District Administration of Sepahijala in Tripura has launched a unique programme to reach out and help the vulnerable children of the district.
The programme, coined as Diya Bati, was launched in August last to ‘mentor’ the vulnerable children of the District. A total of 243 children were identified to be mentored by the Government officers under Diya Bati.
Speaking about the programme, District Magistrate of Sepahijala Viswashree B, IAS, said, It is a very challenging task to mentor the vulnerable children. After obtaining the permission from the guardians of the children, we, the Government Officers, are working as mentors voluntarily but with utmost sincerity. We firmly believe Diya Bati will be helpful in protecting the future of children.
The initiative is a joint programme involving several departments including District administration, District Child Protection Unit, District Task Force Committee etc.
Meanwhile, Dr Chandrani Biswas, the programme Officer, Social Welfare and Social Education department of Sepahijala said, the district administration conducted a ‘Vulnerability Survey’ across the district and identified the vulnerable children. The Vulnerability was identified based on several parameters like if the child is orphaned, abandoned by parents or under care of a single parent.
After identifying the vulnerable children, it was found 100 vulnerable children are eligible to be beneficiaries of different schemes under the Social Welfare and Social Education department.
“We focused on bringing them under the ambit of Government schemes and accordingly 64 children are already receiving benefits from several social security schemes while 36 others will get start getting the benefits soon”, Dr Biswas said and added, there are 243 vulnerable children who are not eligible for any such government schemes – Diya Bati initiative targets these vulnerable section.
Grade A government officers are acting as mentors of the children. So far, 200 such officers have started working as mentors. Attempts have been made to make male officers as mentors for boys only and female officers for girl children. One mentor, one child – is the target.
Mentorship will continue for at least one year. During the year, mentors will help the children to expose them to various opportunities available. For this, mentors will try to tie up the children with the Line departments to ensure a protected future, access to quality education, avail health care services etc. Besides, the mentors will also arrange career counseling so that children can realize their dreams.
“Those who will complete school education and become 18 years old, we will put them through skill development programmes ensuring a decent livelihood”, Dr Biswas said.
Even as the programme is at an initial stage, response from the children is encouraging while the services of Officers are commendable. The Officers and children are hoping for a grand success of this unique venture.