KOCHI: In an effort to spread awareness on various issues faced by children and to ensure their safety, Childline Kerala is organising a slew of awareness programmes as part of the Child Rights Week celebration which will conclude on Friday.
The weeklong celebration which kicked off on November 14 showcased a slew of theme-based programmes. For the first time, Childline Kerala is planning to organise a bullet ride - ‘Ride for Safe Childhood’ - through selected routes in each district on Thursday.
According to Childline officials, the organisation has chosen to conduct programmes in rural areas this year. “A marathon was primarily organised in cities last year. The bullet ride will cover rural belts in each district. Only 15 riders will be allowed in each district, owing to Covid protocols. They will spread the importance of a safe childhood,” said Jobi A P, Childline district coordinator, Thiruvananthapuram.
As part of the programme, Childline officials stick child-friendly stickers at selected police stations in Thiruvananthapuram. Childline Kerala has also taken the effort to set up an interactive platform where selected children representatives from each district will get a chance to directly communicate with judicial officers and district police authorities.
“Child representatives from each district had raised several issues including lack of access to online education and why the government chooses to focus only on developing education infrastructure in the city limits and not schools in tribal settlements or rural areas.
We plan to organise an interactive section for selected children from each district with the state police chief and other judicial officers. We will be shortlisting issues that require decisions in the state level,” said Manoj Joseph, state programme head of Childline.