with the increase in avenues for expression it is now children who are taking initiatives to make a difference in society recently it was the video of a 12yearold egyptian boy named ali ahmed that went viral not because of any unbelievable trick but because of his precise explanation of the countrys crisis the little boy in an interview said im here today to help prevent egypt from becoming a commodity owned by one person and to protest the confiscation of the constitution by one single party not long before ali amazed viewers across the globe it was 16yearold malala yousafzais speech on the need for education at the un general assembly that got people to take note the young girl from pakistan who was shot in the head and neck by the taliban in october last year on her way back home from school urged all governments to ensure free and compulsory education for children across the world malala who follows gandhis philosophy of nonviolence also threw light on the various problems children in countries such as india nigeria and afghanistan face but malalas speech also brings to the fore some very important questions about children and their capabilitiestrusting their abilities revathy rukmini the asia representative of an ngo that works with the disabled says that children are often underestimated due to traditional thinking patterns there are a lot of avenues for children to express their ideas today children who wish to address a cause can raise their voice at the youth and children parliaments and since these are institutions that are linked with the child rights convention by which their rights are protected and propagated it is beneficial for children and society at large says revathy adding it is important to trust their abilities as children can do many things and do them differently which could often be more effectivechanging the education system ritesh agarwal the 19yearold entrepreneur from odisha who founded a travel booking company two years ago and recently won a globallypriced technology award expresses his displeasure with the countrys education system theres a huge problem in the general education system and thats why bored youngsters look to discover new areas of interest and with the increase in the availability of information on the internet and the media being very youthoriented in their style of presentation youngsters are far more connected to the world today which allows them to take significant initiatives says ritesh agreeing with ritesh is 23yearold ashwini but only differently several colleges across the country do not have basic facilities such as libraries and computers for the differentlyabled its important to address this to provide differentlyabled students with equal educational facilities says ashwini who is the national facilitator of a global project that advocates for the rights of the differentlyabled youthguiding them the right way dr anita kurup who anchors the education programme for children at a leading institution says children today have access to a lot of information hence its a