, and such acts may be directed repeatedly towards particular targets. Rationalizations of such
behavior sometimes include differences of social class, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation,
appearance, behavior, body language, personality, reputation, lineage, strength, size or ability. If
bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing.

Bullying can be defined in many different ways. The United Kingdom has no legal definition of bullying,
while some states in the United States have laws against it. Bullying is divided into four basic types of
abuse – emotional (sometimes called relational), verbal, physical, and cyber. It typically involves subtle
methods of coercion, such as intimidation.

Bullying ranges from one-on-one, individual bullying through to group bullying called mobbing, in
which the bully may have one or more "lieutenants" who may seem to be willing to assist the primary
bully in his or her bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer
abuse. Robert W. Fuller has analyzed bullying in the context of rankism.

A bullying culture can develop in any context in which humans interact with each other. This includes
school, family, the workplace, home, and neighborhoods. The main platform for bullying is on social
media websites. In a 2012 study of male adolescent American football players, "the strongest
predictor [of bullying] was the perception of whether the most influential male in a player's life would
approve of the bullying behavior".
TYPES OF BULLYING

Individual bullying can be classified into four types. Collective bullying is known as mobbing, and can
include any of the individual types of bullying.

Physical, verbal, and relational bullying are most prevalent in primary school and could also begin
much earlier whilst continuing into later stages in individuals lives. It is stated that Cyber-bullying is
more common in secondary school than in primary school.

Individual

Individual bullying tactics can be perpetrated by a single person against a target or targets.

Physical

This is any bullying that hurts someone’s body or damages their possessions. Stealing, shoving, hitting,
fighting, and destroying property all are types of physical bullying. Physical bullying is rarely the first
form of bullying that a target will experience. Often bullying will begin in a different form and later
progress to physical violence. In physical bullying the main weapon the bully uses is their body when
attacking their target. Sometimes groups of young adults will target and alienate a peer because of
some adolescent prejudice. This can quickly lead to a situation where they are being taunted, tortured,
and beaten-up by their classmates. Physical bullying will often escalate over time, and can lead to a
tragic ending, and therefore must be stopped quickly to prevent any further escalation.

Verbal

This is any bullying that is conducted by speaking. Calling names, spreading rumors, threatening
somebody, and making fun of others are all forms of verbal bullying. Verbal bullying is one of the most
common types of bullying. In verbal bullying the main weapon the bully uses is their voice. In many
cases, verbal bullying is the province of girls. Girls are more subtle (and can be more devastating), in
general, than boys. Girls use verbal bullying, as well as social exclusion techniques, to dominate and
control other individuals and show their superiority and power. However, there are also many boys
with subtlety enough to use verbal techniques for domination, and who are practiced in using words
when they want to avoid the trouble that can come with physically bullying someone else.

Relational

This is any bullying that is done with the intent to hurt somebody’s reputation or social standing which
can also link in with the techniques included in physical and verbal bullying. Relational Bullying is a
form of bullying common amongst youth, but particularly upon girls. Relational bullying can be used
as a tool by bullies to both improve their social standing and control others. Unlike physical bullying
which is obvious, relational bullying is not overt and can continue for a long time without being
noticed.
Cyber-bullying

Cyber bullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. When
an adult is involved, it may meet the definition of cyber-harassment or cyberstalking, a crime that can
have legal consequences and involve jail time. This includes email, instant messaging, social
networking sites (such as Facebook), text messages, and cell phones.

Collective

Collective bullying tactics are employed by more than one individual against a target or targets.
Trolling behavior on social media, although generally assumed to be individual in nature by the casual
reader, is sometime organized efforts by sponsored astroturfers.

Mobbing

Mobbing refers to the bullying of an individual by a group, in any context, such as a family, peer group,
school, workplace, neighborhood, community, or online. When it occurs as emotional abuse in the
workplace, such as "ganging up" by co-workers, subordinates or superiors, to force someone out of
the workplace through rumor, innuendo, intimidation, humiliation, discrediting, and isolation, it is also
referred to as malicious, nonsexual, nonracial / racial, general harassment.

CHARACTERISTICS
Of bullies and accomplices

Studies have shown that envy and resentment may be motives for bullying. Research on the self-
esteem of bullies has produced equivocal results. While some bullies are arrogant and narcissistic,
they can also use bullying as a tool to conceal shame or anxiety or to boost self-esteem: by demeaning
others, the abuser feels empowered. Bullies may bully out of jealousy or because they themselves are
bullied. Psychologist Roy Baumeister asserts that people who are prone to abusive behavior tend to
have inflated but fragile egos. Because they think too highly of themselves, they are frequently
offended by the criticisms and lack of deference of other people, and react to this disrespect with
violence and insults.

Researchers have identified other risk factors such as depressionand personality disorders, as well as
quickness to anger and use of force, addiction to aggressive behaviors, mistaking others' actions as
hostile, concern with preserving self-image, and engaging in obsessive or rigid actions. A combination
of these factors may also be causes of this behavior. In one study of youth, a combination of antisocial
traits and depression was found to be the best predictor of youth violence, whereas video game
violence and television violence exposure were not predictive of these behaviors.

Bullying may also result from a genetic predisposition or a brain abnormality in the bully. While
parents can help a toddler develop emotional regulation and control to restrict aggressive behavior,
some children fail to develop these skills due to insecure attachment with their families, ineffective
discipline, and environmental factors such as a stressful home life and hostile siblings.] Moreover,
according to some researchers, bullies may be inclined toward negativity and perform poorly
academically. Dr. Cook says that "a typical bully has trouble resolving problems with others and also
has trouble academically. He or she usually has negative attitudes and beliefs about others, feels
negatively toward himself/herself, comes from a family environment characterized by conflict and
poor parenting, perceives school as negative and is negatively influenced by peers".

Contrarily, some researchers have suggested that some bullies are psychologically strongest and have
high social standing among their peers, while their targets are emotionally distressed and socially
marginalized. Peer groups often promote the bully's actions, and members of these peer groups also
engage in behaviors, such as mocking, excluding, punching, and insulting one another as a source of
entertainment. Other researchers also argued that a minority of the bullies, those who are not in-turn
bullied, enjoy going to school, and are least likely to take days off sick.

Research indicates that adults who bully have authoritarian personalities, combined with a strong
need to control or dominate. It has also been suggested that a prejudicial view of subordinates can be
a particularly strong risk factor.

Of typical bystanders

Often, bullying takes place in the presence of a large group of relatively uninvolved bystanders. In
many cases, it is the bully's ability to create the illusion that he or she has the support of the majority
present that instills the fear of "speaking out" in protestation of the bullying activities being observed
by the group. Unless the "bully mentality" is effectively challenged in any given group in its early
stages, it often becomes an accepted, or supported, norm within the group.

Unless action is taken, a "culture of bullying" is often perpetuated within a group for months, years,
or longer.

Bystanders who have been able to establish their own "friendship group" or "support group" have
been found to be far more likely to opt to speak out against bullying behavior than those who have
not.

In addition to communication of clear expectations that bystanders should intervene and increasing
individual self-efficacy, there is growing research that suggests interventions should build on the
foundation that bullying is morally wrong.

Among adults, being a bystander to workplace bullying was linked to depression, particularly in
women.

Of victims

Dr. Cook says that "A typical victim is likely to be aggressive, lack social skills, think negative thoughts,
experience difficulties in solving social problems, come from a negative family, school and community
environments and be noticeably rejected and isolated by peers". Victims often have characteristics
such as being physically weak, as well as being easily distraught emotionally. They may also have
physical characteristics that make them easier targets for bullies such as being overweight or having
some type of physical deformity. Boys are more likely to be victims of physical bullying while girls are
more likely to be bullied indirectly.

The results of a meta-analysis conducted by Cook and published by the American Psychological
Association in 2010 concluded the main risk factors for children and adolescents being bullied, and
also for becoming bullies, are the lack of social problem-solving skills.

Children who are bullied often show physical or emotional signs, such as: being afraid to attend school,
complaining of headaches or a loss of appetite, a lack of interest in school activities and spending time
with friends or family, and having an overall sense of sadness.

EFFECTS
Mona O'Moore of the Anti-Bullying Centre at Trinity College in Dublin, has written, "There is a
growing body of research which indicates that individuals, whether child or adult, who are
persistently subjected to abusive behavior are at risk of stress related illness which can sometimes
lead to suicide". Those who have been the targets of bullying can suffer from long term emotional
and behavioral problems. Bullying can cause loneliness, depression, anxiety, lead to low self-esteem
and increased susceptibility to illness. Bullying has also been shown to cause maladjustment in
young children, and targets of bullying who were also bullies themselves exhibit even greater social
difficulties.A mental health report also found that bullying was linked to eating disorders, anxiety,
body dysmorphia and other negative psychological effects.

