Ukhrul children home dry of state grant

IMPHAL, Jan 31: Coalition on Children’s Right to Protection (CCRP), Manipur, recently conducted a two-day field visit on January 29 and 30 to assess the condition of children in Ukhrul district as per the guidelines of the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA).
The only government aided children home of Ukhrul district located at Alungtang was found to be on holiday with all the children sent out on leave since December 23 last year.
According to the members of management committee, the state government has not sanctioned the grant-aid for the last eight months.
The members of management committee have been contributing regularly to keep the home functional but from the last week of December the home ceased to function mainly due to financial constraints.
They said that all the 25 children at home had to be sent out on leave on the pretext of Christmas and other village festivals and added the home would function again after receiving the grant-aid from the social welfare department.
A joint application of all the eight government aided homes of Manipur has already been submitted to the social welfare department urging for timely release of grant-aid and other funds along with the implementation of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) in the state, the members noted.
Assistant coordinator of CCRP, Athokpam Chinglemba asserted that non release of grant-aid for running children homes by the state government is a violation of survival and protection rights of the children.
CCRP also visited the primary schools of Koso and Leishi village of Phungyar assembly constituency. These two schools were established long back in the 1960s but the government has not taken up anything for the development of the schools. The schools have no proper building and infrastructure and lack the necessary teaching staff with just one or two teachers. 
The villagers stated that education in not possible in their villages and so the parents have to send their wards to Ukhrul town or Imphal for education. The poor children who cannot study in towns are often engaged in agrcultural works thereby depriving their right to education, they added.
However, a change can be seen in the village education system in the last two years with the initiative of Participatory Action for Sustainable Development Organisation (PASDO) which is taking up the communitization of education programme under the sponsorship of MISERIOR, Germany, they noted.
The village education system has been revived to some extent with the induction of such programme. The village primary schools which were once defunct are now functioning with about 25 students. The welfare and development of the schools have been entrusted to the village education committee (VEC) with some financial support from PASDO, said H. Thotchuilla, executive secretary of PASDO, Ukhrul.
CCRP also interacted with the officials of district administration and social activists during the two-day visit.
Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) of Ukhrul block, Timna Hongray stated the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) is being taken up effectively in the district with about 800 anganwadi centres and 200 mini anganwadi centres functioning actively in the district.
The honorarium of workers and helpers along with the required nutritional items of the anganwadi centres are dispatched regularly from the department but there are reports that the anganwadi workers are facing great inconvenience during transaction at the bank as the clearance takes nearly one month, she maintained.
Regarding the sub-standard food items being supplied to the anganwadi centres, she said the food items are supplied by FCI and so the department has nothing to do with the quality of the supplied items.
Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Ukhrul, Wungpam Kashar maintained that there are lots of child related issues in the district like drug abuse, trafficking and child labour but the people are unwilling to consult and take help from the police.
The police also needs to be sensitized on Juvenile Justice Act for safeguarding the child rights but at present the role of police in juvenile cases is limited due to lack of observation home and non-functional of the juvenile justice board (JJB) which is supposed to handle the cases of juvenile delinquency, the SDPO noted.
Chairperson of Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Ukhrul district, Gajendra Prasad Mohanty maintained that protection of child rights is a very complicated issue having social and economic implications.
Non-functional of government schools may be termed as a major factor for high rate of school drop-out in the Ukhrul district which again leads to various other social issues of child delinquency, child labour, drug abuse and even trafficking, he noted.
Drug abuse is on the rise amongst children who have come to the town from far off villages for studying. They stay in rented houses without any parental supervision and guidance and as a result most of them begin to use narcotic drugs considering as a fashion and from peer pressure, Gajendra stated.
Also many girls from the villages have abandoned their homes in search of lucrative jobs in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai etc. and in many cases they were found in prostitution, he added.
All social issues related to child rights can be resolved only when the Juvenile Justice Act is implemented effectively for care, support and protection of children in the state, the chairperson of CWC maintained strictly.