CHILDREN

A park unlike any other! The city is revolutionising play time for children with the Infinity Park in Santhome, Chennai's first 'inclusive' park, which was opened to the public on December 17th. The unique sensory park is a haven for children with its design lending itself to playing by touch. The park has been created to provide a space of leisure for all children, with or without any disabilities. The various elements in the park have been crafted to make it disabled-friendly and welcoming for children of all ages. The project is a partnership between the Disability Rights Alliance and…

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Lakshmi works as a domestic help with a few families in Bengaluru. Her daughter during the academic year 2018-2019 had been admitted to LKG in a private school through the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009, section 12(1)(c). The Act promises 25 percent reservation in private unaided schools for weaker sections and disadvantaged groups. Lakshmi chose to avail this choice as she felt that in government schools, children are left to themselves and aren't provided adequate attention. She says that she wants to educate her daughter, and felt private school was the best option. There are several…

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Bella, an 18-month-old mixed breed therapy dog in Bengaluru, boasts of a busier calendar than many of ours. Apart from working as a therapist at the Paws and Hooves Project at Wag-ville, her one-acre sprawling therapy center, Bella also visits schools and homes for one-to-one therapy sessions. Her patients are kids or adults with behavioural issues, ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), severe disability and autism. In her one-year career as a therapist, Bella has added many feathers to her cap. “Bella was my father’s therapy dog for a little over two months. She was helping him deal with speech and mobility issues…

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This article is part of a special series: Air Quality in our Cities Chennai’s air pollution scene has progressed from moderate to poor, but despite the alarming data from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and private agencies, the focus on dust pollution, that has a strong connection with poor air quality, takes a back seat in the city.  According to a study conducted by Urban Emissions, dust contributes to 23% of the PM2.5 levels (particles with diameters of 2.5 micrometres or less) in Chennai. The study was conducted to represent the mix of pollutants in Chennai’s air, using…

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Can you drop an egg three storeys down without breaking it? Eager young children from schools across the Chennai grappled with this challenge as part of a science camp where they were provided a simple kit with which they could use the elements present to prevent the egg from breaking. Twelve-year old Aniket Tadepalli fashioned a contraption out of cardboard that managed to keep the egg intact. “The egg drop challenge is one of the many activities that we have done as part of camps. It was very exciting because we were not provided any instructions. We had to figure…

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"I was nine when the Naxalites killed my father. I love libraries. I want to be a doctor." These were three hard facts of her life that 15-year-old Sumanwati declared in an excited rush of words when we spoke to her. Piecing Sumanwati's confused sentences together builds up a narrative that reflects the lives of almost all students in Education City at Jawanga, Chattisgarh. Sumanwati was nine when she lost her father and was enrolled into Aastha Vidya Mandir, a school for children who have lost either or both parents to Naxalite attacks.  Over the years, she picked herself up, immersed herself…

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This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship It is an 8th grade science class. Students are learning the concepts of Force and Pressure. The lesson starts off with activities, involving them in a game —a tug of war or arm wrestling each other. Throughout the lesson, there are several images and videos that demonstrate the concepts. Their homework for the day is to help at home in preparing rotis, which would involve activities such as separating the hardened dough, rolling it etc — all connected to the concepts that they had studied earlier that day. This is…

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A recent survey by the Information and Resource Center for Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) has shed light on the precarious living conditions and lack of access to basic services by a majority of homeless children in the city. The city's homeless have long been relegated to the fringes and left to fend for themselves. Efforts to increase the number of night shelters and other services available to them has moved at glacial pace. Understanding the services available and availed by the urban homeless, especially children, becomes vital to improve facilities and service delivery. The IRCDUC survey examined eleven parameters including…

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Reports from a surveillance mechanism of the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Government of India as well as World Health Organisation surveillance reports from Uttar Pradesh showed signs of the type-2 polio virus in stool samples of some children, following which the samples of Oral Polio Vaccines administered to children were sent for testing. This has set off a chain reaction of events, triggering a heated controversy in the realm of public health in India. The test reports confirmed that some batches were contaminated with type 2 polio virus, the manufacturing, distribution and use of which was stopped…

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15-year-old C Aarthi (name changed) is known as a brave and straightforward girl in Kannagi Nagar of Chennai. Her constant smile speaks of a cordial and open personality. But, ask her about the problems in notorious Kannagi Nagar where instances of prostitution and child marriages are common, and she keeps mum. However, two postgraduate students of the Social Work (aided) Department at Madras Christian College took a different route. B Swetha and C Sowmiya, who were placed in the Centre for Women’s Development and Research, tried a creative approach: Art therapy. Girl children from Kannagi Nagar between eight and 15…

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