Tribal Children in large
number in KISS Tribal School, Bhubaneswar, Odisha are under-nourished
and anaemic- Says CWC Report
·
KISS Tribal School is not
registered by Tribal Welfare Deptt. Of
Govt. of Odisha till yet.
·
Guidelines for ensuring a child
safe environment in institutions where children are housed and /or study issued by the Deptt. Of Women and child Development,
Govt. of Odisha vide Notification No. 13626 dated 23.8.2014 is not followed.
·
The living rooms are found
untidy, stinky and unhygienic as these are over-crowded.
·
No sufficient toilet available
for huge number of children living in
the hostel
·
No grievance redressal mechanism in the hostel.
No complaint Box. Hence the grievances of the children are found not
heard.
·
Authority of KISS does not care to appear before CWC in case of alleged child
missing.
Dear friends
Sri Achyut Samant, founder of KIIT /KISS,
Patia, Bhubaneswar takes a lot of credit for providing free education including
accommodation, food and clothing to
the children of his tribal school.
Many intellectuals, academician and Social activists, leaders of ruling
political parties highly praise the
effort of Achyut Samant terming it
as marvellous and outstanding for providing free education to 25000 tribal
children. During visit of dignitaries of national and international
organisations, Central Ministers, these tribal children were used to welcome the guests and earn reputation for
Samant. KISS Authority has also
succeeded in mobilising huge fund by using Tribal School as showcase for expansion of his education business. Sri Samant
has also tried to gain Guinness World Book Record by using the tribal children
for longest human chain in Bhubaneswar on occasion of observation of
International Human Rights Day. Sri
Samant has successfully marketed children to gain
popular support of tribal MLAs and MPs
in Odisha and expanded his business of opening tribal schools in other
districts by acquiring huge land showing KISS Tribal school a model school in Odisha. It deserves to be mentioned here that
No Media or any outsiders are allowed
visit inside the school. Nobody knows
what is happening in the school.
But recent
Enquiry Report of Child Welfare
Committee, Khurda , a statutory body
under Juvenile Justice Act has exposed
disastrous condition of tribal
children of the KISS Tribal
school. On complaint filed by Dr. Subas
Mohapatra, on 19.6.2017, CWC Team conducted enquiry visiting KISS Tribal school and noticed deplorable condition of tribal
children. The report produced by them on 6.7.2017 is as
follows.
1.
It is astonishing that KISS Tribal School is not recognised by Tribal Welfare
Deptt. Of Govt. of Odisha till yet.
2.
The Institute only accommodates
poor tribal children. Academic proficiency
is not a criterion for selection.
3.
The children are living as
internees of the school hostel.
4.
No Govt. authority other than
education Dept. Inspects the activities of
KISS.
5.
There are no sufficient toilet
available for huge number of children
living in the hostel. Hence children are suffering.
6.
The living space of the
children are too congested for the
children to live comfortably. Hence the
Hostel rooms are found over-crowded.
Rooms are not cross-ventilated. Some single beds are shared by two children.
7.
The living rooms are found
untidy, stinky and unhygienic as these are over-crowded.
8.
Children are not given freedom
to play even to watch the games except a
few selected children who participate in outside games.
9.
Small size sanitary napkins are
provided to the adolescent girls as a result the older girls feel
uncomfortable.
10.
Staffing pattern is too less to manage
such a huge crowd of children. For 400
children, there are only 2 supervisory staff.
On the other hand the staff are
not found to be trained on child rights and child protection.
11.
There is no grievance redressal mechanism in the hostel. No complaint Box.
Hence the grievances of the children are found not heard properly.
12.
Since there are may children especially adolescents are living
together, they have to have many issues
which need to be addressed by the
case worker/ counsellor. But the institution has not appointed any such staff.
13.
Though the management explained that
the children’s health check up is
conducted prior to admission and there
is a separate hospital for the children. But in practice there is no sick room
adjoined to the hostels to accommodate
the sick children.
14.
Children eat “chuda” and
sugar everyday at 7 am. After that they
take a meal and go to the school. They come back from school at 4 pm. They eat rice &
curry at night. No menu chart followed. Repetition of food menu and monotonous diet is given to the children. Huge gap between
two meals is observed. Due to insufficient nutrition , the children are found undernourished and anaemic.
15.
There are several
instances of children running away from
the institution due to poor
grievance redressal mechanism . Many times the run away children are produced
before WC and the committee has noticed that no FIR is lodged by the
authority. Though the Child Welfare Committee has issued
notice to the KISS authority to appear and explain about the reasons of runaway
and non-reporting about the fact to the police. But the authority of KISS never
cares to appear.
Recommendation
of CWC , Khurda
1.
KISS should get recognition
from the Deptt. Of Tribal Welfare. So
that the Govt. people can inspect the institution and give proper advice to improve
standard of care. A set of
guideline may be issued to the institution to maintain standard of care of the children and to address grievance redressal
mechanism of the children
2.
Since the institution has accommodated
some children in need of care and protection, it needs to be recognised by the
Deptt. Of W&CD under Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act). This would help the government officials of
JJ System to verify standard of care.
3.
Within the existing
infrastructure, it is not correct to accommodate such a huge number of
children. Hence either number of children should be reduced or necessary
infrastructure should be developed to meet the needs of the children.
4.
As huge number of tribal
children is residing at one place, it is the duty of the District
Administration / State Govt. to issue
certain guidelines to the institute to adhere proper standard of care for the
children.
5.
The guidelines
for ensuring a child safe
environment in institutions where
children are housed and /or study
issued by the Deptt. Of Women and
child Development, Govt. of Odisha vide
Notification No. 13626 dated
23.8.2014 is to be mandatorily followed by the institution and be monitored
by the District administration.
6.
The inmates should be provided with necessary toilet and bathroom services
immediately for comfortable living
of the children as it is their
right.
7.
The DCPO/CWC/Tribal Welfare
officer/ District administrative officer
should enquire into the matter thoroughly and prepare a detailed report.
Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date-20.7.17
