Awareness campaign on good parenting from today

KOCHI: A massive statewide awareness campaign on child protection through responsible and good parenting will be conducted from June 1 to November 14 across Kerala. Health and social justice minister K K Shailaja will inaugurate the campaign on Saturday. The inauguration and the child protection awareness campaign video will be screened among anganwadi workers, ICDS officials and young parents in all 14 districts.
“With increasing incidents of child abuse being reported even from homes, the state government with social justice, women and child development department with all stakeholders, including Childline, state commission for protection of child rights, child welfare committees, police, NGOs and psychologists are creating a module on good parenting.It is to ensure healthy upbringing of every child. Good parenting will also help the children grow up as kind, courageous and good human beings,” Shailaja said. It has also been planned to set up good parenting wellness clinics which will be an access point for parents to address parenting needs, she said.
Kerala Childline director Fr P D Thomas said the awareness campaign module will have information, education and communication (IEC) materials and awareness video. “The video will be screened at railway stations, bus bays, hospitals, mostly mother and child care hospital and immunisation clinics,” he said.
“A module on good parenting is being prepared and is almost ready. The module is set to cover all problem areas identified in handling children, including cyber issues, game addiction among others and mode of approach,” Fr Thomas said.
With this, good parenting wellness clinics planned in each district will be a one-stop centre for parents to get awareness, advice and guidance in handling children. Each parenting wellness clinic will have a psychologist, child rights expert, health care and legal expert with awareness materials. Due to the demand for such clinics, many have sought two centres in each district, he added.
Unicef Kerala chief Job Zachariah, who is also the UN recovery coordinator, said, “Good parenting is positive disciplining of the children without physically and verbally abusing the child. A one-point programme has to be launched so that the parents have no right to beat the child nor mentally abuse the child”. He said, corporal punishment is banned in schools and it has to be banned at homes too.