The Coalition for Child’s Right to Protection, West Bengal

A JOURNEY TO CREATE

BIGGER DREAMS

The Asansol railway platform is home to many lost, abandoned, runaway and

otherwise separated children. The children often escape neglect, abuse and

exploitation in their families and communities to be on their own.

Returning to the family may not be a safe or desirable option for

these children. As a result, they end up working at the railway

platform and also find shelter in the various nooks and corners.

Pawan and Bablu, now school-goers, were once, one of them.

Pawan and Bablu, youngest among four brothers, are beaming with

excitement ever since they’ve started school.

Both brothers are passionate about cricket. Just the mere mention of

the game brings a smile to the faces.

A few years back, the scenario was different.

Their father took to alcoholism after he went blind in a factory accident and their mother was unable to work after incurring

an injury at her workplace.

Their two elder brothers had migrated to different cities and settled there.

Hence, Pawan and Bablu were left to fend for the family and forced to

earn a living.

Everyday, they would go the railway station to pick up waste plastic

bottles and sell them to the local plastic factory. Sometimes, they would

sweep the trains to earn some extra income.

“There’s a school near my house,” Bablu says, “but it’s a private school

and quite costly. I don’t like collecting plastic bottles at the station,

neither do I like sweeping the trains.”

The outreach team of CCRP, a CRY initiative, got in

touch with the two brothers and helped them get

admission into Adarsh Hindi Vidyalaya.

But, the boys went back to work in a couple of days,

as there was no earning member in the household.

Fortunately, Muktangan (a CCRP initiative) was in search of a cook to

prepare meals for children. They immediately hired the boys’ mother

for the job.

Muktangan was envisaged as an open shelter programme for children

living in and around railway platforms in collaboration with the Railway

Protection Force and the Railway authorities.

The Muktangan centers not only provide children with food, shelter, clothing and medical care but also give them access to basic education,

life skills development and a chance to attend formal schools.

“Muktadhara” is a new initiative where all children who are interested in

education are identified and provided with formal education through

non formal system of learning and psycho-social support.

Steady income in the house helped Bablu and Pawan go back to

school and have a shot at pursuing their dreams.

Like Bablu and Pawan, CCRP has helped many children get access to education and many other facilities that were previously not available to them

CRY identified the need to bring children in need of care and protection

(CNCP) into the mainstream in the eastern region

• Their aim was to link them to the Juvenile Justice system and other

Child Protection mechanisms that already exist

• Towards that goal, CRY identified the resource organization called

PRAJAK that runs an initiative termed Coalition for Child’s Right to

Protection (CCRP)

• CRY has worked closely with CCRP to develop a holistic and

comprehensive strategy for long term implications instead of just

focussing on immediate resolution and has helped them focus on the

children’s right to survival, development, protection and participation

Through awareness building and advocacy, CCRP and CRY have

built strong relationships, successful networking and proactive

engagement with the Railway Police Force and the directorate of

Social Welfare, Police, BSF, home officials, CWC and JJB members as well as some civil society organizations.

In the last three years

• CCRP has restored over 160 children

• Reunified 146 children with their families

• 143 Child Protection Committees have been established

• 1732 children have been admitted to schools

This tremendous change was possible because of donors like you. Your generous support has helped CRY and CCRP bring several children

closer to a happy and secure childhood and get access to

their basic rights.

We look forward to your continued participation towards ensuring

lasting change for many more children.