NCPCR Chairperson Orders Report on Private School Seat Reservation for Underprivileged Children in Assam

Guwahati: National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo took part in an inter-departmental review meeting on child rights in Guwahati on Friday and ordered the departments concerned to submit the reports regarding the implementation of a 25 percent reservation of seats in private schools for students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and financially weaker categories within the next 20 days.

Kanoongo mentioned that the central government paid for the fees of these students. The meeting was expected to see the presence of representatives from a total of 13 departments, but officials from the health department failed to turn up. 

Priyank Kanoongo mentioned that the Labour Department of the state is doing a commendable job towards the protection of child rights in the state, adding that compared to 289 FIRs lodged last year, only 20 have been lodged this year to date. He also directed the Labour Department to continue their efforts towards stopping child labour and rescuing them. 

Kanoongo further directed the police department to send FIR copies for any POCSO cases to the Child Welfare Committee immediately, while pointing out the discrepancies in the number of POCSO cases registered with the police department and those with the CWC. He called on the departments to reach an understanding regarding the same. 

In terms of the safety of students at private schools, he mentioned that a set of guidelines was given to the central government back in October 2023 and asked for its immediate implementation. Similarly, a set of regulations for private hostels was published by the Rashtriya Bal Aayog, for which he too asked for immediate implementation. 

He also mentioned that the P&RD is also working well in this field, adding that in the financial year 2023–24, they have visited a total of 1,011 schools and 1155 Anganwadi centres in the state, and that with the help of ground-level officials, they have been able to prevent a total of 195 child marriages. He added that under the efforts of the Health Department, 10 illegal orphanages set up without any registration were sealed, and the department was asked to maintain a strict vigil and undertake strict action against violators, including lodging FIRs against the perpetrators and sealing the premises.

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