Over 10 years after Childline India Foundation's toll free 1098 helpline was launched in the city, awareness of the round-the-clock emergency service is still low. Data collected as part of a survey conducted among students of various Chennai Schools shows that 85 per cent of the respondents are unaware about the helpline.
The study by the students of Madras School of Social Work as part of their project ‘Bridge – get connected,' in association with the Department of Education, Chennai Corporation, was released on Friday. Among the respondents who knew about the existence of the childline helpline, a majority did not know the correct number. Over 900 Chennai School students in the 11-16 age groups were interviewed as part of the survey. Nearly 54 per cent of the respondents said they had come across children abandoned or lost, on the streets.
“As a follow-up to the survey, we are planning to request mobile service providers the 1098 helpline number in the list of pre-saved numbers in the SIM card,” said Benedict, one of the student coordinators of the project.
Talking in a workshop for teachers of Chennai Schools, Chandra Thanikachalam, honorary general secretary, Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW), Tamil Nadu, said in the last five years the Council handled close to 85,000 calls from the helpline. Childline India Foundation collaborates with three partners in the city – Don Bosco Anbu Illam, Marialaya and ICCW. She said school teachers were an effective tool to help the Council. “A child or any concerned adult can make a call to the Childline helpline but make sure the information they give is correct,” she said.
Vijay Baskar, senior programme coordinator, Childline India Foundation, spoke about the role of teachers in protecting the rights of children.
A teacher should speak to the child, find out what is threatening the safety of the child and talk to the family, if need be, he said.
Ranjani from the Education Department of the Corporation, Fatima Vasanth, principal cum secretary of the College and K. Sathyamurthi, coordinator of the ‘Bridge – get connected' project spoke.
