NO LEATHER SHOES IN SCHOOLS

Objective : To sensitize schoolchildren and authorities about the disadvantages of using leather shoes. To educate them about effective and better alternatives.

Disadvantages of Leather Shoes:

• Black leather shoes for children are expensive, almost five times higher than canvas shoes.

• You cannot wash them.

• Black polish is not just smelly and messy but attracts dust and the shoes become grey and dirty within a few minutes of polishing them.

• Children often rub them against their socks and then the socks become difficult to clean. They scuff easily. Leather shoes stink as sweat is not absorbed by the leather.

• They weigh a lot and are certainly not at all flexible. They attract fungus easily becoming health hazards.

• They serve no purpose - children have to change into other shoes to play games or to even walk for any length. They are not economical or healthy.

SO WHY DO WE WEAR THEM ?

Better Alternative : Canvas Shoes

Advantages of Canvas Shoes:

• Canvas Shoes are cheaper.

• They can be washed easily.

• They are resistant to fungus.

• Their polish is not environmentally harmful nor does it smell

• They are lightweight, flexible and comfortable.

• They can be used for sports, to jog in , as both casual wear and school uniform.

• You can get them in any colour.
Facts about Leather – The Animal Angle

• Leather is ridden with cruelty to both animals and humans. Cows are trucked in overcrowded trucks, dying from their injuries. They are beaten brutally while loading and unloading.

• Thousands are walked to the slaughterhouses tied to each other by their noses, bleeding and thirsty.

• Slaughterhouses like Al Kabeer take off the skin of the animal while it is still alive so that it is softer. The slaughterhouses in Kerala beat the cows to death by hammering their heads in. Cows are regularly poisoned so that a ready stock of skin is available. No leather in India is made from naturally dead cows - nor will it ever be, Khadi Gramudyog's lies notwithstanding.

Facts about Leather – The Ecological Angle

• To process the leather , the most toxic chemicals in the world are used. Chromium, lead,cyanide, sulfides, ammonia,chlorides, various acids,heavy metals. These are let out of the tanneries which , in India , have no respect for any environmental laws , and seep into the ground and the rivers. From the time the Ganges reaches Kanpur, it dies becasue of the chemicals thrown into it. The rivers of Chennai are the same - can Tamil Nadu afford this ?

• Leather tanning uses huge amounts of water About 40 litres of chemical infused water is discharged for every single kg of skin. This has led to toxic pollution in the food we eat as the Ganges water is taken out and used for irrigation and drinking. Water for miles around tanneries becomes toxic . Everything smells. Cancers become common.

Facts about Leather - The Human Angle

• Hundreds of papers have been written about the large scale poisoning of our waters by the leather industry. The fate of the workers, the poorest of the poor, is less known.

• Most of them suffer from skin poisoning, dermatitis and cancer, blood pressure, kidney failure, dysentery, rheumatic fever. Jaundice and tuberculosis is common. Fever is a normal state of being. People who live around tanneries weigh less, wheeze often, have ulcerated eyes and asthma.

The largest group of leather users are school children. The 16 schools that have stopped using leather in Chennai means 26,000 children are out of the leather market and contribute that much more to India's well-being. Chandigarh schools have also started a movement to stop leather.

What You Can Do

• If you are a student - Take this article to your principal and see if he/she can change the school's insistence on an item of clothing that is bad for the child and India.

• If you have children – Take this article to the Principal of your childs’ school and ask them to change from leather to canvas.

• Stop using leather shoes and other leather products.

• Educate your friends about leather as well and ask them to do the same