Xmas

A Gift for all Children

A Gift for all Children

Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 has been awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their great efforts against the exploitation of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.

Showing enormous personal bravery, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi's tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain. He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children's rights. Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought for many years for the girl children’s right to education.

Children must go to school and not be financially exploited. In the poor countries of the world, 60% of the present population is under 25 years of age. It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected. In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation.

The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism. Many other individuals and institutions in the international community have also contributed. It has been calculated that there are 168 million child labourers around the world today. In 2000 the figure was 78 million higher. The world is uniting againt the goal of eliminating child labour though there is much more to be done.

A child is a person not a sub-person. It is heartening to see that such a great honour has been awarded to those who work for child rights. In spite of constant exploitation of children, the whole world has been opened up to act in favour of children through this recognition being awarded to Mr. Kailash Satyarthi and Miss. Malala Yousafzai and both of them are from places where there are world’s largest child population exist.

We need to make earnest efforts and join the fight for child rights, for they are the future of our nation and humanity.

Girls not Brides

Girls not Brides

Kerala, the state which achieved 100 per cent literacy for women, is now finding it hard to deal with an ever-increasing number of teenage girls being forced into early marriage. Don Bosco is happy and proud that we were able to save more than 6 children from child marriage in the month of November 2014.

UNICEF considers Child marriage (marriage before 18 years) as a violation of human rights. Recently, a UNICEF survey had revealed that child marriages are on the rise in Kerala, ironically the most literate state in the country.  Dora Giusti, Unicef's child protection specialist in India, says "in the southern part of India we have a relatively better gender balance which explains lower rates of child marriage. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown a rising rate in Kerala”. 

The numbers in the records of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) are also finding new highs in violations of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006. Out of the 220 cases reported in the country last year, 11 are from Kerala. The NCRB data also indicates that the state is rising up in the rate- from 0.06 per cent in 2012 to 0.12 per cent in 2013.

According to NFHS-III survey 47.3% of women aged 20-24 were married by age 18. Of these, 2.6 percent were married before they turned 13, 22.6 percent were married before they were 16, and 44.5 percent were married when they were between 16 and 17. Child marriage in Kerala is at 15.4%.

Even though we have sufficient laws and machineries to prevent child marriage, the number of cases is going up this year compared to 2013. As per the data published on the official website of the Kerala Police, 15 cases have been registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act till September this year. But we have had many more reported to CHILDLINE.

Through many years of awareness of 1098 – toll free child helpline phone number, children are mustering courage to report such cases to CHILDLINE. We try to get the assistance of police to rescue children in certain cases. There are many cases in which the families end it without the case reaching to police stations. This means that there are more cases than the official statistics.

We need to be vigilant to child marriages because it is still rampant in our contemporary times though we claim to be ‘literate’. This leads our attention to why child marriage is wide spread in Kerala despite of the debates that followed the controversial marriage of a 17-year-old girl with a UAE national, the Arabikalyanam incident, in Kozhikode last year.

There are lots of reasons behind the child marriage like,

·        Economic necessity,

·        Male protection for one’s daughters,

·        Child bearing,

·        Fulfilling the wish of the family members.

·        Oppressive traditional values and norms.

·        Certain religious traditions

·        Girl children getting into early relations without knowledge of parents.

Consequences of child marriages are very harmful. Viz.,

·        Segregation from family and friends,

·        Limiting the child's interactions with the community and peers,

·         Lack of opportunities for education, 

·        Girl children often face situations of bonded labour, enslavement,

·        Commercial sexual exploitation and violence,

·        Serious health risks for mother and child

·        Early pregnancy, and various STDs especially HIV/AIDS,

·        Maternal death etc.

The graphs are growing to new highs which indicate that our state has to have responsible evaluation and improvements in the existing machineries and laws. The mistakes are basic and if corrected, things can be kept under control with timely interventions. In our complex caste and religious social structure, the laws may face limitations but progressive social lessons and awareness can play a major part than mere laws.

Don Bosco Trivandrum feels proud to say that we could prevent number of children from the danger of child marriage in the year 2014 and many have continued with their studies and look towards a brighter future instead of early burden on their tiny shoulders. 

Child Sexual Abuse

Sexual Abuse – Some Thoughts

Last month Don Bosco-Childline came across a number of cases related to child sexual abuse. Children were abused either by close relatives or by neighbors. Child sexual abuse or child molestation is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. The global prevalence of child sexual abuse has been estimated at 19.7% for females and 7.9% for males, according to a study published in Clinical Psychology Review.