Suicide

Even though there is evidence that bullying increases the risk of suicide, bullying alone does not
cause suicide. Depression is one of the main reasons why kids who are bullied die by suicide. It is
estimated that between 15 and 25 children die by suicide every year in the UK alone because they
are being bullied. Certain groups seem to incur a higher risk for suicide, such as Native Americans,
Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans, and LGBT people. When someone feels unsupported by his or her
family or friends, it can make the situation much worse for the victim.

In a self-report study completed in New York by 9th through 12th graders, victims of bullying
reported more depressive symptoms and psychological distress than those who did not experience
bullying. All types of involvement in bullying among boys and girls, respectively, is associated with
depression even a couple years later. Another study that followed up with Finnish teens two years
after the initial survey showed that depression and suicidal ideation is higher with teens who are
bullied than those who did not report experiencing bullying. A Dutch longitudinal study on
elementary students reported that boys who are bully-victims, who play both roles of a victim and a
bully, were more likely to experience depression or serious suicidal ideation than the other roles,
victims or bullies only, while girls who have any involvement in bullying have a higher level of risk for
depression. In a study of high school students completed in Boston, students who self reported
being victims of bullying were more likely to consider suicide when compared to youth who did not
report being bullied. The same study also showed a higher risk of suicidal consideration in youth who
report being a perpetrator, victim, or victim-perpetrator. Victims and victim-bullies are associated
with a higher risk of suicide attempts. The place where youth live also appears to differentiate their
bullying experiences such that those living in more urban areas who reported both being bullied and
bullying others appear to show higher risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. A national
survey given to American 6th through 10th grade students found that cyberbullying victims
experience a higher level of depression than victims experiencing other forms of bullying. This can
be related to the anonymity behind social media. If a teen is being bullied and is displaying
symptoms of depression it should be questioned and interventions should be implemented. The
Danish study showed that kids who are bullied talked to their parents and teachers about it and
some reported a decrease in bullying or a stop in the bullying after a teacher or parent intervened.
The study emphasizes the importance of implementing program-collaborations in schools to have
programs and anti-bullying interventions in place to prevent and properly intervene when it occurs.
The study also shows the importance of having parents and teachers talk to the bullies about their
bullying behavior in order to provide the necessary support for those experiencing bullying.

While some people find it very easy to ignore a bully, others may find it very difficult and reach a
breaking point. There have been cases of apparent bullying suicides that have been reported closely
by the media. These include the deaths of Ryan Halligen, Phoebe Prince, Dawn-Marie Wesley, Nicola
Ann Raphael, Megan Meier, Audrie Pott, Tyler Clementi, Jamey Rodemeyer, Kenneth Weishuhn,
Jadin Bell, Kelly Yeomans, Rehtaeh Parsons, Amanda Todd, Brodie Panlock, Jessica Haffer, Hamed
Nastoh, Sladjana Vidovic, April Himes, Cherice Moralez and Rebecca Ann Sedwick. According to the
suicide awareness voices for education, suicide is one of the leading causes of death for youth from
15 to 24 years old. Over 16 percent of students seriously consider suicide, 13 percent create a plan,
and 8 percent have made a serious attempt.

Positive development

Some have argued that bullying can teach life lessons and instill strength. Helene Guldberg, a child
development academic, sparked controversy when she argued that being a target of bullying can
teach a child "how to manage disputes and boost their ability to interact with others", and that
teachers should not intervene, but leave children to respond to the bullying themselves.

The teaching of such anti-bullying coping skills to "would-be-targets"[not in citation given] and to
others has been found to be an effective long term means of reducing bullying incidence rates and a
valuable skill-set for individuals.

Responding to bullying
Bullying is typically ongoing and not isolated behaviour. Common ways that people try to respond,
are to try to ignore it, to confront the bullies or to turn to an authority figure to try and address it.

Ignoring it often does nothing to stop the bullying continuing, and it can become worse over time. It
can be important to address bullying behaviour early on, as it can be easier to control the earlier it is
detected. Bystanders play an important role in responding to bullying, as doing nothing can
encourage it to continue, while small steps that oppose the behaviour can reduce it.
Authority figures can play an important role, such as parents in child or adolescent situations, or
supervisors, human-resources staff or parent-bodies in workplace and volunteer settings. Authority
figures can be influential in recognising and stopping bullying behaviour, and creating an
environment where it doesn't continue.In many situations however people acting as authority
figures are untrained and unqualified, do not know how to respond, and can make the situation
worse. In some cases the authority figures even support the people doing the bullying, facilitating it
continuing and increasing the isolation and marginalising of the target. Some of the most effective
ways to respond, are to recognise that harmful behaviour is taking place, and creating an
environment where it won't continue. People that are being targeted have little control over which
authority figures they can turn to and how such matters would be addressed, however one means of
support is to find a counsellor or psychologist that is trained in handling bullying.
 TIME MANAGEMENT
Time management – wise and judicious use of time

Time management is all about the wise and judicious use of time, and apportioning the available time
for the activities required to be done. If we manage our time well we can make the most of it. We
need to therefore draw up a time table for ourselves according to our daily activities, and the goals
we wish to achieve, whether it is in the short term or long term. The time table should be a practicable
one so that we can actually follow it. Being impractical in drawing up a time table will leave us
disillusioned and disappointed as we would not be able to follow it. And the purpose may be defeated.
While we need to work hard, we need to give sufficient time to rest and relaxation too as also to
leisure and fun activities, for all work and no play makes us unproductive.

Discipline and focus improve productivity

Following a time table requires being disciplined and serious about our purpose. This requires clarity
of mind and purpose, and an ability to focus our mind on the activity at hand. For this we need to
develop our mind’s strength by paying attention to the task at hand at any point in time. Practices
such as meditation can help in this so that we become more productive.

Time is something that you can lose and never get back. People are always wishing they had more
hours available in the day. The solution to this common problem is easier than one might realize. With
a few minor adjustments in how you utilize your time you can change how you manage your time.
Proper time management is something that can change your life on a fundamental basis for the better.

Every daily cycle consists of a twenty-four hour period. This is one of those things that is what it is and
cannot be changed. Even though you can’t control time, you can control how the time you have is
used. This realization is the first step to being effective in your own time management. It is important
to take stock in what is important in your daily life and focus on allotting time for these things.
Anything that is non-important should be eliminated.

Developing skills to effectively manage your time will bring forth improvements to your life on a
dramatic scale. You must be accepting to making fundamental changes. You have to learn to prioritize
and take things one step at a time. Chances for failure increase when you take on more than you can
handle or when you take on too much at one time. Developing time management skills will also help
you get to know yourself a little better. This is the first step in proper time management. As people
age, it becomes much easier to lose track of important things in your life. It seems crazy that humans
allow this to happen, but it is something that happens really easily. The first thing you must do is get
in touch with what it is you want to accomplish from your life.

This is the point where you locate your vision. When people are young, they believe that anything is
possible. Think back to your younger days and remember how you envisioned your life at that time. It
is likely that many of your priorities have changed since then, but some of the core ones will have
remained the same.

Begin by focusing on the things you want to achieve. Pick something big and something small. After
you have decided on what those things are, take steps to formulate a plan that can set you on a path
to achieving these things. Completing one step toward each goal is an excellent start. By going at your
own pace, you begin to plan and manage your time much more effectively. Planning is key to mapping
out the direction in which you should head.

We set many goals for ourselves to achieve. We set goals in the short term and in the long term. One
of our goals in the short term is to go to school at the right time. For this we need to get up on time
and get ready and leave home well in time so that we may reach school on time. If we fail to go to
school on time we suffer. Likewise, we have goals in the long term such as a course we wish to do or
a profession we want to follow. This requires hard and concerted work over a long time. This is
therefore a long term goal.

Our goals determine the path we follow. And to attain our goals we need to use the resources we
have optimally. We need to use our physical, mental, intellectual and emotional strength judiciously.
Similarly, we must use our time well. If we waste our strength and our time on flippant and wasteful
activities we accordingly get lesser of these resources to use on tasks that are of importance in
realizing our goals.

PICKLE JAR THEORY

What is the Pickle Jar Theory?

Every day, we fill out time with important, less important, and unimportant things. The Pickle Jar
Theory serves as a visual metaphor to determine what is useful and what is not useful. It helps you to
set your priorities for daily life and plan tasks in such a way, that you have time to spare instead of too
few hours in the day.

