The Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Department, in association with the Child Rights Advocacy Foundation (CRAF), an NGO, is conducting ‘Bala Panchayats’ to develop leadership qualities among children and sensitise them on their rights. The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), being sponsored by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare and CRAF, which is supporting programmes on child rights at the State-level, is conducting workshops to promote child-friendly villages.
The objective of Bala Panchayats is to stop child marriages, abuse, sexual exploitation, child labour, implement Right to Education Act, prevent dropouts and malnutrition, violence against children and motivate them on schemes being implemented for them.
In the first phase, the government planned to conduct Bala Panchayats in 100 villages, said K. Krishna Kumari, Project Director, WD&CW Department of Krishna district.
Agenda
“In Bala Panchayats, the members will discuss child-related issues and solve the problems on their own with the help of village presidents, teachers, police and community heads. The panchayat members will alert the officials on child abuse, marriages and violence,” the official said.
CRAF programme director P. Francis Thambi said meetings were conducted at Madepalli, Tangellamudi, Dubacherla, Nidimukkala, Kanteru, Uppalapadu, Agiripalli, Vuyyuru and other villages in Guntur, Krishna and West Godavari districts.
“We planned to conduct child rights advocacy meetings on different issues in the State, and 33 core mandals in Krishna and Guntur districts under CRDA, with the participation of WD&CW PDs, District Child Protection Officers (DCPUs), Village Revenue Officers, teachers, ANMs and the Anganwadi workers,” Mr. Francis told The Hindu .
Balyam-Nyayam book
Recently, WE&CW secretary K. Sunitha released a book ‘Balyam-Nyayam’, published by CRAF in which the schemes sponsored by State and Central governments, child rights, laws and Acts, importance of child-friendly villages, Village and Mandal Child Protection Committees and need for conducting ‘Bala Panchayats’ were explained.
The books would be distributed to all Bala Panchayat and the Child Protection Committee members, said Krishna district DCPO Ch. Vijay Kumar.
