Let’s Equip Ourselves for Better Child Welfare to Protect Our Young Citizens

1. ABOUT US ISSUES AND VIEWS CREATING IMPACT HOW YOU CAN HELP BLOG CONTACT US Search Here Let’s Equip Ourselves for Better Child Welfare to Protect Our Young Citizens Home / Blog / Let’s Equip Ourselves for Better Child Welfare to Protect Our Young Citizens PDF generated automatically by the HTML to PDF API of PDFmyURL

2. Let’s Equip Ourselves for Better Child Welfare to Protect Our Young Citizens 03 OCTOBER, 2017 / POSTED IN : BLOG , BUDGET FOR CHILDREN, CHILD PROTECTION, CHILD RIGHTS, CHILD RIGHTS POLICIES / 0 : COMMENT When an unfortunate incident happens with children, it fills our heart and soul with immense grief and anger. In India, every fifth minute there is an occurrence of crime against children, however what shakes us the most in the Ryan International case is the fact that crime took place within the four walls of the school which is considered to be safe place for a child. There are numerous cases which time and again have proven that protection of children at school level is clearly compromised. This recent untowardly incident has escalated the much needed aspect of child protection at school level. It is certain that at present school PDF generated automatically by the HTML to PDF API of PDFmyURL

3. going children and children who access any such institution such as an Anganwadi, private play school, crèche, day care center or other institutions are not completely protected. Child welfare and protection isn’t a simple process which can be fixed with ensuring some minimum required protocols in place. It is about a range of things starting from empowering children themselves to establishing clear accountabilities. It is about prevention, timely response/action and in cases of violation a decisive action by duty bearers involving punitive action followed by speedy closure of a case. A child resides in an ‘adult dominated world’, and sadly our notion of safety is not ‘child-centric’. We conveniently assume that children are at risk with a stranger or a school bus driver and not at risk with a relative. We are extremely worried when a child is exposed to risk if s/he crosses a heavy traffic road and we don’t find it threatening when s/he sits for 6 hours in a dilapidated school / Angwandi building. We often say ‘world outside it very bad’, but often do not invest in making children learn about personal safety which could arise from known people or complete strangers. In India, the perception and palpability of risk for children is very low. The overall understanding that children’s protection encompasses a lot of obvious as well as obscure aspects and it is something which is not understood and acted upon by duty bearers and caregivers of children. As a non government organization, when we look at children’s protection in the realm of school safety we somewhere narrow the holistic protection. We are today in a society where a lot of times violation of children’s right within the school is not even seen as anything wrong. On a daily basis children face various forms of corporal punishment, they are shamed, beaten, discriminated, mistreated and in most of the cases it is considered ‘normal’ or a way to ‘discipline’ children. The powerful adult doesn’t even comprehend the damage done intentionally or un-intentionally to the child’s psyche. The protection canvas for children is much wider and entails everything which makes the child access to school and stay safe inside the school. On one end it is about making sure that road to school and transport to school is safe and on the other hand it is also about operationalising the laid out protocols and guidelines and making child protection an intrinsic part of educational institute’s ethos and institutional laid out principles. It is about working on preventive aspects with building greater awareness and equipping adults to address issues of child protection and appropriately respond. It is investing in building the agency in children and empowering them to act, react and seek help whenever their safety is compromised. And most importantly having conversations with children and making options available for children to let them confide and talk. The main objective is to save childrenfrom any atrocity or problems. PDF generated automatically by the HTML to PDF API of PDFmyURL

4. There is a dire need for us as a society to invest in child support and safety and considerably bring about a systemic change in every aspect which touches a child’s world. For the population of 444 million children under the age of 18 years, we have allocated only 1062 crores for Child Protection in 2017-18 Union Budget out of which highest share going to Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) of 648 crores. There is almost negligible budget parked for awareness building and preventive aspects. Investment in laying down various preventive mechanisms is extremely crucial and for which increased investment in human resource, training as well as technology is imperative. The discourse cannot just curtail itself to having better facilities in school bus, replacing all staff with female staff in the school. We as a non profit organizationknow that a large number of children in India walk to school, access over crowded private transport and public buses and forget closed circuit television camera, the sheer availability of electricity is absent. The need of the hour is strong political will and clearly laid out accountabilities for duty bearers in order to protect our young citizens and create mass awareness and sensitization to build a society where every adult does everything it takes in their will, and capacity to make sure all children are always safe. We at CRY aim to assemble facilities and activities that are critical for children and their welfare. You can be a part of us too. By doing online donation, you can help and extend your support to the children. This is how you can contribute to the society and nation as a whole. The writer, Anuja Kastia is Associate General Manager, Policy & Advocacy, CRY    PDF generated automatically by the HTML to PDF API of PDFmyURL

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