The Pickle Jar Theory is popular for time management. Among others, Stephen Covey writes about
this in his book 7 habits of highly effective people. The principle is about a big glass pickle jar that’s
filled with a large number of fist-sized rocks, pebbles and a lot of sand.

Rocks, pebbles and sand

Everything in the Pickle Jar Theory has a purpose. The pickle jar itself represents our daily life, what
keeps us busy and how we divide our time and tasks during the day.
The sand represents all the phone calls, emails, social media notifications and other disrupting
elements. The pebbles metaphorically stand for the jobs we’re confronted with every day and that fill
our diaries. The rocks represent the important tasks in our daily lives. There’ll be serious consequences
if we fail to do the latter tasks.

Time is limited however; after all, there are only 24 hours in a day. That’s why we have to make
choices. But people tend to respond immediately to impulses that reach them quickly. You have to
read that email right away, you can’t leave your phone ringing and a nice chat with your colleague has
a function. That’s all true, but the Pickle Jar Theory shows us in a simple way that it’s unwise to adjust
our daily activities to these small things and to plan all other tasks around them.

How does it work?

To get a good visual idea of how we generally complete our tasks, the pickle jar is first filled with sand.
These are the (sometimes) meaningless tasks that we let distract us every day. Next, the pebbles are
put on top of the sand; tasks that need to be completed, but can also be done on another day or at
another time or by someone else. Finally, it’s the rocks’ turn; basically the most important tasks we
have to do on a certain day.

These are the tasks for which someone has been hired and that fall under their responsibility. Tasks
that cannot be ignored or done by someone else. But it turns out that if the sand, pebbles and rocks
are put in the jar in this order, there’s barely any room for the rocks. The same thing happens in our
daily lives; we stuff it full of unimportant tasks, but when it really matters, we don’t have any time left
for the important stuff.
Better division
In order to better plan the different tasks in our daily lives with their varying urgency and importance,
the pickle jar is filled again. We’re using the same size jar, the same amount of sand, pebbles and
rocks. Only the order is now crucially different.

First, the rocks are put into the jar; these highly responsible tasks really need to get done and all other
tasks will be planned around them. After the rocks, it’s the pebbles’ turn. These represent tasks that
can possibly be carried out by others or can simply wait.

Finally, we add the sand; all the emails, chats, phone calls and WhatsApp messages disappear into the
jar and find their way between the rocks and pebbles. And as it turns out; thanks to the better division
of tasks, all ingredients now easily fit in the pickle jar.

Timetable
The Pickle Jar Theory provides insight into our timetable and offers opportunities to make an effort
every day to put our most important tasks at the top of the list every day. Only then does it get easier
to handle and actually meet deadlines. By not letting our daily activities be interrupted by the sand
that’s slipping by, it becomes easier to focus on the main tasks. The insight becomes even more clear
by working with to-do lists. By carefully considering what tasks still need to be done in advance, you’ll
be able to treat the most important tasks as ‘rocks’ and put them on your list.

Task lists
The hardest part about task lists is making a concrete and honest estimate of the time it will take.
People tend to plan barely an hour for a job that might take two. That’s why it’s a good idea to include
an honest time estimate when you’re making a top-down task list / To-Do List. Next, the tasks have to
be ordered according to priority to ensure that you will be able to actually carry out these ‘rocks’. In
addition, it’s a good idea not to plan more than 6 hours for an 8-hour working day; after all, you need
to have a buffer for the pebbles and sand.

In some professions, the day takes shape in accordance with the tasks and it’s hard to plan in advance.
To gain insight into a working day anyway, it’s a good idea to use a so-called bottom-up list. During
the day, you write down the tasks that have been completed and include how much time they took.
At the end of the day, you’ll have proper insight into the rocks, pebbles and sand. For jobs that include
a lot of ad hoc work, it can seem like you weren’t able to get to important tasks. People feel like they’re
being run ragged. By taking stock in a disciplined way at the end of the day, it becomes clear how the
day went and what the rocks (most important tasks), pebbles (less important tasks and sand (least
important tasks) were.
 CHILD LABOUR
Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their
childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially
or morally dangerous and harmful.This practice is considered exploitative by many international
organisations. Legislation across the world prohibit child labour. These laws do not consider all work
by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties, supervised training,
certain categories of work such as those by Amish children, some forms of child work common among
indigenous American children, and others.

Child labour has existed to varying extents, through most of history. During the 19th and early 20th
centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer families still worked in Europe, the United States and
various colonies of European powers. These children mainly worked in agriculture, home-based
assembly operations, factories, mining and in services such as news boys. Some worked night shifts
lasting 12 hours. With the rise of household income, availability of schools and passage of child labour
laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell.

In the world’s poorest countries, around 1 in 4 children are engaged in child labour, the highest
number of whom (29 percent) live in sub-saharan Africa. In 2017, four African nations (Mali, Benin,
Chad and Guinea-Bissau) witnessed over 50 percent of children aged 5–14 working. Worldwide
agriculture is the largest employer of child labour.The vast majority of child labour is found in rural
settings and informal urban economy; children are predominantly employed by their parents, rather
than factories. Poverty and lack of schools are considered as the primary cause of child labour.

Globally the incidence of child labour decreased from 25% to 10% between 1960 and 2003, according
to the World Bank. Nevertheless, the total number of child labourers remains high, with UNICEF and
ILO acknowledging an estimated 168 million children aged 5–17 worldwide, were involved in child
labour in 2013.

Child labour is still common in many parts of the world. Estimates for child labour vary. It ranges
between 250 and 304 million, if children aged 5–17 involved in any economic activity are counted. If
light occasional work is excluded, ILO estimates there were 153 million child labourers aged 5–14
worldwide in 2008. This is about 20 million less than ILO estimate for child labourers in 2004. Some 60
percent of the child labour was involved in agricultural activities such as farming, dairy, fisheries and
forestry. Another 25 percent of child labourers were in service activities such as retail, hawking goods,
restaurants, load and transfer of goods, storage, picking and recycling trash, polishing shoes, domestic
help, and other services. The remaining 15 percent laboured in assembly and manufacturing in
informal economy, home-based enterprises, factories, mines, packaging salt, operating machinery,
and such operations. Two out of three child workers work alongside their parents, in unpaid family
work situations. Some children work as guides for tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in
business for shops and restaurants. Child labour predominantly occurs in the rural areas (70%) and
informal urban sector (26%).
Contrary to popular beliefs, most child labourers are employed by their parents rather than in
manufacturing or formal economy. Children who work for pay or in-kind compensation are usually
found in rural settings, then urban centres. Less than 3 percent of child labour aged 5–14 across the
world work outside their household, or away from their parents.

Child labour accounts for 22% of the workforce in Asia, 32% in Africa, 17% in Latin America, 1% in the
US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations. The proportion of child labourers varies greatly among
countries and even regions inside those countries. Africa has the highest percentage of children aged
5–17 employed as child labour, and a total of over 65 million. Asia, with its larger population, has the
largest number of children employed as child labour at about 114 million. Latin America and Caribbean
region have lower overall population density, but at 14 million child labourers has high incidence rates
too.

Accurate present day child labour information is difficult to obtain because of disagreements between
data sources as to what constitutes child labour. In some countries, government policy contributes to
this difficulty. For example, the overall extent of child labour in China is unclear due to the government
categorizing child labour data as “highly secret”. China has enacted regulations to prevent child labour;
still, the practice of child labour is reported to be a persistent problem within China, generally in
agriculture and low-skill service sectors as well as small workshops and manufacturing enterprises.

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor
where China was attributed 12 goods the majority of which were produced by both underage children
and indentured labourers. The report listed electronics, garments, toys and coal among other goods.

Maplecroft Child Labour Index 2012 survey reports 76 countries pose extreme child labour complicity
risks for companies operating worldwide. The ten highest risk countries in 2012, ranked in decreasing
order, were: Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, DR Congo, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Burundi,
Pakistan and Ethiopia. Of the major growth economies, Maplecroft ranked Philippines 25th riskiest,
India 27th, China 36th, Viet Nam 37th, Indonesia 46th, and Brazil 54th - all of them rated to involve
extreme risks of child labour uncertainties, to corporations seeking to invest in developing world and
import products from emerging markets.
CAUSES
Primary causes

International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggests poverty is the greatest single cause behind child
labour.For impoverished households, income from a child's work is usually crucial for his or her own
survival or for that of the household. Income from working children, even if small, may be between
25 and 40% of the household income. Other scholars such as Harsch on African child labour, and
Edmonds and Pavcnik on global child labour have reached the same conclusion.

Lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education, according to ILO, is
another major factor driving children to harmful labour. Children work because they have nothing
better to do. Many communities, particularly rural areas where between 60–70% of child labour is
prevalent, do not possess adequate school facilities. Even when schools are sometimes available, they
are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable or the quality of education is so poor that parents
wonder if going to school is really worth it.

Cultural causes

In European history when child labour was common, as well as in contemporary child labour of
modern world, certain cultural beliefs have rationalised child labour and thereby encouraged it. Some
view that work is good for the character-building and skill development of children. In many cultures,
particular where the informal economy and small household businesses thrive, the cultural tradition
is that children follow in their parents' footsteps; child labour then is a means to learn and practice
that trade from a very early age. Similarly, in many cultures the education of girls is less valued or girls
are simply not expected to need formal schooling, and these girls pushed into child labour such as
providing domestic services.

Agriculture deploys 70% of the world's child labour.

Macroeconomic causes

Biggeri and Mehrotra have studied the macroeconomic factors that encourage child labour. They
focus their study on five Asian nations including India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines.
They suggest That child labour is a serious problem in all five, but it is not a new problem.
Macroeconomic causes encouraged widespread child labour across the world, over most of human
history. They suggest that the causes for child labour include both the demand and the supply side.
While poverty and unavailability of good schools explain the child labour supply side, they suggest that
the growth of low-paying informal economy rather than higher paying formal economy is amongst the
causes of the demand side. Other scholars too suggest that inflexible labour market, sise of informal
economy, inability of industries to scale up and lack of modern manufacturing technologies are major
macroeconomic factors affecting demand and acceptability of child labour.

IN INDIA
In 2015, the country of India is home to the largest number of children who are working illegally in
various industrial industries. Agriculture in India is the largest sector where many children work at
early ages to help support their family. Many of these children are forced to work at young ages due
to many family factors such as unemployment, a large number of family members, poverty, and lack
of parental education. This is often the major cause of the high rate of child labour in India.

On 23 June 1757, the English East India Company defeated Siraj-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Bengal, in the
Battle of Plassey. The British thus became masters of east India (Bengal, Bihar, Orissa) – a prosperous
region with a flourishing agriculture, industry and trade.This led to a large number of children being
forced into labour due to the increasing need of cheap labour to produce large numbers of goods.
Many multinationals often employed children because that they can be recruited for less pay, and
have more endurance to utilise in factory environments.Another reason many Indian children were
hired was because they lack knowledge of their basic rights, they did not cause trouble or complain,
and they were often more trustworthy. The innocence that comes with childhood was utilised to make
a profit by many and was encouraged by the need for family income

An eight-year-old boy making his livelihood by showing a playful monkey in a running train in India in
2011.

A variety of Indian social scientists as well as the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have done
extensive research on the numeric figures of child labour found in India and determined that India
contributes to one-third of Asia’s child labour and one-fourth of the world's child labour. Due to a
large number of children being illegally employed, the Indian government began to take extensive
actions to reduce the number of children working, and to focus on the importance of facilitating the
proper growth and development of children. International influences help to encourage legal actions
to be taken in India, such as the Geneva Declaration of the Right of Children Act was passed in 1924.
This act was followed by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 to which incorporated
the basic human rights and needs of children for proper progression and growth in their younger years.
These international acts encouraged major changes to the workforce in India which occurred in 1986
when the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act was put into place. This act prohibited hiring
children younger than the age of 14, and from working in hazardous conditions.

Due to the increase of regulations and legal restrictions on child labour, there has been a 64 percent
decline in child labour from 1993-2005. Although this is a great decrease in the country of India, there
is still high numbers of children working in the rural areas of India. With 85 percent of the child labour
occurring in rural areas, and 15 percent occurring in urban areas, there are still substantial areas of
concern in the country of India.

India has legislation since 1986 which allows work by children in non-hazardous industry. In 2013, the
Punjab and Haryana High Court gave a landmark order that directed that there shall be a total ban on
the employment of children up to the age of 14 years, be it hazardous or non-hazardous industries.
However, the Court ruled that a child can work with his or her family in family based
trades/occupations, for the purpose of learning a new trade/craftsmanship or vocation.
CHILD LABOUR LAWS
Almost every country in the world has laws relating to and aimed at preventing child labour.
International Labour Organisation has helped set international law, which most countries have signed
on and ratified. According to ILO minimum age convention (C138) of 1973, child labour refers to any
work performed by children under the age of 12, non-light work done by children aged 12–14, and
hazardous work done by children aged 15–17. Light work was defined, under this Convention, as any
work that does not harm a child's health and development, and that does not interfere with his or her
attendance at school. This convention has been ratified by 135 countries.

The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which was
subsequently ratified by 193 countries.Article 32 of the convention addressed child labour, as follows:

...Parties recognise the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from
performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be
harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.

Under Article 1 of the 1990 Convention, a child is defined as "... every human being below the age of
eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, a majority is attained earlier." Article 28
of this Convention requires States to, "make primary education compulsory and available free to all."

195 countries are party to the Convention; only two nations have not ratified the treaty, Somalia and
the United States.

In 1999, ILO helped lead the Worst Forms Convention 182 (C182), which has so far been signed upon
and domestically ratified by 151 countries including the United States. This international law prohibits
worst forms of child labour, defined as all forms of slavery and slavery-like practices, such as child
trafficking, debt bondage, and forced labour, including forced recruitment of children into armed
conflict. The law also prohibits the use of a child for prostitution or the production of pornography,
child labour in illicit activities such as drug production and trafficking; and in hazardous work. Both the
Worst Forms Convention (C182) and the Minimum Age Convention (C138) are examples of
international labour standards implemented through the ILO that deal with child labour.

In addition to setting the international law, the United Nations initiated International Program on the
Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in 1992.This initiative aims to progressively eliminate child labour
through strengthening national capacities to address some of the causes of child labour. Amongst the
key initiative is the so-called time-bounded programme countries, where child labour is most
prevalent and schooling opportunities lacking. The initiative seeks to achieve amongst other things,
universal primary school availability. The IPEC has expanded to at least the following target countries:
Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of
Congo, El Salvador, Nepal, Tanzania, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa
and Turkey.

Targeted child labour campaigns were initiated by the International Programme on the Elimination of
Child Labour (IPEC) in order to advocate for prevention and elimination of all forms of child labour.
The global Music against Child Labour Initiative was launched in 2013 in order to involve socially
excluded children in structured musical activity and education in efforts to help protect them from
child labour.

Exceptions granted

The United States has passed a law that allows Amish children older than 14 to work in traditional
wood enterprises with proper supervision.

In 2004, the United States passed an amendment to the Fair Labour Standards Act of 1938. The
amendment allows certain children aged 14–18 to work in or outside a business where machinery is
used to process wood. The law aims to respect the religious and cultural needs of the Amish
community of the United States. The Amish believe that one effective way to educate children is on
the job. The new law allows Amish children the ability to work with their families, once they are passed
eighth grade in school.

Similarly, in 1996, member countries of the European Union, per Directive 94/33/EC, agreed to a
number of exceptions for young people in its child labour laws. Under these rules, children of various
ages may work in cultural, artistic, sporting or advertising activities if authorised by the competent
authority. Children above the age of 13 may perform light work for a limited number of hours per
week in other economic activities as defined at the discretion of each country. Additionally, the
European law exception allows children aged 14 years or over to work as part of a work/training
scheme. The EU Directive clarified that these exceptions do not allow child labour where the children
may experience harmful exposure to dangerous substances. Nonetheless, many children under the
age of 13 do work, even in the most developed countries of the EU. For instance, a recent study
showed over a third of Dutch twelve-year-old kids had a job, the most common being babysitting.

ELIMINATING CHILD LABOUR

Concerns have often been raised over the buying public's moral complicity in purchasing products
assembled or otherwise manufactured in developing countries with child labour. However, others
have raised concerns that boycotting products manufactured through child labour may force these
children to turn to more dangerous or strenuous professions, such as prostitution or agriculture. For
example, a UNICEF study found that after the Child Labour Deterrence Act was introduced in the US,
an estimated 50,000 children were dismissed from their garment industry jobs in Bangladesh, leaving
many to resort to jobs such as "stone-crushing, street hustling, and prostitution", jobs that are "more
hazardous and exploitative than garment production". The study suggests that boycotts are "blunt
instruments with long-term consequences, that can actually harm rather than help the children
involved."

