Child Protection
How we are working towards child protection
The Govt. of India has taken various steps such as UNCRC and the Sustainable Development Goals to ensure that children and adolescents are not exploited. However, to our dismay, a lot remains to be done. Even after all the steps taken by the various governments formed since independence, almost 45% of children in the country are malnourished, around 30% of children are still out of school, and over 20,000 children are victims of child marriage, trafficking, child labour, abuse & exploitations.
For us at SWS, it is our challenge to reach out to every child in this region of Sunderbans and protect them from the ills of child marriage, child labour, abuse & exploitations. Provide them with their basic rights; give them access to quality education and necessary health & nutrition.
By reaching out to the children and their families, we ensure that these children have access to the ‘Ánganwadis’ and Government schools. Connect with the families to ensure that economic constraints do not force their children to drop out of school and get shackled in the clutches of child labour. SWS organises family and community awareness programs to ensure that the children & adolescents are encouraged to study by their parents and society.
One of our primary concerns revolves around the growing number of children involved in child labour, child marriage and child trafficking. We cooperate with various local Child Protection Committees and local administration to protect many children. As the islands are close to the border area with Bangladesh, infiltrations happen, and children become victims of such circumstances.
Some of the major initiatives of the organization include
Sankalpa
‘Sankalpa’ is a sensitization program on child marriage and child trafficking implemented by the Government of West Bengal. Through their cooperation and help we have reached out to more than 12000 children. We have been able to sensitize issues such as child rights, child marriage, child trafficking and Right to Education in Hingalganj Block.
Children Parliament
The purpose of setting up this children parliament was to encourage students from the schools to keep track of their peer groups and report to SWS for required support. If something raises serious concern, we forward it to the higher authorities.
Swayangsiddha
‘Swayangsiddha’ is an initiative taken by the West Bengal Police, and it has the primary goal of combating human trafficking and preventing child marriage. ‘Swayangsiddha’ means ‘self-reliant’. The project aims at empowering young girls and boys with knowledge and skills so that they are aware, alert, able to make informed choices and are less vulnerable to violation and abuse of their rights. SWS has been given the responsibility of the application of this initiative by the Basirhat District Police. We cover four different locations- Haroa, Hasnabad, Hingalganj and involve more than 20,000 students.
Strengthening Child Protection Committees (CPC)
This is a statutory structure under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) for setting up a mechanism to provide protection services to children. SWS has been coordinating with District Child Protection Societies for necessary capacity building of the CPC members and formalises their operations at the grassroots level. DONATE NOW
