Child Rights panel discusses safety of children with Edu Secretary

PANJIM: The Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) initiated dialogue and conversation with the academic institutions in collaboration with the Directorate of Higher Education on how to strengthen the system and policies and programmes for protection of children.

Introducing the subject matter of the collaboration, to the head of affiliated colleges, Secretary (Education) and Director of Higher Education Prasad Lolayekar thanked the Commission for collaboration and expressed confidence of support by academic institutions.

The meeting focused on how the contemporary issues in child protection could be integrated the same into the syllabus and practicum’s, providing opportunities for students to research Goa centric child protection issues, thereby generating evidence and body of knowledge in the context of Goa for policy and for effective programming in children’s rights and how academic institutions could engage with Commission and other child protection bodies in partnership project for mutual benefits.

Addressing the participants, SCPCR Chairperson Peter F Borges said that protection of children is a growing concern today. A family, community, State, and citizen must ensure a preventive measure to safeguard the rights of children.

Borges said that amidst the surge in crimes against children in the State, it has come to the fore that child protection in Goa is heavily compromised, with several gaps in the system not being addressed for a long time, Further; there are no evidence-based programming and innovations to address contemporary issues related to children. The care and protection of children in vulnerable condition is found to be mere display, tokenism, and lacks accountability.

Borges called upon the academic institutions, preparing professionals to work in social space to upgrade the syllabus and provide exposure to students to contemporary child issues during the formation. He further said that all disciplines also should be instilling volunteerism and values of social responsibility in the students.