KOCHI: The UNICEF has identified Edathala grama panchayat in Ernakulam district as the first child-friendly panchayat in the country. The National Consultation on Decentralisation and Equity for Children financed by the UNICEF has recommended the recognition of the Edathala grama panchayat as a national learning centre to the Central Government.To attain this coveted status, it had enunciated a home-grown project titled ‘Valsalyam’ stressing the role of overall development of a child. ‘Valsalyam’ is the brainchild of M A M Muneer, president, Edathala grama panchayat and the model has successfully surpassed the criterion fixed by the UNICEF for an ideal model.“We aimed at nothing but the development of children, especially those who have been marginalised owing to various circumstances in life,” he said. “Though the authorities claim that our place is safe for children, nothing could be farther from the truth. There are many pockets in our state which still remain hidden from the spot light. Only the local bodies could reach out to such remote areas,” he said.The grama panchayat conducted detailed studies right from the grassroots level. “We prepared questionnaires and circulated them through various agencies like the CDS, ADS, ICDS, political parties and various merchant associations,” said Muneer. “It helped us immensely to identify the root cause of all evils. We identified issues which have been plaguing children for quite a long time and to our shock we discovered that all is not well with the children. High morbidity rates during early childhood among the very poor communities, disability and respiratory diseases among children, psycho-social problems among adolescent girls and boys, child abuse in buses and deserted roads were some of them. Based on the issues that came to the light, we prepared an action plan accordingly.”Interaction plays a pivotal role in every developmental activity and it was ardently pursued in the model. There are many activities emphasising on interaction which would make children open up and come forward to making a clean breast of everything, ensuring that children are guided in turn. Muneer said that the plan is to complete the project in three years.Peter M Raj, Director of Child Research Centre ,KILA (The funding agency representing UNICEF for carrying out the projects), said that Edathala grama panchayat is certainly on its way ahead. “If they could successfully complete the action plan charted out by them, the declaration by the UNICEF is not far behind,” he said.
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