A district in Tripura is working on vulnerable children’s mental and physical well-being and overall development through counselling under a programme named ‘Diya Bati- One Mentor One Child’. The district is Sepahijala and government officers here mentor one vulnerable child each and provide them with all kinds of support.
The programme is the brainchild of District Magistrate Sepahijala, Vishwasree B (IAS), and besides helping vulnerable children, it is going a long way in reducing child marriages, too.
VULNERABLE CHILDREN IDENTIFIED
A survey was conducted in Sepahijala district to identify the vulnerable children on the basis of various parameters, such as economical background, family status, etc. In total, 1941 children were identified in the district and were grouped into 11 categories, which includes orphans, abandoned children, single parent children, differently abled, victims of child marriages, etc.
The Social Welfare and Social Education Department has many ongoing schemes that can support many of these children. However, there are some categories of children who require additional attention and who cannot be supported under the existing schemes.
“During the survey, we found out a good number of child marriage cases in the district. We wanted to tackle child marriages and empower children to learn to negotiate with their own lives. At the same time, we also wanted to have some role models for the children who they can look up to and then consider the career options before them.”
Ms. Vishwasree B, IAS, DM Sepahijala
Among such children is a vulnerable group of children who are studying in class IX to XII and are in the age group of 14-17 years. Children usually develop their physical and emotional growth and, also, make career decisions during this stage. Keeping all these things in mind, the district administration, under the guidance of Ms. Vishwasree, started several interventions.
ONE MENTOR, ONE CHILD PROGRAMME
‘Diya Bati- One Mentor One Child’ is a concept to provide support to any one child by one officer. The support is envisaged to be the time the officer spends with the child and guide him/her through the baffling times of their life. There are 243 children between classes IX to XII identified by the department and it is envisaged that 243 mentors will provide the required support to these children.
The project aims to protect the vulnerable children and provide them with new opportunities for growth and development. The programme is designed in such a manner that it has the potential to fill the vacuum in a vulnerable child’s life in both socio-economical and psychological ways.
For this, the mentor could be any officer from any department, Group A and B officers to start with. Later on, as per requirement, senior officers from armed forces, bankers and other professional backgrounds can also be included.
PROGRAMME SHOWING GOOD RESULTS
“We started this programme in August last year and, unexpectedly, a good response was seen from various departments as many came up to assist the vulnerable children of the district.”
Ms. Vishwasree B, IAS, DM Sepahijala
The mentors are matched with the children in such a way that there is accessibility and availability,like, for instance, matching girl children with woman officers, matching children to the workplace of a mentor, etc. Apart from this, support like career counselling, helping the child navigate through any personal problems, counselling them, encouraging them for extra-curricular activities like sports, arts etc., is also provided.
It has been not more than five months since this initiative kicked off and slight behavioural changes are already being seen in the children. They have started opposing their families on child marriages and are thinking about various career options to grow, instead.
