NEW DELHI: The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has released its annual report which states that the rights body has started a project to geotag anganwadi centers (AWC) in the city.
In an effort to strengthen accessibility of these AWCs, the commission has undertaken an exercise in collaboration with the Department of Women and Child Development to map them through Geographic Information System (GIS).
The project is underway and 10,702 AWCs will be brought under it. Once online, the system will enable users to search for AWCs based on search criteria such as district, PIN code and even Vidhan Sabha constituency.
The rights body hopes this will strengthen the service delivery mechanism within the department as the AWCs had proved helpful in the fight against the pandemic.
In addition, to generate more data which will help monitor attendance at schools, given that attendance is a leading indicator of any adversity which may be faced by the child, DCPCR is in the process of setting up a monitoring system for children from economically weaker sections (EWS) studying in city schools.
The system would send SMS to the authorities to identify children who are at a greater risk of dropping out and help to retain them in the formal education system. DCPCR recommended to the Directorate of Education to consider the launch of the student tracker in December 2020 and the tracker is now live and may start functioning in the 2021-22 academic year, the report says.
The report also reveals the impact of the pandemic on children and says children’s social, emotional and cognitive growth have been compromised. The rights body says it registered 19,000 calls during the pandemic which were mainly related to facing emotions like loneliness, irritability and anxiety.
Besides this, the distress calls also involved queries from children about best ways to pass time and from parents seeking advice on keeping children meaningfully engaged. The rights body also noted that lockdowns generated anxiety and stress issues in children. Hence, on a pilot basis, it collaborated with the NGO Protsahan to initiate a counselling programme.
The report also notes that tracing of children who go missing in the city remains at a slow pace. On an average 6,000 children go missing in Delhi every year. Last year, 5,227 FIRs were lodged wherein children were reported missing.
Out of these cases only 1,690 children have been traced by July 2021. A total of 48 of these children were found to be survivors of sexual abuse.
The right steps
6,668 cases resolved by the commission from April 2020 to March 2021
10,702 anganwadi centres to be mapped under Geographic Information System initiative
6,000 average no. of kids missing in city a year
8 lakh beneficiaries registered with anganwadi centres
3 de-addiction centres currently running for children
5,227 FIRs were lodged in 2020 related to children going missing. Out of these only 1,690 have been traced by July 2021. A total of 48 of these kids were found to be survivors of sexual abuse