VIJAYAWADA: Women Development and Child Welfare (WDCW) department of Andhra Pradesh launched the second phase of Kishori Vikasam project here on Thursday. As a part of this project, officials have roped in thousands of young girls as ‘peer group resource persons’ to educate abandoned and rescued girls from across the State.The first phase of this programme was launched by the government in 2017 and awareness programmes for adolescent girls were conducted.
The first phase covered girls who lived in government residential institutions such as welfare hostels and KGBVs and were in the age group of 14 to 18 years. The first phase was a success, encouraging the government to take up the second phase. Addressing the gathering, Minister Paritala Sunitha said AP ranks second in country in human trafficking, and through these programmes, the situation is expected to become better. “There was a time when women were treated with respect but now, they are ill-treated. Girls are being deceived in the name of love. We hope that this project will create awareness among girls and prevent uncalled for incidents.”
In the first phase, over 2 lakh girls studying in 900 schools were trained and in the second phase, 11,000 schools are being covered. As many as 22 lakh girls will be trained.H Arun Kumar, commissioner of WDCW, said, “The second phase of Kishori vikasam was planned with care and we made a few changes to overcome the limitations we came across in the first phase. Students will be training other students in this phase, and the interaction will be beneficial for them.”
The objective of Kishori Vikas is to educate and create awareness among adolescent girls in areas of gender awareness, menstrual health and hygiene, nutrition, social issues like child marriages, child abuse, child trafficking, and career.