Chennai
In the US there is PBS Kids, in UK there is Cbeebies and in Australia they have ABC Kids. What is common among these three channels is that they target pre-primary and primary school children and are government- run public broadcasting services supported by departments of child welfare, education and are absolutely advertisement free. A combination difficult to emulate in India. The existing Gyan Darshan is akin to Cinderella, given a step motherly treatment with no appreciable content for children of pre-primary and primary school kids. Whatever little is available is also mostly in Hindi, further alienating the non-Hindi speaking regions.
Private players on the other hand have limited original content. English and dubbed versions of international shows are their prime content. Didn’t we all grow up with He-Man and Tom and Jerry? So this is acceptable to the extent they are in English. The dubbed versions many times are replete with shockingly inappropriate language for kids (For instance dei panni thalaya is definitely not funny). I really look forward to indigenous content in Tamil, that I can expose my kids to.
While India is the outsourced hub for many Hollywood animation movies, the original content that we have for ourselves are few and far between. The ones available are full of violence and aimed at marketing merchandise with a highly accented Indian English. Even if we strive to match the international players in content, will we be able to sustain an absolutely advertisement free kids channel? If it is not economically viable at least strong advertising guidelines need to be framed.
As a mother of 5-year-old twins, I empathise with fellow moms who are pushed to substitute television as a virtual baby sitter and pay the price later due to strong impact of advertising on young impressionable minds. I just hope that as a nation we truly celebrate children and give them their due.
Vidya Pinto is a parent counsellor and a communication specialist
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