The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) for children’s safety seems to be headed in the wrong direction in Tamil Nadu with several officers’ contracts not being renewed and salaries not being paid.
G Vinayagamoorthy, who was a District Protection Officer at Cuddalore, has not been working for the past eight months because his contract was not renewed by the district officer. Contracts of nine other officers were also not renewed.
Vinayagamoorthy said that he had to spend money from his own pocket to spread awareness about child protection schemes and help the victims in various cases.
The ICPS which was launched by the Tamil Nadu government in 2012 through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union Ministry hit rough weather from day one and has not been functioning effectively in various districts of the state.
The contract needs to be renewed every six months. We are often scared that the contract won’t get renewed and someone else will be recruited at our post. Even though the salary has been increased to Rs 21,000, salaries for the last six months remain unpaid.
G Vinayagamoorthy, Former District Protection Officer
Other expenses such as rent and telephone have been paid for by the officers themselves. No money has been released for schemes and campaigns.
Vinayagamoorthy also added that the child protection schemes have not been implemented properly in most of the districts as the District Officer gets changed frequently.
Counsellors in 18 districts do not have any professional qualification and experience. Counselling materials prepared for the 32 districts remain unused. Salaries of counsellors and others are too meagre and no resource activities are taking place and such resource centres remain only on paper.
Prof K Shanmugavelayudam, Head of Legal Resource for Child Rights
Even though 40 vulnerable children were identified per district for the sponsorship scheme, they have not been given any assistance for the past two years. No awareness programmes, capacity building or skills enhancement have been undertaken as of now.
There is no clarity or guidelines on the utilisation of Nirbhaya Funds in Tamil Nadu.
Considering the dismal state of affairs due to poor administration of the ICPS, it is high time the state government pulled up its socks and took necessary steps to redress the situation.
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