All ‘Force’ isn’t bad, discovered the Child Members of the Gorubathan Children’s Club while chatting with the Superintendent of Police (SP), Kalimpong, Darjeeling, West Bengal.

The Children’s Clubs exist both in the village and block levels, and these children members of Gorubathan block’s Children’s Club, comprised children from the remote areas of the block, where children are exposed to the risks of child labour, trafficking, and poor access to education, due to the geographical remoteness. These are the kind of issues these members of Children’s Club have acted upon by spreading awareness and information in their communities; and reporting child labour to Anugyalaya Darjeeling Diocesan Social Service Society (ADDSSS) for required actions, after being oriented on the concerns of child protection and development by the organisation, shared Master Roshan Rai, a member of the Children’s Club.

“Child labour has been reducing, but the cases of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) are on the rise,” lamented the Superintendent of Police, Mr. Ajeet Singh Yadav (IPS), accompanied with Additional SP, A.Ghosh (IPS), Darjeeling. However, this also meant that people were gaining confidence in reporting these cases, thanks to the work of NGOs!

There needs to be more awareness building in the community, for which children’s clubs can be very effective, suggested the SP.

The SP and children not just shared about the overall children’s issues in the community, but also chatted about their roles and responsibilities, appealing for mutual support. The SP encouraged them to guide children in need of care, and the out-of-school children, about the benefits of Right to Education Act 2009 and other welfare schemes for them. Most importantly, the role of students in monitoring their school’s performance as members of the School Management Committee (SMC) was a piece of valuable reinforcement to the children. There was no end to the curiosity of children, which led the cops to clarify several other questions that followed about the difference between the ranks of the Superintendent of Police and Officer-in-Charge.

From here, the children visited a Child Friendly Police station at Kalimpong and interacted with the Inspector-in-Charge, Mr. Tirtha Sarthi Nath. “The Women and Juvenile Police Welfare Officers, respectively, intervened immediately in cases pertaining to children, making the process and police station child-friendly,” responded the Inspector-in-Charge to a query from Miss Manika Rai, Member, Children’s Club, who later went on to enquire about the functionality of Dial 100.

The exposure was concluded with the visit to a Children’s Shelter Home operated by the Hope Family Trust. These interactions of children with the cops not only helped improve their perception of the police and douse the fear in them, but also enabled the cops to establish a bond and trust with the community of children, and understand their role in the society.

ADDSSS organised a two-day Exposure-cum-Education Visit of the children of Alliance of Block Level Children’s Club, on January 30-31, 2018, under a Caritas India initiative against Child Labour, funded by Caritas Germany. Around 300 members of children’s club act as peer educator and report violence against children in their Club, Teachers’ Forum and Vigilance Committees formed under the initiative.

It is noteworthy to mention that prior to the exposure visit, Bal Suraksha Abhiyan (BSA) Trust, another partner of Caritas India for this programme against Child Labour, in Kalimpong block, had organised a Media Consultation on Child Rights and Protection, on January 18, 2018. This was attended by the journalists, Member of Child Welfare Committee, the Superintendent of Police, lawyers and ChildLine coordinator, and the role of media in reporting on children’s issues, the sensitivity, and confidentiality as inviolable, were deliberated, and children were provided a platform to engage with the duty bearers.