THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a move to motivate, encourage and help children wade through the tough times resulting from the Covid-19 outbreak, the Women and Child Development Department, as part of its ‘Our Responsibility to Children’ (ORC) initiative, has launched a one-of-a-kind programme titled ‘Kutty Desk’ in the state. Launched in the wake of the ongoing 21-day lockdown, the initiative involves specially trained children calling up their peers to educate them on the pandemic.
The importance of personal hygiene and tips on how to spend the summer vacation at home in a creative and self-enriching manner are some of the topics discussed. As many as 152 adolescents recruited for the programme have reached out to over 2,500 children in the state in the last five days. State programme officer of ORC Arya R Chandra said the initiative aims at building social commitment among children in the time of crisis “We want to motivate the kids and make them responsible. Also, as they are stuck at home because of the lockdown and are unable to go out and play, the volunteers of ‘Kutty Desk’ will talk to them and boost their morale,” said Arya.
Peer to peer
Around 10 to 20 children between 10 and 17 years have been recruited from each district with the help of nodal teachers of the schools where the ORC programme has already been implemented. The Kutty Desk was officially launched five days ago and will continue until the lockdown ends. Each child makes seven to 10 calls everyday.
State resource consultant of ORC Saif Mohammad said that special training has been given to the volunteers by experts including psychologists. “It’s more like guidance for children by children,” said Saif. As part of the initiative, the authorities have also launched a hashtag challenge on social media #breakchainmakechange, #missionbettertomorrow. “Children who have received calls from Kutty Dest can send in videos of their activities which would be published on the official social media pages of Our Responsibility to Children with these hashtags,” said Arya.