Child sexual abuse laws in India have been enacted as part of the nation's child protection policies. The Parliament of India passed the 'Protection of Children against Sexual Offences act, 2012' in order to control child sexual abuse on November 14, 2012. The rules formulated by the government in accordance with the law have also been notified. Though India has enacted laws to prevent child sexual abuse, reported cases are going up. Why do people sexually use or abuse children? We cannot have a simple answer to this question. We can make some thoughtful reflections on this sensitive issue. Sexual abusers broadly can be classified under the following categories.

·        Children or teenagers who are sexually curious or experimenting

·        Who has an ongoing sex drive directed towards children

·        Who has an anti-social personality disorder

·        Who is addicted to alcohol and other substances

·        Who has medical or mental problem

Why the increasing abuse of innocent children?

Some reasons from our experience of dealing with many such cases:

Ø Easy availability of sexually explicit materials from young age and exposure to the same

Ø Movies which have sexual overtones and watching the same from young age without proper guidance of adults

Ø Children like physical closeness  and often this arouses adult sexual feelings

Ø Alcoholism and substance abuse

Ø Lack of systems to identify and provide early interventions to children who have disorders and they grow into persons with perversions.

Ø Step parents who often do not are unable to see the child as own children.

Ø Lack of private space in poor homes.

Ø Influence of other cultures which causes degradation of traditional values and inability of older generation to catch up.

It is important to concentrate on the present generation of children and provide them wholesome education with all round formation and make urgent changes in the educational system for the same and adopt new laws provide controlled and age appropriate access to information. This will result in a healthier future generation.

CHILDLINE Se Dosti Week

CHILDLINE Se Dosti, (Friends for CHILDLINE) a week-long nationwide campaign aims at creating friends for CHILDLINE and is envisaged as warm and inviting initiatives to create awareness about the helpline - 1098. The event is celebrated all over the country with unmatched dynamism and enthusiasm. Reaching out to the old and young from all walks of life and bring together children with their protectors in the form of police officials, allied systems, educational institutions, the youth, working adults and many more. CHILDLINE Se Dosti is not just another campaign but a medium to strengthen the rights of children in India. 

Dosti week is synonymous with fun, excitement plus driving change at a local and national level and spreading knowledge about child rights and child protection. This week is loaded with numerous activities that CHILDLINE’s across cities and towns organize in their respective area. A myriad of programs are arranged during this period from signature campaign to rail yathras, from street play to rallies, from games for children to competitions for them and many more.

CHILDLINE Se Dosti week campaign of CHILDLINE Trivandrum was bagged with many of programmes from 7 to 14 November 2014. The programme was flagged off by Fr. Philip Parakatt, member, Child Rights Commission at Pallithura HSSS in the presence of Fr. Lenin, Director, TSSS, Mr Chandran, Sub Inspector of Police, Pallithura and the staff of CHILDLINE. We started with the signature campaign followed by outreach, and awareness of CHILDLINE and Child Rights class to both students and parents. At the same time, Fr. Thomas Anchukandam, the Provincial of Bangalore Province of Don Bosco inaugurated the Dosti week at Don Bosco Nivas, by tying the Dosti band on a street child rescued in the morning of the same day.   A drawing competition was conducted in a School at Kanjiramkulam. Two teams went on train awareness from Trivandrum to Varkala and Trivandrum to Parasala respectively. Exhibition at railway rescue booth - to encourage passengers to call 1098 if they saw a child in distress, was another attraction of the campaign. The rescue booth was colored with 10 different themes on child rights, paper cuttings on recent child issues, Dosti bands, Posters, placards etc. Number of people came forward and tied dosthi band and promised to be friends of CHILDLINE. DB Tech students came in and promised their support to the campaign.

CHILDLINE Se Dosti campaign involves citizens who wish to bring a positive change in the lives of millions of children and make them informed individuals. This annual campaign strives to enable people to become an important resource person in order to spread CHILDLINE’s message of promoting a child friendly society. It intends to influence and mobilize many people to think and act in favour of children to protect their rights and build a child friendly society. 

