When in distress, grab a telephone and call 1098
JOHN L PAUL
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Young people can call this number anytime.
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Photo: P. Goutham
Helpline: Creating essential awareness.
Childline clubs will soon be formed in all schools in Ernakulam district, to help children cope with the academic workload and stress.
The Childline number 1098 (from all BSNL phones) is already quite popular among students and parents in cities and most towns. Recently, the facility was opened in most districts in Malabar by the State Government. Childline clubs in schools will bear
the message ‘To Children, Through Children’.
Each club will consist of class leaders, representatives of different clubs in the school and those who head NCC, NSS and Scouts and Guides. Childline clubs have already been formed in 101 schools in Ernakulam, Muvattupuzha and Kothamangalam educational sub-districts.
Valuable helpline
The aim is to constitute such clubs in all schools, by Children’s Day (November 14). These clubs will organise different programmes in connection with the Child Rights Week, being observed up to November 21, says M P Antony, district coordinator of Childline. The clubs were first tried out in 2003, to find Childline ambassadors. Last year, some more ambassadors were identified to report cases of children in distress and to give publicity to the Childline cause. Such clubs in schools are being tried out for the first time in the country. There is good acceptance from schools, since the facility helps them reach help to children in any distress situation.
The main Childline centre in Ernakulam gets around 150 calls each day, says Mr Antony. “While most of them are emotional ones (for stress release), there are emergency calls which report child abuse or child labour.”
The facility functions in collaboration with Don Bosco and Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, the nodal agency in the district.
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