City Desk :
Father of eighth-grade student Arifa Begum, aged about 14 years, at Gangachara upazila in Rangpur died four years ago.Arifa said, “Among the four siblings, we three sisters used to go to school. But, my brother and mother could not run our studies and family properly even after doing different kinds of work.” Experts said special measures need to be taken to protect children so that they can bring positive changes in the society.
Children are the future leaders of the country. So, they should be given the opportunity to practice some constructive works alongside their regular studies. They should be given the opportunity to nurture their skills and lessons. With such ideas, Save the Children, Bangladesh is conducting some activities such as child friendly local governance. Abdullah Al Mamun, director of child protection activities of the organization, said, “In few upazilas of Satkhira District, we are trying to bring changes with the cooperation of the local government. We are doing this work through forming a team of local children and teenagers of each union.” He continued, “At the monthly union council or ward meetings, children raise their problems. The authorities of union council take measures to solve some problems immediately while they take long-term measure for addressing other problems. For example, someone may be a victim of eve-teasing, someone may have a child marriage or the road they are using to go to school may be flooded or there may be no street lights, no money for school admission, no safe water, lack of school benches or tube wells. ” Mamun said, “The local government can easily solve these types of problems. Again, if it is found that the road they use to go to school may be in very poor condition, maybe there is a bridge problem somewhere, some of them may be physically challenged but they don’t get disability allowance, someone’s mother is a widow or she has some other problem. Immediate solutions are not possible for these as it require development planning and time. The local government is working taking time for these.” Abdullah Al Mamun said, “We prepare the children or guide them after discussion. As a result, they can easily and firmly address their problems. Local government representatives are also trying their best. The Upazila administration also extends their co-operation to solve the problems.” “The children have UNO and police station numbers. They call them if necessary. The experience of this work is very positive for us. The Ministry of Local Government can work with our experiences in other upazilas of the country. In this way, not just running after GPA 5, children can learn their own experiences and necessities through such work. These are like their practical classes which can play a role in building the country and the nation.”
The local government is working in various ways to protect children, said Abul Hossain, former project director of the multi-sector programmme for the prevention of violence against women under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
He said “Children should know the emergency numbers – 333, 999 and 109 including the phone numbers of the local police station, OC and UNO. If they have enough idea about their effectiveness, more benefits can be capitalized. These can be informed through the leaflet from the digital section of the Union Parishad. “
Mustakim Billah Farooqui, additional secretary of the local government division (Union Parishad) said, “The government has such activities all over the country. The main task of the local government is to maintain law and order. Among these are the problems of children. Unions have various meetings, village courts, mobile courts, public hearings to deal with child marriage, rape, dowry, eve-teasing, road problems. These include legal issues, as well as public awareness. The people concerned are being specially trained to this end and some work is in progress.” Officials, representatives of local government organizations and local people expressed the hope that if the various donor organizations or non-governmental organizations work with the government in this way, the development process of the country will be accelerated.
