From the Kottoor forests to the skyscrapers of the Gulf countries. This summer vacation, two differently abled children hailing from tribal settlements in Kottoor will fly to the Gulf countries as part of a programme of the Alappuzha municipality.
Their journey outside Kottoor, near here, kicked off with Agasthyante Poompattakal, a programme of the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) for tribal children, over two years ago. The two children had not seen the world beyond when a DCPU team came across them in January 2017. With Agasthyante Poompattakal, the DCPU initiated a clutch of measures to improve the lot of tribal children. Overcoming many hurdles, the two boys were sent to the Social Justice Department’s Care Home for Disabled Children in Alappuzha that summer. They are now independent and studying well. One of them has been fitted with an artificial leg too.
It is such discernible changes that Agasthyante Poompattakal aims at bringing about in the lives of tribal children in Kottoor. The programme, which focusses on 13 of the most interior settlements of Kottoor, is now entering the third phase.
Sustained efforts
When it was launched, there were many children who did not go to school or had dropped out for various reasons. Sustained interventions, including vacation camps, have seen children even from the Anakaal tribal settlement head to school.
In the third phase, the DCPU is keen to ensure the involvement of the local people in the outreach programme.
It sees the role of village- level child protection committees, chaired by the panchayat president and with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) supervisor as convener, as critical for the care and protection of children, the involvement and supervision of the child protection committee in Kuttichal panchayat is being ensured for schemes rolled out for tribal children. One of the schemes is a mobile anganwadi to make nutritional supplements available to children at their doorstep.
As the ICDS lacks any provision to transport the supplements to where the children live, the DCPU plans to transport the supplements, along with eggs, twice a month to the doorsteps of 80 children.
Medical camps for assessment of health status and providing referral services were held in the first two phases of the programme.
This year, it has been decided that once the DCPU prepares a list of children in whose case interventions are needed, follow-ups will be held in each case by the child protection committee. Field work by social work students will be held, as also two vacation camps for the children in two age groups, similar to those in the two earlier phases. The Integrated Tribal Development Project is providing ₹5.25 lakh for the camps.
