Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR) today said initiatives are afoot to curb incidents of violations of Child Rights in the state.
A two-member JSCPCR team comprising of its chairman Roop Laxmi Munda and a member Ranjana Choudhury were in the steel city to take part in a function as well as to inspect the functioning of mid-meal provisions in a school here today.
Talking to reporters, Munda admitted that the Right to Eduction Act could not be implemented in the state properly owing to lack of awareness.
The people of the state, even in urban areas were not aware about the Act which was implemented in 2009, whereas the situation was rather worse in rural pockets, she said adding the commission has taken steps to launch awareness campaigns.
Among other steps taken by the JSCPCR, she said we want to set up grievance redressal cells in each block of the state to ensure smooth functioning of the commission.
Choudhury said the focus of the commission was to implement RTE in unaided government schools and make the Jharkhand education tribunal functional.
Asked about overall incidents of violation of child rights in Jharkhand, Choudhury said it was very bad and the state would be ranked around 22nd in the country, if the overall violation of child rights was taken into account.
Admitting shortage of manpower in the commission, she said majority of the schools in the state should have counsellors to address child-related problems.
Choudhury regretted that sensitive issues such as trafficking and child labour were taking place and stringent action was needed to tackle it.
She said the commission has recommended the Jharkhand government to set up homes to shelter victims and provide them vocational courses after 119 children of the state were recently rescued from Kerala.
