ORC is one of our initiatives, which over the period has evolved as purposefully tailored school based intervention to ensure better protection and development of children through enhancing life skills, nurturing strengths, addressing vulnerabilities, and promoting mentoring and good parenting. Initiated in 2010 as a city police and civil society pilot initiative in Kozhikode, ORC addressed the increasing criminal and deviant behaviour among some young people reported in the city that year. The pilot was found to be successful in that it helped to rehabilitate 55 children who were facing various behavioural deviations.

Realizing the relevance of the initiative in the current socioeconomic context and understanding the positive impact of the pilot on children, the Government of Kerala decided to replicate ORC in more districts. Strong partnerships were essential and although the Program was to be managed under the oversight of the Department of Women & Child Development by integrating it to the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), the Departments of Education, Health, Home, LSG and Civil Society were roped in as active partners.

The project is currently on in selected 320 Government/Government aided schools, including all the Model Residential Schools under the Tribal Development. ORC is now implemented as a problem-oriented, solution-focused partnership model, to pre-empt behavioural, emotional, learning and other mental health challenges of school children in Kerala. The project is being scaled-up in a phased manner to benefit as many children as possible.

National police mission recognized ORC as a project to be scaled up all across the country to enable parents , teachers and society at large to scientifically address the issues faced by our children. The project has already been extended to schools of Pondicherry on a pilot basis.

I express my sincere gratitude to the Smt K K Shailaja Teacher, Minister of Women & Child Development Department for constant support and guidance. The advice and guidance by Sri Jacob Punnoose IPS, Former Police Chief and Chief Mentor of ORC is an important element in the success of ORC. The backing offered by higher ups of the Women & Child Department, ICPS and other partnering departments needs a special mention. This would not have happened without the constant sweat and toil of ORC project functionaries, mentors, experts, resource persons, volunteers and the school community of ORC schools.

Our Responsibility to Children (ORC) is a problem-oriented, solution focused partnership initiative of Integrated Child protection Scheme (ICPS), Kerala, under the Department of Women and Child Development, to identify and address deviancies and other vulnerabilities of children.

 

Process followed for implementation:

• Identification of schools
• Identification of nodal teachers , school counsellors and school health nurses in the participating schools to form the ORC core team
• Appointment of Project Coordinators for each district and placing them under the concerned District Child Protection Unit
• Formation and strengthening of School Protection Groups in all participating schools
• Setting up of District ORC resource centres with the support of UNICEF and posting of psychologists to the centres
• Mapping and developing district specific resource directory with details of experts and institutions for providing expert care for needy children
• Organizing residential capacity building program for to form district level trainers pool
• District level workshop for ORC School Level Core teams
• School level training program for class teachers
• Administration of ORC I know My Student Card in all classes to identify the strength and behavioural, emotional, learning, social and, mental health issues of each and every child.
• Class room level management of the mild issues by the concerned class teachers
• Referral of children facing moderate to severe issues to the school level core team
• Individualized interventions by the core team based on the psychological first aid program
• Referral of children facing severe issues to the ORC district resource centre
• Class level parental training program based on the ORC parents training module
• Formation of ORC SMART 40 groups in all sections including, High School, Higher Secondary and Vocational Higher secondary sections of the participating schools.
• Regular life skills activity oriented camps for SMART 40children
• Regular follow up of children referred for expert care
• District level review meeting attended by the core team members of the concerned schools
• Regular monthly monitoring and review meeting of ORC functionaries.

Innovative aspects of the project: 

• Facilitates a creative collaboration between parents , teachers, children, civil society and all agencies responsible for the care and protection of children
• Creates an invisible wall of care and protection around every child through the formation of School Protection Groups
• Demonstrates a solution focused partnership model through the collective synergy of Departments of Women and Child Development, Police, Education, Health, Local Self Government and Civil Society.
• A successfully evolved scientific intervention strategy to address the behavioural, emotional, learning, mental health and social issues of children, conducive to Indian setting.
• Ensures effective gender equality and sensitization through training, and by facilitating equal performance opportunities for both boys & girls cadets.
• Pre-empts development of unhealthy behavioral, emotional and social deviations among children, and instills positive values in youth at an age when they are most susceptible to develop bad habits
• Results-Focused implementation and monitoring
• Efficient and Lean Administration
• A well maintained and informative website : orcindia.org