Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR) Chairperson Aarti Kujur on Thursday admitted that in a time when government kept pushing development programmes for adolescents so seriously with no misery of funds at any level, stakeholders also needed to work closely in consultation with each other while their goals distinctly divided in order to avoid confusion among their area of work.
In State level Convergence Consultation on Adolescent Empowerment organised in association with UNICEF and Plan India, Commission Chairperson also said that all the stakeholders were performing well with whatever work undertaken, and expressed visible change in life and livelihood of adolescents sooner than expected. “I must say that everyone working in the field of adolescent empowerment in State since some time, be it UNICEF, Plan India or any other organisation, has done tremendously well,” said Kujur.
She however also said that adolescents in State faced, and remained facing malnutrition, lack of education, trafficking and many other things which kept on resulting in curse for the State. “But good thing is that the subject which was nowhere in picture even at thought process of government until as recently as few years ago has become an integral part of development agenda of the government, and this paradigm shift of focus has started yielding positive returns,” said Kujur on the sidelines of programme.
The programme discussed plans being run by Union and State governments for adolescents in State including Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS), Rashtriya Kishori Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), SABlA, Balika Samridhi Yojna, Sarv Siksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA), National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary level (NPEGEl), Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), Kishori Swasthya Swachata Karyakram, Integrated Child Protection Scheme and other at length and their performance and hurdles so far and possibilities ahead.
Welfare Department Assistant Director Gunjan Kumari Sinha said during programme that the department was undertaking so many programmes for adolescents. “It is pleasant to see that adolescents are being educated about their rights and the programmes being run for them. It is more pleasant to see on grounds that children are getting aware about it,” added Sinha.
In the programme in which ICPS Director Rajesh Singh, UNICEF Child Protection Officer Priti Srivastava, Anup Hore (Plan India), many other stakeholders and children were present, Kujur said that the efforts of getting all stakeholders together to have programmes for adolescents more impactful were being made. “This is a new effort and we are sure of witnessing visible changes in lives of adolescents sooner,” added Kujur.