According to Milton Friedman, before the Industrial Revolution virtually all children worked in
agriculture.During the Industrial Revolution many of these children moved from farm work to factory
work. Over time, as real wages rose, parents became able to afford to send their children to school
instead of work and as a result child labour declined, both before and after legislation.Austrian School
economist Murray Rothbard said that British and American children of the pre- and post-Industrial
Revolution lived and suffered in infinitely worse conditions where jobs were not available for them
and went "voluntarily and gladly" to work in factories.

British historian and socialist E. P. Thompson in The Making of the English Working Class draws a
qualitative distinction between child domestic work and participation in the wider (waged) labour
market. Further, the usefulness of the experience of the industrial revolution in making predictions
about current trends has been disputed. Social historian Hugh Cunningham, author of Children and
Childhood in Western Society Since 1500, notes that:

"Fifty years ago it might have been assumed that, just as child labour had declined in the developed
world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so it would also, in a trickle-down fashion,
in the rest of the world. Its failure to do that, and its re-emergence in the developed world, raise
questions about its role in any economy, whether national or global."

According to Thomas DeGregori, an economics professor at the University of Houston, in an article

published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank operating in Washington D.C., "it is clear that
technological and economic change are vital ingredients in getting children out of the workplace and
into schools. Then they can grow to become productive adults and live longer, healthier lives.
However, in poor countries like Bangladesh, working children are essential for survival in many
families, as they were in our own heritage until the late 19th century. So, while the struggle to end
child labour is necessary, getting there often requires taking different routes—and, sadly, there are
many political obstacles.

The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), founded in 1992, aims to
eliminate child labour. It operates in 88 countries and is the largest program of its kind in the world.
IPEC works with international and government agencies, NGOs, the media, and children and their
families to end child labour and provide children with education and assistance.

From 2008 to 2013, the ILO operated a program through International Programme on the Elimination
of Child Labour (IPEC) entitled "Combating Abusive Child Labour (CACL-II)". The project, funded by the
European Union, contributed to the Government of Pakistan by providing alternative opportunities
for vocational training and education to children withdrawn from the worst forms of child
labour.Periodically, governments, employers' and workers' organisations have met in global
conference to assess progress and remaining obstacles and to agree measures to eliminate the worst
forms of child labour by 2016: first in Oslo (1997), secondly in The Hague (2010); the third Global
Conference on Child Labour took place in Brasilia, 8010 October 2013, and the fourth global
conference is scheduled to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 14–16 November 2017.
 DRUG ABUSE
What Is drug addiction?
Addiction is a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to
control, despite harmful consequences. The initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people,
but repeated drug use can lead to brain changes that challenge an addicted person’s self-control and
interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. These brain changes can be persistent,
which is why drug addiction is considered a "relapsing" disease—people in recovery from drug use
disorders are at increased risk for returning to drug use even after years of not taking the drug.

It's common for a person to relapse, but relapse doesn't mean that treatment doesn’t work. As with
other chronic health conditions, treatment should be ongoing and should be adjusted based on how
the patient responds. Treatment plans need to be reviewed often and modified to fit the patient’s
changing needs.

Drug use disorder facts

Drug abuse and addiction, now both grouped as drug use disorder, is a condition that is characterized
by a self-destructive pattern of using a substance that leads to significant problems and distress, which
may include tolerance to or withdrawal from the substance.Drug use disorder is unfortunately quite
common, affecting more than 8% of people in the United States at some point in their lives.Dual
diagnosis refers to the presence of both a drug-use issue in addition to a serious mental-health
condition in an individual.Virtually any substance whose ingestion can result in a euphoric ("high")
feeling can be abused.Inhalants like household cleaners are some of the most commonly abused
substances.While the specific physical and psychological effects of drug use disorder tend to vary
based on the particular substance involved, the general effects of a substance use disorder involving
any drug can be devastating.Although drug use disorders have no single cause, there are a number of
biological, psychological, and social risk factors that can predispose a person to developing a chemical
use disorder.Symptoms of a drug use disorder include recurrent drug use that results in legal
problems, occurs in potentially dangerous situations, interfere with important obligations, results in
social or relationship problems, tolerance, withdrawal, using a lot of the drug or for a long period of
time, persistent desire to use the drug, unsuccessful efforts to stop using the drug, neglecting other
aspects of life because of their drug use, and spending inordinate amounts of time or energy getting,
using, or recovering from the effects of the drug.While the specific effects of drugs on the brain can
somewhat vary depending on the drug that is being used, virtually every substance that is abused has
an effect on the executive-functioning areas of the brain. Drugs particularly affect the brain's ability
to inhibit actions that the person would otherwise delay or prevent.Since there is no single test that
can definitively diagnose someone with a chemical use disorder, health-care professionals assess
these disorders by gathering comprehensive medical, family, and mental-health information, as well
as securing a physical examination and lab tests to assess the sufferer's medical state.Treatment
services for drug use disorders remain largely underutilized by most people who suffer from these
conditions.The primary goals of recovery are abstinence, relapse prevention, and
rehabilitation.During the initial stage of abstinence, a person who suffers from chemical dependency
may need detoxification treatment to help avoid or lessen the effects of withdrawal.Often, much more
challenging and time-consuming than recovery from the physical aspects of addiction is psychological
addiction.The treatment of dual diagnosis seems to be more effective when treatment of the
sufferer's mental illness is integrated with the treatment of the individual's chemical dependency.Drug
addiction increases the risk of a number of negative life stressors and conditions, particularly if left
untreated.Recovery from a substance use disorder is usually characterized by episodes of remission
and relapse.Eleven year-old boys who displayed evidence of low self-esteem were more likely to be
dependent upon drugs at age 20 than boys who didn't have low self-esteem, according to a study
conducted at Florida State University.Sociology professors studied a sample of over 870 boys from
diverse racial and ethnic groups for a period of nine years to try to identify potential early warning
signs for drug dependence.Boys who had very low self-esteem in the sixth or seventh grade were 1.6
times more likely to meet the criteria for drug dependence nine years later than other children. Those
who believed that their peers approved of alcohol, tobacco, or drug use were also more likely to be
drug-dependent later in life. Overall, 10% of those in the study were found to be drug-dependent.

What is drug use disorder?

Formerly separately called drug abuse and drug addiction, drug use disorder, also called substance
use or chemical use disorder, is an illness that is characterized by a destructive pattern of using a
substance that leads to significant problems or distress, including tolerance to or withdrawal from the
substance, as well as other problems that use of the substance can cause for the sufferer, either
socially or in terms of their work or school performance. The effects of drug use disorders on society
are substantial. The economic cost, including everything from lost wages to medical, legal, and mental-
health implications is estimated to be about $215 billion. The cultivation of marijuana and production
of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine has negative impact on soil and water supplies. Drug law
infractions make up the most common reason for arrest in the United States, more than 14 million in
2008.

Teens are increasingly engaging in prescription drug abuse, particularly narcotics (which are
prescribed to relieve severe pain), and stimulant medications, which treat conditions like attention-
deficit disorder and narcolepsy.

The term dual diagnosis refers to the presence of both a drug use disorder and a serious mental-health
problem in a person. Substance use disorders, unfortunately, occur quite commonly in people who
also have severe mental illness. Individuals with dual diagnosis are also at higher risk of being
noncompliant with treatment.
What types of drugs are commonly abused?

Virtually any substance whose ingestion can result in a euphoric ("high") feeling can be abused. While
many are aware of the abuse of legal substances like alcohol or illegal drugs like marijuana (in most
states) and cocaine, less well-known is the fact that inhalants like household cleaners and over-the-
counter medications like cold medicines are some of the most commonly abused substances. The
following are many of the drugs and types of drugs that are commonly abused and/or result in
dependence:

Alcohol: Although legal, alcohol is a toxic substance, especially for a developing fetus when a mother
consumes this drug during pregnancy. One of the most common addictions, alcoholism can have
devastating effects on the alcoholic individual's physical well-being, as well as his or her ability to
function interpersonally and at work.

Amphetamines: This group of drugs comes in many forms, from prescription medications like
methylphenidate (for example, Ritalin, Concerta, Focalin) and dextroamphetamine and amphetamine
(Adderall) to illegally manufactured drugs like methamphetamine ("crystal meth"). Overdose of any
of these substances can result in seizure and death.

Anabolic steroids: A group of substances that is most often abused by bodybuilders and other
athletes, this group of drugs can lead to devastating emotional symptoms like aggression and
paranoia, as well as severe long-term physical effects like infertility and organ failure.

Caffeine: While it is consumed by many coffee, tea, and soda drinkers, when consumed in excess, this
substance can be habit-forming and produce palpitations, insomnia, tremors, irritability, and
significant anxiety.

