The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has recently directed the State government to take measures for repatriation of eligible children staying in Child Care Institutions (CCIs) with their families.
The Commission observed that the number of Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) staying in children homes (CCIs) are in excess numbers, posing a risk to their rights and protection, and are deprived of a natural home atmosphere and parental affection.
The country’s apex child rights body noted that 1.84 lakh children (about 70%) are residing at CCIs in eight States, including Andhra Pradesh, out of a total of 2.56 lakh staying at children homes across the country.
Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Director Krithika Shukla said that 27,243 children were residing in 894 CCIs in the State before the lockdown. As per the directions of the Supreme Court, and in view of the COVID-19 rules, the WD&CW Department directed the CCIs to close schools running on their premises and repatriate eligible children with their families or guardians.
“At present, 2,675 children are staying at 265 government and private CCIs. Children who are orphans and could not be repatriated are residing in children homes,” Ms. Shukla said.
Child rights activists allege that child labour, abuse in some children homes, minor marriages and child trafficking were high, and the laws and Acts aimed for protecting children were not being implemented properly in the State.
“Due to poor coordination between Education, Endowments, Revenue, WD&CW and other departments, child marriages and child selling is rampant in the State. Some organisations are conducting meetings on implementation of related laws and sensitisation programmes just for the sake of formality and the resolutions are limited to paper,” an NGO representative fighting for child rights said.
Director General of Police (DGP) D. Gautam Sawang, at a press conference held recently, said police rescued nearly 11,000 children under ‘Operation Muskaan’ in A.P. in the last four years.
Many children who were separated from their families by being kidnapped and trafficked, or those who ran away from homes due to broken family conditions and poverty, were slogging at NGO homes, police officers who participated in the drive said.
Crime Investigation Department (CID) Additional Director General P.V. Sunil Kumar, who monitored the drive, said that around 4,800 children, including 3,600 girls and 59 from other States, were rescued during the sixth phase of Operation Muskaan conducted in June this year.
Commissioner (Labour) G. Rekha Rani, who participated in a meeting on child labour recently, said that steps are being taken to increase the number of National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Schools, also known as Special Training Centres, in the State as the number of children engaged in child labour was high.