BeyondHeadlines News Desk
Jamia Millia Islamia’s Social Work Department has organized an event around the issue of street children in collaboration with SATHI, and highlighted the need for community collaboration for the sake of street children.
The event also saw the release of a book “Rescuing Railway Children” brought out by Sage Publications. The authors of the book, Malcolm Harper and Lalitha Iyer were present on the occasion and shared with insights and journey of writing the book.
Mr. Pramod Kulkarni, Secretary of SATHI began the event with a perspective building on the issue. The interface between the Child Welfare Committee and runaway children and the potential that the system holds was shared by an erstwhile chairperson of Child Welfare Committee, Dr. Bharti Sharma.
The Country Director of Railway Children, Mr. S. Naveen Sellaraju talked about the contextual difference in the situation of railway children across the country and the differential strategies being adopted by its various partner organizations.
Mr. Premodaya Khakha from the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Delhi also presented the implementation of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme. He urged the participants to critique the government but at the same time understand the progressive efforts being made by the government.
Fr. George Kollashany, who was instrumental in initiating a pioneering effort for working with children on the streets more than 30 years ago, talked about the need for people to bring out the child within them. He talked about the dogmatic thinking which moves us away from the differential needs of the child.
Mr. Sudhir Kumar, IAS, who was earlier the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development and also the Chief Guest for the occasion, stated that there could not be any mathematical formul to work with children. He urged upon the civil society professionals to step up their advocacy initiatives in order to ensure the effective implementation of various schemes for children.
India today stands at crossroads where the official estimates state that the street children in the country number 11,000,000; the issue requires a diversified approach to address the unique needs of each of these children.
The event generated an intensive discussion among the professionals and students about the utilitarian value of the juvenile justice system. The significance of collaboration between practitioners and academicians in strengthening advocacy was affirmed through this initiative.
