Preparing a database of mentally-challenged children and imparting vocational training to them are the major suggestions that came up during a discussion held by the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) here on Wednesday on issues faced by such children. Senior officials of Education, Health and Social Justice Departments, NGOs and representatives of special schools participated in the meeting chaired by KSCPCR Chairperson Neela Gangadharan.
Appropriate performance appraisal and tracking of children’s progress in regular schools, imparting training to health personnel, strengthening community-level detection by training anganwadi teachers were other issues discussed.
Funding for procuring appropriate equipment for mentally-challenged children and after-care programmes once the children reach 18 years came up for discussion in the meeting. However, the stress was on the need to impart vocational training to them, officials said.
Social Justice Department, Social Security Mission and Health Department have stated their initiatives for early detection of disabilities and moves to strengthen care for mentally-challenged children.