Kozhikode: Our Responsibility to Children (ORC), a project launched under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) of the Social Justice Department has failed to make an impact even after three years of inception.
Though in the first phase, Rs 50 lakh has been spent for the project which was aimed at mentoring and counselling of students who need special attention, no result has been achieved, according to officials at SJ department.
“Inaugurations and training to teachers and parents have been done. But not a single child has benefited from the project,” said a protection officer. “The department has no proper plan or vision to implement the project. Of late, we have undertaken a survey among students as part of strength and difficulty questionnaire (SDQ), which was a WHO criterion. But no follow-up action has been initiated,” he lamented.
Further, there is confusion as many goals set by the ORC are already a part of other programmes being implemented under ICPS. But ORC state resource consultant Mohammad Saif dismissed this and said, “there is no conflict between ORC and other programmes of ICPS. Actually, ORC is supplementing ICPS programmes. ICPS programmes address the juveniles who are in conflict with law. The effective implementation of ORC will reduce the number of such children,” he elaborated.
Another officer at SJ department told DC that social changes could not be assessed by figures. “Training given to teachers and parents would create a result in the long run,” he added.
The ORC project was implemented as a pilot in Kozhikode city by the then police commissioner P. Vijayan. In 2013, it got expanded as a state-wide project. Currently, it is being implemented in 93 schools in the state.
