Initiative to give Guwahati street children basic education

An initiative has been launched here to provide the city's estimated 5,534 street children basic education under the Right to Education Act.
The project "Child Friendly Guwahati", conceived by the Don Bosco Society, aims to network with various groups and volunteers in bringing education to the street children who otherwise end up as labourers or are involved in petty crimes.
"The campaign is targeting children who are engaged in rag-picking, begging, baby-sitting, addicted to substance abuse or employed as child labourers," Fr V M Thomas of Don Bosco Institute said.
Child Friendly Guwahati (CFG) was also emphasising on framing compulsory rules to send children to schools, Fr Thomas said.

The CFG campaign commenced in July, last year with five pilot centres, but it was formally launched this month to cover more children from the poor and disadvantaged sections of society by setting up more centres.
A key area of the project is to provide parents of the children with knowledge about the importance of sending their wards to schools.
"We are aiming to evolve an integrated programme for street-involved children which aims at providing full and wholesome development to them," he said.
The project laid emphasis on community-based intervention to support vulnerable children before they end up on the street, Thomas said.