Cannabis: More usually called marijuana, the scientific name for cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC). Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, with nearly 29 million people 12 years or
older reporting having used this drug in the past year. In addition to the negative effects the drug itself
can produce (for example, infertility, difficulties with sexual performance, paranoia, lack of
motivation), the fact that it is commonly mixed ("cut") with other substances so drug dealers can make
more money selling the diluted substance or expose the user to more addictive drugs exposes the
marijuana user to the dangers associated with those added substances. Examples of ingredients that
marijuana is commonly cut with include baby powder, oregano, embalming fluid, phencyclidine (PCP),
opiates, and cocaine.

Cocaine: A drug that tends to stimulate the nervous system, cocaine can be snorted in powder form,
smoked when in the form of rocks ("crack" cocaine), or injected when made into a liquid.

Ecstasy: Also called MDMA to denote its chemical composition (methylenedioxymethamphetamine),

this drug tends to create a sense of euphoria and an expansive love or desire to nurture others. In
overdose, it can increase body temperature to the point of causing death.

Hallucinogens: Examples include LSD and mescaline, as well as so-called naturally occurring
hallucinogens like certain mushrooms. These drugs can be dangerous in their ability to alter the
perceptions of the user. For example, a person who is intoxicated ("high" on) with a hallucinogen may
perceive danger where there is none and to think that situations that are truly dangerous are not.
Those misperceptions can result in dangerous behaviors (like jumping out of a window because the
person thinks they have wings and can fly).
Inhalants: One of the most commonly abused group of substances due to its easy accessibility,
inhalants are usually in household cleaners, like ammonia, bleach, and other substances that emit
fumes. Brain damage, to the point of death, can result from using an inhalant even just once or over
the course of time, depending on the individual.

Nicotine: The addictive substance found in cigarettes, nicotine is actually one of the most addictive
substances that exists. In fact, nicotine addiction is often compared to the intense addictiveness
associated with opiates like heroin.

Opiates: This group is also called narcotics and includes drugs like heroin, codeine, hydrocodone,
morphine, methadone, Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, and Percodan. This group of substances sharply
decrease the functioning of the nervous system. The lethality of opiates is often the result of the
abuser having to use increasingly higher amounts to achieve the same level of intoxication, ultimately
to the point that the dose needed to get high is the same as the dose that is lethal by overdose for
that individual by halting the person's breathing (respiratory arrest).

Phencyclidine: Commonly called PCP, this drug can cause the user to feel highly suspicious, become
very aggressive, and to have an exceptional amount of physical strength. This can make the person
quite dangerous to others.

Sedative, hypnotic, or antianxiety drugs: The second most commonly used group of illicit drugs, these
substances quiet or depress the nervous system. They can therefore cause death by stopping the
breathing (respiratory arrest) of the individual who either uses these drugs in overdose or who mixes
one or more of these drugs with another nervous system depressant (like alcohol, another sedative
drug, or an opiate).

What are the physical and psychological effects of drug use disorders?

While the specific physical and psychological effects of drug use disorders tend to vary based on the
particular substance involved, the general effects of addiction to any drug can be devastating.
Psychologically, intoxication with or withdrawal from a substance can cause everything from euphoria
as with alcohol, Ecstasy, or inhalant intoxication, to paranoia with marijuana or steroid intoxication,
to severe depression or suicidal thoughts with cocaine or amphetamine withdrawal. In terms of effects
on the body, intoxication with a drug can cause physical effects that range from marked sleepiness
and slowed breathing as with intoxication with heroin or sedative hypnotic drugs, to the rapid heart
rate of cocaine intoxication, or the tremors to seizures of alcohol withdrawal.

What are causes and risk factors for developing a drug use disorder?

Like most other mental-health problems, drug use disorders have no single cause. However, there are
a number of biological, psychological, and social factors, known as risk factors, that can increase an
individual's vulnerability to developing a chemical use disorder. The frequency with which substance
use disorders occur within some families seems to be higher than could be explained by an addictive
environment of the family. Therefore, most substance use professionals recognize a genetic aspect to
the risk of drug addiction.

Psychological associations with substance abuse or addiction include mood disorders like depression,
anxiety, or bipolar disorder, thought disorders like schizophrenia, as well as personality disorders like
antisocial personality disorder. Social risk factors for drug abuse and addiction include male gender,
being between the ages of 18 and 44 Native-American heritage, unmarried marital status, and lower
socioeconomic status. According to statistics by state, people residing in the West tend to be at a
somewhat higher risk for chemical dependency. While men are more at risk for developing a chemical
dependency like alcoholism, women seem to be more vulnerable to becoming addicted to alcohol at
much lower amounts of alcohol consumption compared to men.

What are warning signs that you or a loved one may have a drug use disorder?

While specific symptoms that are used to diagnose drug use disorders are described below, warning
signs that you or a loved one suffer from the condition include the following:

 Having blackouts or loss of memory

 Mood problems like irritability, sadness, or mood swings
 Repeated arguments with loved ones
 Repeatedly using drugs to cope with problems
 Physical symptoms when abstaining from drug use
 Physical problems as a result of using drugs
 Repeatedly using more drugs or using drugs for longer than intended
 Spending less time on life obligations due to drug use
 Needing more drug to get high than one used to

What are symptoms and signs of drug use disorder?

In order to be diagnosed with drug use disorder, a person must exhibit a maladaptive pattern of drug
use that leads to significant problems or stress, as manifested by at least two of the following signs or
symptoms in the same one-year period:

 Recurrent substance use that prevents the sufferer from meeting significant responsibilities
at work, school, or home
 Recurrent drug use in situations that may be physically dangerous
 Recurrent legal problems as a result of drug use
 Continued drug use in spite of continued or repeated social or relationship problems as a
result of, or worsened by the drug's effects
 Tolerance, that is either a markedly decreased effect of the drug or a need to significantly
increase the amount of the substance used in order to experience the same high or other
desired effects
 Withdrawal, which is defined as either physical or psychological signs or symptoms
consistent with withdrawal from a specific drug, or taking that drug or one chemically close
to that drug in order to avoid developing symptoms of withdrawal
 Larger amounts of the drug are taken or for longer than intended.
 The person has a persistent urge to take the drug or has unsuccessfully tried to decrease or
control the drug use
 Excessive amounts of time are spent either getting, using, or recovering from the effects of
the drug
 Cravings/strong urges to use the substance.
 The person significantly lessens or stops engaging in important social, recreational, work, or
school activities because of the substance use
  The person continues to use the drug despite knowing that he or she suffers from ongoing
or recurring physical or psychological problems that are caused or worsened by the use of
the drug.

What happens to your brain when you take drugs?

While the specific effects of drugs on the brain can vary somewhat depending on the drug that is being
used, virtually every drug that is abused has an effect on what professionals often call the executive
functioning areas of the brain. The functions of those areas can be remembered by thinking about the
tasks of the chief executive officer in any company: planning, organizing, prioritizing, acting when it is
time to act, as well as delaying or preventing action (inhibitory functions) when appropriate. The parts
of the brain that tend to harbor the executive brain functions are the front-most parts of the brain,
called the frontal lobes, including the frontal cortex and prefrontal cortex. When a person takes drugs,
the inhibitory functions of the brain are particularly impaired, causing the person to have trouble
stopping him or herself from acting on impulses that the brain would otherwise delay or prevent. This
disinhibition can lead to the substance abuser engaging in aggressive, sexual, criminal, dangerous, or
other activities that can have devastating consequences for the addicted person or those around him
or her. Given that the brain of individuals below about the age of 25 years is in the process of actively
and rapidly developing and is therefore not fully mature, drug use that takes place during the
childhood or teenage years can have particularly negative effects on the younger person's ability to
perform all these essential executive functions.

How do health-care professionals diagnose drug addiction?

Similar to many mental-health diagnoses, there is no one test that definitively determines that
someone has a chemical use disorder. Therefore, health-care professionals diagnose these conditions
by thoroughly gathering medical, family, and mental-health information. The practitioner will also
either conduct a physical examination or ask that the person's primary-care doctor perform one. The
medical assessment will usually include lab tests to evaluate the person's general medical health and
to explore whether or not the individual currently has drugs in their system or has a medical problem
that might mimic symptoms of drug addiction.
In asking questions about mental-health symptoms, specialists are often exploring if the person suffers
from depression and/or manic symptoms but also anxiety, hallucinations, or delusions, as well as some
behavioral problems. Practitioners may provide the people they evaluate with a quiz or self-test as a
screening tool for substance use disorders. Since some of the symptoms of chemical dependency can
also occur in other mental illnesses, the screening is to determine if the individual suffers from bipolar
disorder, an anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and other psychotic disorders,
or a personality or behavior disorder like antisocial personality disorder or attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), respectively. Any condition that is associated with sudden changes in
behavior, mood, or thinking, like bipolar disorder, a psychotic disorder, borderline personality
disorder, or dissociative identity disorder (DID), may be particularly challenging to separate from some
symptoms of drug use disorder. In order to assess the person's current emotional state, health-care
providers perform a mental-status examination, as well.

