Hyderabad: Telangana is one of the states where the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had to intervene many times in order to pressurise the government to act on various issues related to the welfare of children.
In September, the commission sent two letters to the Chief Secretary’s office seeking protection for girls in Khammam district and asking it to do something to stem the high rate of school dropouts — the highest in Telangana.
The commission’s letter of September 28 to Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, was about the death of 26 tribal girls, who died of snake and scorpion bites in their hostels in Khammam district in the last two years. Commission chairperson Stuti Kacker wrote that its representatives had inspected three hostels in Khammam districts and found the inmates were in great danger. She asked the CS to transfer the children to safer facilities and ensure 24-hour ambulance service and a dedicated doctor in the tribal residential schools in Khammam.
Another letter to Mr Rajiv Sharma on September 20 asked the government to take immediate steps to stop kids dropping out from schools due to financial reasons.
As per records, the commission has sent six letters to the Telangana State government since 2014.
Child rights activists say that the crude government policies on child protection have proved to be disastrous, which is why state bodies like NCPCR had to intervene over and over again.
