Caritas India initiated the Assam Chapter of the Surokhit Shaishav programme to promote safe childhood in the state from April 19–21, 2023, at Seva Kendra Silchar, Assam.

Recently, the programme has been expanded to Assam and Uttar Pradesh, focusing on reducing child labour, child marriage, and child trafficking and enhancing education as a cross-cutting component of the programme.

Surokhit Shaishav is a unique programme that works towards the abolition of child labour in all forms in the state of West Bengal by establishing effective child protection systems and promoting children’s rights to education, inclusive development, and social participation. The results were encouraging enough to replicate this mode in other parts of the country. Assam ranks very high in child abuse cases, but the government is taking proactive steps to curb this social evil.

“Appreciation for expanding Surokhit Shaishav—Promoting Safe Childhood Programme in Assam as Silchar is another hotspot for child abuse, trafficking, and numerous incidences of child rights violations,” said Fr. Anto Justin, the Vice President of Seva Kendra Silchar. He added that this programme is the need of the hour, and it is very much aligned with Assam Chief Minister Sri. Himanta Biswa Sarma’s concentration on the elimination of child marriages and the numerous issues related to child marriage.

The Child Rights Lead of Surokshit Shaishav, Dr. Jayanta Munshi, presented an overview of the programme, with its pilot phase implemented in West Bengal and later expanded to Assam and Uttar Pradesh in the second phase. He informed, there are eight partners in the programme, five in West Bengal, two in Uttar Pradesh, and one in Assam.

Dr. Munshi facilitated the team in building a basic understanding of child rights, child marriage, the Child Labour Act, NEP 2020, and Mission Vatsalya. He facilitated the session down to earth and with practical knowledge and made the staff understand. In his sessions, he elucidated child rights, which are scripted in the United Nations (UN) Charter for Child Rights (UNCRC) and the 4 pillars as per the UNCRC, the Indian Constitution, and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to children. where he focused on five goals that are relevant to children and children’s holistic development.

Further, Dr.Munshi, facilitated a session on the New Education Policy (NEP-2020). He gave a brief background of the existing education systems and enlightened clearly on the proposed NEP 2020. Starting from pre-school education to higher education and the various alterations proposed in the NEP 2020 for a holistic development of children. The objectives of the NEP 2020 were better understood by the partner team members. Likewise, Mission Vatsalya and the various schemes under different departments work towards strengthening the objectives of Mission Vatsalya as well as the importance of the formation and functionalities of Child Protection Committees at various levels.

The Programme Associate for the Northeast Zone, Ms Chihanphi Luiram gave an overview of the numerous issues and challenges of unsafe migration and human trafficking. She began with an energizer and role play to rescue any given situation, i.e., a trafficking case or child labour. The partner team opted for rescuing a child labourer with different stakeholders, including the panchayat, police, and social worker. This aided the team in understanding the issues and gaps while rescuing any given situation. She also spoke briefly on the push and pull factors: the demand and supply chains of trafficking, wherein vulnerable adults and children have been commodified as commodities and dehumanised. Thus, children and vulnerable adults have been thrown into a world of darkness, denying their basic rights.

On April 21, 2023, the three-day orientation and planning session was completed successfully. The partner staff felt good, as this was the first of its kind for them while onboard with Caritas India’s initiatives. Ms.Rani Pdang, the project coordinator, thanked the entire Caritas India team for enlightening them on the different issues with a set roadmap. She assured me that the journey would be fruitful and progressive. She also sought follow-up training and other legal education in the days to come.