In addition to providing treatment that is appropriate to the diagnosis, determining the history or
presence of mental illnesses that may co-occur (be co-morbid) with substance abuse or dependence
is important in promoting the best possible outcome for the person. As previously described, the dual
diagnosis of substance abusing or addicted individuals dictates the need for treatment that addresses
both issues in a coordinated way by professionals who are trained and experienced with helping this
specific population.

What is the treatment for drug addiction?

An unfortunate fact about the treatment of drug addiction is that it remains largely underutilized by
most sufferers. Facts about the use of drug treatment include that less than 10% of people with a
milder substance-use disorder and less than 40% of those with a more entrenched substance-use
disorder seek professional help. Those statistics do not seem to be associated with socioeconomic or
other demographic traits but do seem to be associated with the presence of other mental-health
problems (co-morbidity).

The primary goals of drug-use disorder treatment (also called recovery) are abstinence, relapse
prevention, and rehabilitation. During the initial stage of abstinence, an individual who suffers from
chemical dependency may need help avoiding or decreasing the effects of withdrawal. That process
is called detoxification or "detox." That part of treatment is primarily performed in a hospital or other
inpatient setting, where medications used to lessen withdrawal symptoms and close medical
monitoring can be performed. The medications used for detox depend on the drug the person is
dependent upon. For example, people with alcohol use disorder might receive medications like
sedatives (benzodiazepines) or blood pressure medications to decrease palpitations and blood
pressure, or seizure medications to prevent seizures during the detoxification process.

For many substances of abuse, the detox process is the most difficult part of dealing with the physical
symptoms of addiction and tends to last days to a few weeks. Medications that are sometimes used
to help addicted individuals abstain from drug use on a long-term basis also depend on the specific
drug of addiction. For example, individuals who are dependent on narcotics like Percodan (a
combination of aspirin and oxycodone hydrochloride) heroin, or Vicodin, Vicodin ES, Anexsia, Lorcet,
Lorcet Plus, or Norco (combinations of hydrocodone and acetaminophen) often benefit from receiving
longer-acting, less addictive narcotic-like substances like methadone (Methadose). People with
alcohol addiction might try to avoid alcohol intake by taking disulfiram (Antabuse), which produces
nausea, stomach cramping, and vomiting in reaction to the person consuming alcohol.

Often, much more difficult and time-consuming than recovery from the physical aspects of drug
dependency is psychological addiction. For people who may have less severe drug use disorder, the
symptoms of psychological addiction may be able to be managed in an outpatient treatment program.
However, those who have a more severe addiction, have relapsed after participation in outpatient
programs, or who also suffer from a severe mental health condition might need the elevated level of
structure, support, and monitoring provided in an inpatient drug treatment center, often called
"rehab." Following such inpatient treatment, many people with this level of drug use disorder can
benefit from living in a sober living community, that is, a group-home setting where counselors
provide continued sobriety support, structure, and monitoring on a daily basis.

Also important in the treatment of drug dependency is helping the parents, other family members,
and friends of the addicted person refrain from supporting addictive behaviors (codependency).
Whether providing financial support, making excuses, or failing to acknowledge the drug seeking and
other maladaptive behaviors of the addict, discouraging such codependency of loved ones is a key
component of recovery. A focus on the addicted person's role in the family becomes perhaps even
more significant when that person is a child or teenager, given that minors come within the context
of a family in nearly every instance. Drug dependency treatment for children and adolescents is further
different from that in adults by the impact of drugs on the developing brain, as well as the younger
addict's tendency to need help completing their education and achieving higher education or job
training compared to addicts who may have completed those parts of their lives before developing
the addiction.

The treatment of dual diagnosis seems to be less effective when management of the person's mental
disorder is separate from the care for his or her chemical dependency. More successful are integrated
treatment approaches that include interventions for both disorders. Such interventions are all the
more improved by the inclusion of assessment, intensive case management, motivational
interventions, behavior interventions, family treatment, as well as services for housing, rehabilitation,
and medication management.

What are complications of drug addiction?

Drug addiction puts its sufferers at risk for potentially devastating social, occupational, and medical
complications. Effects of chemical dependency on families include increased risk of domestic violence.
Individuals with drug use disorder are also much less likely to find and keep a job compared to people
who are not drug addicted. Children of parents with a substance use disorder are at higher risk for
impaired social, educational, and health functioning, as well as being at higher risk for using drugs
themselves.

In addition to the many devastating social and occupational complications of drug addiction, there are
many potential medical complications. From respiratory arrest associated with heroin or sedative
overdose to heart attack or stroke that can be caused by cocaine or amphetamine intoxication, death
is a highly possible complication of a drug use disorder. People who are dependent on drugs are also
vulnerable to developing persistent medical conditions. Liver or heart failure and pancreatitis
associated with alcoholism and brain damage associated with alcoholism or inhalants are just two
such examples.

What is the prognosis of drug use disorder?

If treated, the prognosis of alcoholism and other drug use disorder improves but is not without
challenges. Recovery from substance dependency is usually characterized by episodes of remission
(abstinence from drug use) and relapse.

Is it possible to prevent drug abuse and addiction?

A number of different prevention approaches have been found to be effective in decreasing the risk
of drug use disorder. Lifestyle changes, like increased physical activity and using other stress-reduction
techniques, are thought to help prevent drug use disorder in teens. More formal programs have also
been found to be helpful. For example, the Raising Healthy Children program, which includes
interventions for teachers, parents, and students, has been found to help prevent drug addiction in
elementary-school children when the program goes on for 18 months or more. The prevalence of
easier access to technology has led to the development of computer-based prevention programs. Such
programs have been found to be very promising in how they compare to more traditional prevention
programs, as well as how many more people can be reached through technology.
 DON BOSCO’S PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
John Bosco ( 16 August 1815 – 31 January 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco , was an Italian Roman
Catholic priest, educator and writer of the 19th century. While working in Turin, where the population
suffered many of the effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the
betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He
developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment, a method that became known
as the Salesian Preventive System.

A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of Francis de Sales, Bosco was an ardent devotee of Mary,
mother of Jesus, under the title Mary Help of Christians. He later dedicated his works to De Sales when
he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco, based in Turin. Together with Maria Domenica Mazzarello, he
founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a religious congregation of nuns
dedicated to the care and education of poor girls. He taught Dominic Savio, of whom he wrote a
biography that helped the young boy be canonized.

On 18 April 1869, one year after the construction of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin,
Don Bosco established the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) connecting it with
commitments easily fulfilled by most common people, to the spirituality and the mission of the
Salesian Congregation (CG 24 SDB, 1996, NR. 80). The ADMA was founded to promote the veneration
of the Most Holy Sacrament and Mary Help of Christians (Don Bosco, Association of the Devotees of
Mary Help of Christians, San Benigno can. 1890, page 33).

In 1876 Bosco founded a movement of laity, the Association of Salesian Cooperators, with the same
educational mission to the poor.In 1875, he began to publish the Salesian Bulletin. The Bulletin has
remained in continuous publication, and is currently published in 50 different editions and 30
languages.