Saamoohyapaadam

Teacher – The Change Maker

Teacher – The Change Maker

As per news paper reports and issues being reported to our helpline there is increased number of physical violence inflicted by teachers on their students. There have been cases of cruel punishments meted out by teachers to students for miss behavior and children have been hospitalized. Latest in the line is the sad demise of a first standard child whose head was smashed on the wall by the teacher in Nalgonda district in Telangana for not doing homework.

Many of our teachers sadly try to be authoritarian instead of being authoritative. Being authoritarian means wielding power unilaterally to control someone, demanding obedience without giving any explanation for why one's orders are important. Being authoritative on the other hand means demonstrating control, but doing so relationally through listening and explaining. Unfortunately our teaching techniques are shrinking to make fear on students to get control over them. They always bring into play ‘stick’ as a mean to craft fear on students.

 Together with increased cruelty we can also note a lack of ability among teachers in handling newly rising up issues among children. It is either cruel punishments or total neglect of children due to fear of legal actions for physical punishments. The teachers are simply unaware and incompetent to deal with children’s problems. They fail in eliciting discipline and respect from children. In the current scenario there is an increasing need for wholesome educators who can address not only the intellectual but also the psychological, emotional, physical needs and ensure wholesome development of the child. The teacher needs to be a parent also.

 The classroom runs on interactions between and among participants: the relationship between the student and the teacher and the relationships of students with one another. These relationships and their value emotionally, instrumentally, and psychologically are fundamental supports to the value of their experience in the classroom setting for furthering development.

Here are some suggestions for teachers:

•     Remember the position you are in because you are the one who has something to teach the student, not the other way around.
•     Be respectful of your student while you also remember that your student needs you to remain in the teacher role.
•    Allow yourself to be a mentor.
• Develop a relationship with every child and note the behavioral changes and intervene timely to help children.
• Your presence with the children during intervals and lunch break can clearly avoid lots of ‘bad elements’
• Seek out creative ways of eliciting discipline and respect instead of the old ‘fear is the key ‘concept.
• Become aware of your verbal and non-verbal communication.
• Get to know the family background of the children and intervene with the family with suggestions to improve the child’s growth as you are more with the child on week days than their parents.

 There is an urgent need to improve the system of teacher training and also educational system which still caters to the child’s intellectual needs and nothing else.

All in a Day

The Times of India carried three different cases of violence against children on the 23^rd of October 2014. A 80 year old man raped a 12 year old girl in Palluruthy, Kochi. The second news was about another 12 year old girl who was brutally tortured and killed by her own father for opposing his illicit relation with a woman. Her own minor brother and the minor son of father’s paramour helped in the gruesome act. The girl’s head was shaved off, she was tortured, suffocated, killed and was left on the railway track to wipe out all evidence. The third news was that of a 36-year-old man was arrested by police for raping a 11-year-old girl who happened to be the daughter of his friend. The man also has a child who is of same age as that of the survivor.

Why this inhuman behavior towards helpless children? Not even animals will do such acts towards their own young ones. What is happening to our society?  There is not a single day in Kerala without sexual abuse of children being reported. There is no age bar and most of the victims are known to the perpetrator.  The shadow of child abuse lasts a life time as we all know. It is killing the personality of an individual.

A comprehensive approach is necessary to address this malady. From our experience the following actions need to be initiated most urgently:

1.    Education that is comprehensive from childhood to every individual. Psycho-sexual evaluation and help to grow up normally with sex education in curriculum from young age.

2.    Controlling laws for access to media from childhood. Age appropriate materials to be provided

3.    Stringent and immediate punishment for offenders

4.    Children to be given awareness classes on abuse from early childhood. It needs to be part of the curriculum.

5.    Availability of adult contents to be regulated by laws.

6.    Age appropriate media exposure to children.

7.    Mental health assessment from childhood and wholesome education involving family and school.

Let us work together for a society which will allow children their space and let them grow gracefully.

The Unending Violence

A call came from medical college hospital, Trivandrum to our child helpline number (1098) saying that a boy Vinu (given name) was admitted and was suffering serious burns and they suspected the same as a case of deliberate punishment to the child. Our Team rushed to the spot and found that both the hands and the chest of the child were seriously burnt. We spoke to his mother. She fearfully revealed that one of their relatives, Mr. Titus had burnt the child after pouring kerosene on him.  It was because he was accused of stealing a purse from neighbor’s house. Vinu refused that he had taken the purse though there were instances of previous stealing by the child. But Mr. Titus came to the boy’s house and threatened him many times. One day, he came and tied both hands of Vinu with a cloth, poured Kerosene and set fire. The child presently has stumps as hand and has severe burns on his chest and throat and requires many operations and long treatments to live even a semi-normal life.

