Grass root campaign to curb child violence

Thiruvananthapuram: As part of its effort to ensure early intervention to prevent growing violence happening against children the Directorate of Women and Child Development is gearing up to launch a grass root level mass campaigning with the help of district, block and local body level child protection committees across the state.

The department is planning to join hands with various departments concerned including police, NGOs, local bodies in every area to ensure immediate intervention.

According to statistics, around 4008 crime cases were reported in the state in 2018 against children which is very high compared to the previous years. In 2017, the number of cases registered was 3543 and in 2016 it was around 2,881.

Director of Women and Child Development She-eba George told DC that the main aim of the initiative is to bring awareness among the public and make them socially responsible to report if such violence happens to a child.  She said that the ChildLine number –1091 –would be popularised among the public.  She said that the department is planning to revamp the committees at the grass root level to ensure public participation.

“If they see such atrocities against children the citizens could inform about it to the protection committees, anganwadi workers or police. We are also planning for good parenting lessons to the parents,” Sheeba George added.

With instances of violence against children on the rise, the Directorate of Women and Child Development have decided to launch a vulnerability survey exclusively focusing on children in the state to prevent abuse of children effectively.

As per an annual survey carried out by the Social Justice Department in 2017-18 in the state, there are around 7,25,178 women headed families, 2,05,071 single-parent families  and 3,2564 families with remarried parents. As per the survey, there are 94685 families with alcoholic parents.