Hyderabad: Corporate schools offer marginal scope for recreation of children

Hyderabad: Dr. Shantha Sinha, former chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said here on Wednesday that schools which had a thousand-plus students, now have not more than a few hundred students while corporate and expensive institutions which offer but a marginal scope for recreation, and moral and life sciences education were filling up year after year. She was delivering the keynote address at a one-day consultation on building Child Friendly Cities in Telangana organised by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies and UNICEF, Hyderabad here on Wednesday,

The consultation was aimed at creating a platform to share insights and learning of diverse agencies engaged in working with children in cities to help build a better protective environment for child friendly cities in Telangana. It focused on identifying issues and concerns related to good health and overall well-being of children in cities.

UNICEF child protection specialist Sonykutty George said child-friendly cities were those which recognise the availability of services for the urban poor children. The CFCs should create dignifying space for children, he said, adding that space should be created for governance promoting child protection- related interventions with active child participation. The workshop had participants representing NGOs, civil society networks and teachers from schools, ChildLine 1098 representatives, district child protection officers, professionals like counselors, child psychologists and architects.