India’s peculiar situation; both malnutrition, obesity exist among children: UNICEF specialist

Mysuru: India's situation is peculiar. Both malnutrition and obesity exist among children. There is a huge rural and urban divide as well as affluence and poverty divide among the children. Thus it is a challenge, said Prosun Sen, communication specialist of UNICEF for Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

He was speaking during the inaugural function of a workshop for journalists, on ‘Children’s Rights’, organised by Journalism and Mass Communication department, University of Mysore, in association with UNESCO, at Vignan Bhavan, Manasagangotri, in Mysuru, on Thursday.

Digital safety

“The quantity and quality of reports in the media, on children’s issues, should be educative, informative and should act as eye-openers. Children’s issues are an ocean and the policies, law and programmes related to them are ever evolving. They range from health, education, nutrition, sanitation to protection. Of late, digital and online safety has become a matter of concern,” Sen said.

He said, despite India being the IT capital of the world, we are lagging behind, in ensuring safety of children against digital and cyber threats. “Child rights is a vast subject and all stakeholders, including journalists, should strive to protect them. Besides throwing light on children’s rights, journalists should give a direction for a solution,” Sen said.

Orientation

Journalist Amshi Prasanna Kumar said, media persons should update themselves on all issues, including that of children. “Orientation and re-orientation is required, to write in a sensitive and better way. There are more problems in the rural and grassroots level and thus journalists from there need to be sensitised,” he added.

Joint Director for Public Instruction H K Panduranga said, the role of media, in social life to educate the people, is vital. “The news reports should be an eye-opener to the authorities concerned. Thus, journalists should update themselves on the developments around them,” he said.

Art

Professor C K Puttaswamy said, taking care of children is an art. “Educating and moulding children into independent citizens is a challenge. Earlier, children gained wisdom and knowledge from elders and contemporaries by natural interaction in joint families. But, in nuclear families, communication and interaction itself is a problem. Thus, parents and teachers need better education, to nurture children. The early stages of children are important,” he said.

Professor and principal investigator of Unicef M S Sapna and state convenor of Karnataka Child Rights Observatory Vasudev Sharma were present. Other resource persons were Sridhar Prahlad Ryavanki, M Manjula and M Pushpalatha.