Bosco established a network of organizations and centres to carry on his work. Following his
beatification in 1929, he was canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI in1934.
PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
More than being some kind of treatise, the Preventive System is something that can be most
clearly seen in the life and action of Don Bosco. Nevertheless it can be part of the life and
action of one today who would wish to emulate Don Bosco.
An essential characteristic of Don Bosco’s approach is his interest in the young person as
person, and in his or her complete formation as human being and Christian.
His total vision of formation is characterized by:
 a variety of educational and pastoral offerings.
 a hierarchy of objectives subordinated to the single aim of the salvation of the
individual.
 his clarity concerning the direction of his educative action.
The fundamentals of this total vision of Don Bosco lie in:
 his own life as priest and educator.
 his concept of the fullness of salvation as a way of forming young people.
 his positive view of the human being and human values.
 his realistic appreciation of sin as something that hinders the full development of the
person.
To be able to put into practice today Don Bosco’s approach, the following is essential:
 To maintain as the final purpose of pastoral and educative action the integration of
faith and life.
 To establish a strict relationship between the formation of the person and his or her
sanctification.
 To prepare educators who, through their lives, will be models and witnesses of this
whole approach to development. (Note that educators are not only teachers. An
educator can be parent or other significant adult in the lives of the young).
 to create an environment in which all this becomes possible.
LOVING-KINDNESS, REASON AND RELIGION SUM UP THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM.
THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
LOVING-KINDNESS: AN EDUCATION RELATIONSHIP
Don Bosco opted for loving-kindness, i.e. a special quality of friendliness on the part of the
educator which inspires cooperation and confidence on the part of the one being educated.
He based his education on charity: the pedagogy of the heart.
The basic traits of his approach are to be found in a letter he wrote to Salesians from Rome
in November 1884. Here are some of them:
 education is a thing of the heart.
 confidence and familiarity are basic to the system.
 familiar presence is an indispensable element.
 the environment/surroundings provide for an education as a kind of contagion that
goes on between educator and the one being educated.
 Jesus Christ is the model for this relationship.
The real situation that young people find themselves in today spurs us on to put the
Preventive System into action. A pedagogy of the heart is more than ever needed given the
frequent absence of love.
More than a simple one-to-one relationship is required. The Preventive System implies a
group of people acting on behalf of the young, and this group
 develops its own interpersonal relationships.
 develops relationships between itself and the young.
 develops relationships between the young themselves.
For Don Bosco, love translates into assistance: i.e. a lively participation in the world of the
young and a personal interest shown in each one.
Assistance for Don Bosco is:
 the fruit of love.
 educative presence.
 a realistic appreciation of the possibilities and limitations of personal development.
An educator must:
 enter into actual meeting with the young.
 relate empathetically with them.
  stress the interiorization of values.
 educate to responsibility in daily life.
 seek ever new ways of being present.
ANIMATION is the way that salesian assistance actually occurs.
The assistant, as animator
 operates according to a way of understanding the human person (see notes on
animation).
 seeks to propose happiness in life as an objective
 uses a method which frees the individual (i.e. which is not paternalistic or
constricting).
 establishes a youthful style.
 sets up a strategy which educates in a unified way.
Don Bosco insisted on the importance of the environment as a vehicle for values. He saw
this environment as:
 a family spirit between educators and ones being educated.
 a place where happiness and interior calm reign.
 where the young can express themselves freely.
 demanding teamwork and an educative community.
To set up such a climate in a world influenced by so many other agents (for good or for ill),
it is necessary to:
 see it as something belonging to the whole community
 involve the young themselves in the process.
 keep close contact with their families.
 look out for gospel elements in that environment.
The educational environment becomes a complete reality involving persons, relationships
and organization.
THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
REASON AND EDUCATIVE "REASONABLENESS"
in the characteristic trinomial (reason, religion lovingkindness) of Don Bosco’s Preventive
System, reason is the element which binds and regulates the other two. Religion, for
example has to be ‘reasonable’. So must affection and kindness.
The basis for this reasonableness for Don Bosco is the belief in the inner strength of the one
being educated, and his openness to goodness and truth.
Reasonableness is shown in various ways:
 by means of clear ideas and aims accompanied by flexibility towards circumstances
and persons.
 the help given to the young to act out of conviction.
 the calm atmosphere created around them.
 the importance given to instruction and cultural and technical formation.
Don Bosco expressed many of his ideas in a letter all about punishments in which he urges
that correction be offered in a spirit of reason and lovingkindness:
For correction to be educative it is required that:
 it not be harsh
 recourse be had to moral sanctions where possible.
 look for the right moment.
 eventual action to be inspired by reason, love and faith.
Amongst those elements which can be readily translated into today’s terms are:
 reason seen as interpersonal dialogue.
 reason as education to depth.
 reason as initiation into critical evaluation.
 reason as personal awareness and respect for individual.
 reason as a help to the young person in understanding his inner resources.
 reason as functional, flexible and decentralized structures.
 reason as a positive offering.
THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
 Don Bosco assigned primary importance to religion both as a system and in its practice; in
conjunction with reason and lovingkindness it constitutes one of the basic pillars of human
selfhood. Its relationship to the other two elements is that it is their deepest expression.
So, what is meant by "religion"?
inasmuch as religion is seen as public life, for Don Bosco it meant the living out of the
Catholic faith in its doctrine, sacraments, lifestyle....
in today’s more secularized atmosphere, religion is to be understood as the recognition of
God as father and the acceptance of a lifestyle in conformity with this conviction.
Amongst the manifestations and religious offerings provided by Don Bosco in his system
and educational praxis, we can list:
 the climate or religious environment.
 the religious viewpoint about life.
 solid catechetical instruction.
 religious practice of prayer and sacramental life freely accepted.
 an apostolic outlook, both personal and group.
 the proposal of a personal path to holiness.
The ideal of holiness presented by Don Bosco is one of youthful holiness, and demonstrates
certain basic attitudes:
 life as a place for encounter with God.
 Christ to whom life is open and in whom one finds fullness of meaning.
 Human fullness - happiness and commitment to others.
 experience of Church as communion and service.
 vocation..understood as a human and Christian commitment.
 Mary, known as Help of Christians, who has experienced our life and already lived it
admirably as a way to holiness.
These six nuclei of salesian youth spirituality cannot be considered separately. They work
together mutually as a unified proposal of a Christian lifestyle.
 BIBLICAL VALUES

BIBLICAL TEACHING

We believe that the Bible is God’s inspired word to us (2Timothy 3:16). In it we meet Jesus Christ and
learn how he saves his people from their sins. (John 20:31; Acts 4:12). The Bible is true, living, active
and our ultimate authority for faith and life (Hebrews 4:12; 2Timothy 3:16). We are commanded to
teach the Bible to our children (Deuteronomy 11:18-21) as well as to others (Matthew 28:19-20). By
studying Scripture, we are equipped to serve God. (2 Tim 3:17).

DISCIPLESHIP

(EVANGELISM & MISSION)

Jesus' last command to His disciples before going up to heaven was to “make disciples of all nations”
(Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2). Jesus call shapes and directs our mission and ministry from our backyards
to the ends of the earth. It begins with evangelism as we call all people to respond in repentance and
faith to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Romans 10:9-15). Next, through Bible teaching and service, we
nurture and build up new disciples to maturity in Christ, equipping them for a life of self-sacrificial
discipleship and ministry. (2Timothy 3:16-17; Ephesians 4:11-13, Mark 8:34).

LOVING PEOPLE

Love is the primary attitude of the Christian life as expressed in the two great commandments – Love
the Lord your God and Love your neighbour as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). According to the example of
God and Christ, this love is self-sacrificial (John 15:9-17) and extends even to our enemies (Romans
5:8, Matthew 5:43-48). As Christians we are expected to love (John 4:7-8; Galatians 5:22). This love
puts the needs of others first and is reflected in patience, kindness, forgiveness, hospitality, service
and encouragement (1Corinthians 13:1-13; Romans 12:9-21; Hebrews 10:24)

FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness means to wipe clean, to pardon and to cancel the debt of someone who doesn’t deserve
it (Romans 4:4-8). By nature we are sinners and do not deserve forgiveness (Rom 3:23). But, in mercy
and grace, God has made forgiveness possible through the sin bearing sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ
(2Cor 5:21). Therefore, all who turn in repentance and faith in Christ will be forgiven (Col 1:13-14; Heb
9:22). As forgiven sinners we forgive, embodying what Jesus has done for us (Matt 6:14-15; 18:21-22;
Luke 11:4; 23:34; Eph 4:32; Col 3:13-14)

PRAYER

Prayer is the essential element of an active and dependant relationship with God the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit (Eph 6:18; 1Thess 5:17). Its importance was modelled and taught by Jesus (Matt 6:5-13;
19:13; Mark 1:35, 14:32; Luke 9:18; John 17) and its practice encouraged by Jesus (John 14:13-14)
because the Spirit intercedes (Rom 8:26-27). God tells us prayer is powerful (James 5:16) and so as a
church we pray (Neh 9; Acts 4:2). In Jesus name we pray for Gospel impact and Kingdom expansion.
We also praise, give thanks, confess, and intercede for one another in prayer (Acts 2:42; 6:1-7; Eph
1:15-23; 3:14-21).

GODLY LEADERSHIP

Leadership in Christ’s Church is carried out by mature Christians as witnessed in their character,
conviction and competence (1Tim 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9) According to the Bible, Christian Leadership is
shepherding leadership, where the shepherd cares for, feeds and protects the sheep (Acts 20:28-31).
It also models the Christian life before God’s people, setting them an example just like Jesus (John
13:15; 1Tim 4:12) as it teaches and proclaims the truth without diversion (2Tim 4:2-5).