ITANAGAR, 4 Mar: The Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (APSPCR) said that there has been a rise in children with developmental delays, virtual autism and intellectual disabilities in the state, apart from other categories of disabilities, at a “concerning” rate.
The commission made the observation after its chairperson Ratan Anya, members and the Member Secretary Khoda Rakhi inspected the operations of various daycare centres, playschools and rehabilitation/therapy centres for child with special needs (CWSN) in the Itanagar Capital Region in the last week of February.
The commission stated that there is a lack of disability sensitisation at educational institutions, due to which the CWSN are often subjected to stigmatisation and discrimination by both the children and school authorities.
“At present there is no developmental paediatrician in the entire state, without which the timely detection and intervention in children is directly affected,” it said.
The commission further stated that many parents have moved out of their home districts and are residing in the ICR to provide the available therapies at private rehabilitation centres in the state capital.
The APSCPCR said that “many daycare centres and playschools are running under multiple registrations obtained from different departments due to confusion among the institutes on the competent authority to administer and monitor the operation of such daycare centres and playschools.”
“In many cases it creates unnecessary delays in obtaining proper documents for running such institutes. In the absence of a proper mechanism, the quality and administration of such institutes goes unchecked by government authorities,” it said.
The commission said that the WCD and the education department should develop proper modalities, taking into consideration the safety, security and academic development of children during their early childhood.
“Special care should also be taken on the feasibility of location during issue of NOC for running such institutes,” it said.
During the visit, the APSCPCR team sensitised the staffs to various offences and violations of child rights and handed over child rights awareness materials.
The commission sought “further information on operation of daycare schools, playschools and rehabilitation centres from the all the stakeholder departments for further review.”