The incident had taken place three months before and they had not reported the same because Titus had threatened them not to reveal it to anyone saying that if they did so he would repeat the same to other children too. So they kept it as secret. Initial treatment was done saying that Vinu was injured from a lamp. With our intervention Vinu has received help from the Social Justice Department for treatment. We initiatiated criminal proceedings against the culprit and he has been apprehended. Though the child’s spirit is indomitable, he may never be able to lead a normal life.

Stealing is a common problem among children. There are a number of different reasons a child steals and a number of different ways to handle the problem. Young children do not steal. Children below the age of four or five do not have a concept of ownership. They do not understand that it is wrong to take things that belong to others. By the time a child enters elementary school, he should know that stealing is wrong.  Often children at this age take things because they lack self-control. A preteen or teen may steal for the thrill of it or because that is what friends are doing. He may be trying to gain a feeling of control over his life or to fill an emotional void. Whatever the reason a child is stealing, the parents need to approach the problem with wisdom. It is important to observe the child’s behavior and correct them early so that the child can grow knowing the value of truthfulness.

It is often difficult to correct the behavior once the child is already into it and has become a habit. It is important to monitor who children makes friends with and timely intervention to direct them to good friends is necessary. So we can say that it is often irresponsible parenting that result in children stealing.

Corrective measures need to be child friendly and in keeping with the gravity of the offence. Often emotion takes over and the child has to bear the brunt of the anger of the guardian all through life. It is impossible to comprehend the amount of suffering a child has to undergo at the hands of cruel and insensitive guardians. Here again the cruelty of a person has crippled the future of a child.  

Kid in Kennel

Kid in Kennel Row – The Impact

On 29^th September, 2014, a call came to our helpline number and the informer passed a message that a six year old boy was locked up in kennel in a private English medium school at Kudappanakunnu.  The informer said that the headmistress of Jawahar English Medium School had punished a UKG student by putting him inside the Kennel for hours because he had spoken to the student sitting near to him. Having visited the school and spoken to the students and the family of the child, we found that it was a fact – though unbelievable!  Though the school was closed down after enquiry by the DPI and the district administration; due to political gimmicks, it has been opened later on. The issue was widely publicized and debated upon by the media. Having spoken to some children, some past pupils and parents we found that there have been a past history violent behavior from the teachers of the school towards the students. Statements of the same were submitted by us to the District Police Chief and the Child Rights Commission.

Whatever be the conclusions and findings made by the enquiry agencies, our involvement in this case has had lasting impacts:

1.     The Government authorities have opened their eyes to the fact that there are over 1000 schools across the state having insufficient facilities and with no proper Government recognition.  Steps have been taken to streamline such schools and standardize them.

2.     The vast coverage about the issue in the media highlighted CHILDLINE and there has been great increase in the awareness about child rights and the existence of CHILDLINE for the help of children in distress. Increased number of issues being reported to CHILDLINE vouches for this.

3.     There is increased acceptance of CHILDLINE services and the public believe in our ability to sort out child rights issues and create a child friendly society.

Child and Law

Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) pronounces that a child should grow up under parent’s custody with his own indigenous cultural background as far as possible. If the parents are incapable of protecting their children then the child can be given in foster care, a system in which a minor has been placed into a state-certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"; or give it for adoption where a person can take a child into one’s family through legal means and raise as one’s own child. There are also systems to sustain the child in the family by providing additional support like sponsorship and scholarship. The spirit guiding all the laws for children is such that institutionalization is the last resort for a child. A child in a child care institution can never get the individual care given by a parent to a child.

We have faced issues where institutionalization becomes the first resort. Sometimes separating parents from their children is of utmost importance. Prominent among them are cases of child sexual abuse, children of mentally ill parents and cases of physical abuse and neglect. In such cases immediate intervention and institutionalization becomes a necessity as temporary foster care is almost impossible in Kerala due disinterested parents. The fact remains that there are umpteen number of families looking for adoption and ‘permanent’ foster care.

