Kerala’s Women and Child Development dept. to brand products made by children in homes under Nirbhaya Cell

Minister releases logo for ‘Uyare;’ 16-18 year-old children are trained in cloth-bag making, apparel making, preparing food products and baking, and crafts as part of their rehabilitation

A cloth bag made by children living in homes under the State Nirbhaya Cell with the Uyare logo on its tag.

The Women and Child Development department in Kerala has decided to market under a brand and a logo products made by children in the 16-18 age group who are residents of homes under the State Nirbhaya Cell.

Products such as apparel, food items, and crafts made by select children of entry homes, integrated child care centres, and model homes for girls under the State Nirbhaya Cell are being branded under the name Uyare as part of the Tejomaya scheme.

Logo released

Minister for Women and Child Development Veena George released the logo of Uyare here recently in the presence of Women and Child Development Director Haritha V. Kumar and State Nirbhaya Cell coordinator Sreela Menon.

Ms. Menon said that children in homes under the cell were encouraged to study. However, those who were less academically inclined or had some special needs and were in the 16-18 age group were given vocational training as part of Tejomaya.

Often, such children could not be sent back home for their family members were not ready to receive them, or the children were still not safe in their homes or neighbourhood, or financial conditions of the family prevented proper care of the children. Tejomaya was designed to give such children skill training so that they could earn an income and become rehabilitated.

Launched in 2020

Tejomaya was launched in October 2020, and 20 of the 22 children who were part of it were given skill training and placed in various job sectors such as care and hospitality industry. Two of the children went on to study further.

Initially, the children were trained in areas where demand was steady and could be ventured into without a huge initial cost such as cloth-bag making, apparel making, preparation of food products and baking, and crafts. Trainers were deployed to guide the students. The products were displayed in exhibitions held at St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam, to a good response, Ms. Menon said.

At present, 16 children are undergoing training under the scheme at Tejomaya homes and four more will join soon.

Along with the training, it was decided to market the bags, crafts, food, and apparel made by the children under the brand name of Uyare so that more people become aware of the products and purchased them, Ms. Menon said.

Aid rehabilitation

The idea is to build a corpus fund from the product sales by the time the children are ready for rehabilitation and use it to aid their rehabilitation.

They are helped to set up bank accounts and are educated on increasing their savings before being placed. A minimum year-long follow-up is also done after the placements.

A training unit and a sales unit are planned to be set up in a building under the Nirbhaya cell at Kakkanad. Online marketing would also be considered if the production increases.

Ms. Menon said their main focus was on children who were not faring well in academics as their future was uncertain. “After the age of 18, children who are not going back to their families will not have much of a support system. They should not end up becoming vulnerable again.”

Young adults living in the department’s Aftercare homes would also be given such vocational training to ease their rehabilitation into society, she said.