PANAJI: The directorate of education has asked all schools in Goa, including government, aided and unaided institutions, to provide details of any children who have been orphaned due to the death of both or either one of their parents due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Director DR Bhagat has asked schools from the primary to the higher secondary level, including special schools, to provide the details by June 7.
“Due to the sudden rise in Covid-19 cases recently, many children have been orphaned or have lost either of the parent due to the pandemic.
The service providers might find it challenging to support children in institutions with psychosocial and mental health care needs, on these lines, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, New Delhi, have asked the department to submit the information, to be uploaded on the ‘Baal Swaraj Portal’,” said Bhagat.
Officials said that the directorate of woman and child development is working with the education department to gather and upload the details on the central portal.
The Bal Swaraj portal has been created with the purpose of tracking and monitoring children who need care and protection in real-time, digitally.
The portal aims at tracking the children right from their production before the Child Welfare Committee, to their restoration to their parent, guardian, or relative, and the subsequent follow-up.
The Commission will be able to get information about whether the child is getting his/her entitlements, benefits, and entitled monetary gains, through the data filled in the portal by the district officers and state officers for each child.