Last week we got a call to our helpline number 1098 and the informer said that a lady and a girl were begging in the city. Our staff rushed to the spot and found a girl with a mentally ill lady begging in the street. Since she was very violent in nature our staff found it difficult to bring them to CHILDLINE office. We brought them in with the help of police. After enquiry we realised that the child was a boy and being with the mother would indeed make the child also mentally ill gradually. Having networked with different departments and the judicial Magistrate we have admitted the mother to a hospital for treatment and the child has been in some way rescued from its mother!

In every such case then priority should be given to the protection of the child rather than keeping the aesthetics of law. The convention intends a child's protection and when the scenario is dangerous for the child and its sustainable development, suitable interventions are needed.  

Child with Mother

Child after Rescue

              

Addiction & Its Chemistry

We received a call to our child helpline on last Thursday from a teacher of a school. She said that some of her students were using drugs and pressuring others to take drugs.   Our team met the school principal and fixed an awareness class on drug abuse. Our Success For Success (S4S) team in an effort to empower children from different problems that face them; has been conducting training for different stake holders as well as school children. It is an alarming revelation that School children across Kerala are more and more exposed to substance abuse and there is easy availability of the same.

“I was a good student looking forward to the future. I liked my friends and started hanging out with them… It all changed suddenly and I started using drugs.  Now my life and my future have been compromised.  I need help” This is one of the comments we received during the S4S training class conducted in the school.  Some students who were using drugs came to meet us personally. Most of them who used drugs got into it through peer pressure as well as lack of understanding about the consequences. We provided counseling and involved the parents and school authorities to provide expert help for children. We formed a task force involving children and responsible teachers to trace how children receive drugs and pass information so that we could initiate action against those responsible for destroying the lives of children.

Why are teenagers more prone to substance abuse?

The New York University School of Medicine has spent years studying the way drugs act on the brain. Among their findings is the fact that drugs begin to change a user’s brain the very first time a drug is tried, with the drug-induced release of a key brain neurotransmitter called dopamine. At first, dopamine causes an intensely pleasurable feeling, but as time—and drug use—progresses, the brain begins to rely upon this release of dopamine without any of the pleasurable side effects. With time, drugs actually alter the way the brain uses dopamine. When a person becomes addicted, it means that his brain has been changed to the point that he needs the drug just to maintain a minimal or “normal” level of functioning.  

All this has a special significance for teenagers. New studies have also discovered that teens are more vulnerable to addiction than adults. The teenage brain is a wonderful thing, changing and developing in response to experiences and environment. Because the teen brain is still building itself, it is easy for a young person to learn new things quickly. But that ability to be molded by outside influences also carries a serious risk when a teen experiments with drugs because such use can cause permanent damage. On top of that, research has shown that a teen’s frontal lobes, the area of the brain responsible for decision-making and planning, is still immature—making teens less likely to consider the consequences of their actions and thus more likely to take dangerous risks like using drugs.

When teens were surveyed to find out why they started using drugs in the first place most of them replied that it was due to pressure from their friends. They wanted to be cool and popular.  As the dealers know it they will approach teens as a friend and offer to “help you out” with “something to bring you up.” The drug will “help you fit in” or “make you cool.” Dealers will say anything to get the teens to buy it because they are motivated by the profit they make.

Overcome Craving

It is not so easy to say “NO” to drugs. Friend may expect you to say “YES” to it. When a person first takes drugs, it is voluntary decision. But there is a point when the person’s decision to take drugs may no longer be voluntary. It is as if a “switch” goes off in the user’s brain, and the person becomes addicted. Once a person becomes addicted, his or her top priority in life becomes obtaining drugs, taking drugs, getting high, and then getting more drugs. Everything else – family, friends, study, job, the future – loses importance.

But there are also many protective or resilience factors, such as good adult role models, supportive friends, and achievement in school, which can reduce the chance of someone becoming a drug abuser. Strengthening protective factors can help you and your friends avoid drug use altogether, even if there are still many risk factors in your lives.

Once you decide to make a big change in your life, it is hard to figure out where to start. Here are some ideas to get rid of:

1.       You could stop seeing or mingling with the drug users which may tempt you to do it again.

2.    Concentrate more on your studies.

3.    Talk to people you trust about difficult situations. Tell people who can and will help you quit drinking and using drugs, let them know what they can do to help.

4.    Google ‘natural dopamine boosters’ and follow instructions.

Always remember, we have only one life. Instead being addicted to drugs we must let ourselves be addicted to life!