The apex child rights body, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) based in New Delhi will be launching a portal called ‘MONITOR’ for online reporting of the out of school children under an inter legislative convergence reporting initiative. Various agencies obliged under child laws will have to provide data of children to NCPCR for corroboration and monitoring. According to NCPCR chairman, Priyank Kanoongo, the step has been taken to find and report 8.5 crore out of school children as per census data. “We want to know where these children are and I know they will be in difficult conditions, so we have asked all those working under legal provisions of juvenile justice, POCSO, Child Labor to provide children data. Under new rules , reporting of out of school children beyond one month has been made mandatory for schools under Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, amended in 2016 (CLPR Act),” he said. NCPCR is also in process of registering both on campus and stand alone hostels so that these can be regulated.
Kanoongo also informed that his commission in a joint survey with MHRD has tried to locate special training centres in states but didn’t find them in most states. He also made mention of pathetic juvenile homes Jalpaiguri of West Bengal where the commission is fighting a legal battle with the no cooperative administration.
NCPCR is also looking ways to challenge the exclusion of minority educational institutions from RTE Act ambit and for this law ministry is being consulted. The Supreme Court has exempted these institutions in a judgment in 2014. Curiously NCPCR was not a party to the case.
