REPORT OF CHILD REPORTERS WORKSHOP

Tribal Museum, Koraput 25th- 26, th May 2009

Day 1

The welcome address of the workshop was given by Mr. Sarat Patnaik of

Koraput Farmers Association (KFA), Secretariat of PGCD ( People’s Group

for Children’s Development). He gave an outline of objectives of the

workshop. He also highlighted some of the challenges PGCD had faced in

identifying and motivating child reporters from the tribal dominated

district of Koraput. Mr.Ch. Santakar then gave an account of his

practical experiences of being involved in the process from the day of its

inception. Following the initial comments the participants introduced

themselves. The workshop was inaugurated by lighting of the lamp jointly

by one representative each from the Child Reporters, teachers and

facilitators along with Mr. Ramakrishna Surdeo, the chief trainer of the

workshop. Some Child Reporters presented the theme song of child

reporters to mark the beginning of the workshop. With this the workshop

began in a full fledged manner.

The participants were divided into six groups with each group consisting

of child reporters, teachers, NGO facilitators and PGCD Members. The

facilitator had conveyed the message that the groups would remain the
same throughout the workshop. The first task of the workshop was to

reflect on the work that has been done already by the child reporters in

the process. Hence each group was given copies of the last three issues

of ‘Ankurdagam’, a supplement brought out as a supplement in the Oriya

Daily ‘Anupam Bharat’, with the exclusive contribution by Child Reporters

of Koraput District. The participants went through the contents of the

paper and then make a list of the issues which have been highlighted and

then also make a list of the issues that can be further included and

highlighted in the pages of ‘Ankurdagam’. The groups were given 45

minutes for this task and then asked to present what they had come up

with. The presentation was done solely by the child reporters. Before

commencing their presentation the child reporters were encouraged to

start with a song or mimicry. This was done to keep on renewing the

attention span of the children as there was always a possibility that

their concentration could drift away. After the presentation of each

group questions were invited from the other groups. This gave the child

reporters an opportunity to engage in a lively debate with their peers and

even their teachers and facilitators.

The presentation was pretty much structured like the issue of

‘Ankurdagam’ where the issues were arranged in four categories namely

Health, Education, Environment/Sanitation and Society. The consolidated

contents of the presentation have been tabulated as given below.

ISSUES WHICH HAVE BEEN ISSUES WHICH CAN BE INCLUDED

INCLUDED

Health Health

1. Lack of proper medical facilities 1. Information about balanced diet.

and absence of doctors and
medical staff.
2. Absence of hospitals in close
proximity of the village
3. Health of infants
4. Gaining knowledge about various
diseases and means of preventing
them.
5. Realising the need of keeping
ones body fit through exercise.
6. Spread of water bourne disease
due to lack of safe drinking water.
7. Irregularity in administering
immunisation.
8. Health problems arising due to
consumption of alcohol and
tobacco.
9. Means of checking the spread of
malaria, dysentery and skin
diseases.
10. Health problems arising due to
poor sanitation conditions.
2. Taking steps to prevent Malaria.
3. Spreading information about first
aid care and how it can be
administered at home.
4. Creating awareness among people
about health related problems,
especially among young mothers
and pregnant women.
5. Informing about immunisation at
the right time.
6. Requesting the Panchayat to
organise training camps regarding
health on a monthly basis.
7. Information about medicinal
plants so that they can be used as
first aid.
8. Merits of consuming a vegetarian
diet could be disseminated
through ‘Ankurdagam’.
9. Importance of keeping ones hands
clean to prevent spread of
bacteria.
Education
1. Lack of Teaching and Learning
Materials (TLM) in school.
2. Increasing rate of dropout from
schools.
3. The dropout rate is even higher
among girls.
4. Poor condition of school building
and absence of toilets in the
schools.
5. Lack of electricity in the school.
6. Lack of compound wall in the
school.
7. Misuse of the school premises by
the villagers by drawing graffiti
and writing in obscene language
on the school walls.
8. The student teacher ratio in the
school is extremely high.
Education
1. Problems regarding mid day meal
scheme.
2. Involving members of the village
in the activities of the school.
3. Analyse causes of increasing
dropout rates in school.
4. Including the activities of the
child reporter in the curriculum of
the school.
5. Create awareness among villagers
about the merits of providing
education to their wards.
6. Special emphasis on girl child
education.
7. Highlight the shortage of teachers
in school.
8. News of students who have won
competitions at the various levels
 9. Lack of amenities for physically
challenged students.
10. Lack of hostel facilities after 6th
std in NUPS
Environment and Sanitation
1. Problems created due to the
rapidly growing population of the
village.
2. Destruction of medicinal plants
due to the practice of slash and
burn cultivation.
3. Destruction of natural forest and
their being replaced by plantation
forest.
4. Construction of garbage pit in the
village which can be used as a
common garbage disposal pit.
5. Appealing to people to plant more
trees and keep their surroundings
clean.
6. Pollution of streams and rivers.
7. Environmental problems arising
out of practice of slash and burn
agriculture.
8. Lack of toilet in every household
of the village.
9. Most of the sanitation problems
are arising due to lack of water
supply.
Social Aspects
1. Description of village rituals and
festivals.
2. Prevalence of phenomenon of
child marriage in society.
3. Presence of practice of child
labour,
4. Problems arising due to poverty.
5. Problems of alcoholism.
6. Existence of widespread belief in
superstitions.
and acknowledging their
achievement.
9. Lack of classrooms- due to which
one room has to accommodate
many age groups and many
classes.
10. News about the interest and
hobbies of teachers.
Environment and Sanitation
1. Problems relating to agriculture-
particularly the danger of
chemical fertiliser.
2. Pollution caused due to industries
and industrial waste.
3. Awareness generation to prevent
de-forestation.
4. Awareness against the use of
plastic and polythene bags.
5. Encouraging the construction and
use of toilets.
6. Forming environment protection
committee.
7. Requesting the Panchayat to take
steps to protect the environment.
8. Taking steps for re-forestation.
9. Information of historical sites
present in the districts.
Social Aspects
1. Prevalence of the practice of
dowry.
2. Prevention of child marriage
through strict implementation of
ban.
3. To educate people against
superstitious beliefs.
4. Information about various
schemes and programs of the
government can be disseminated
 7. Problems of food security in
society.
8. Information about participation of
fellow students in various
competitions and how they fared
in the competition.
through ‘Ankurdagam’.
5. Views of villagers about activities
of child reporter.
6. Participation of child reporter in
VEC meetings.
7. Merits and demerits of using
mobile phones and television.

Child development issues which can be included

1. Aspirations of their fellow students

2. Dreams of parents about their children.
3. Dreams of their life and what should be done to fulfil them.
4. Life of world famous personalities.
5. Stories based on real life experiences of fellow students.
6. Appealing to newspapers in the state to include news about children in their
editions.
7. News of students who have won competitions at the various levels and
acknowledging their achievement.
8. Reporting skills of children.

Village development issues which can be included

1. Narrating history of their village and the life experiences of the village elders.
2. Report on the activities of the Govt. employees present in the village

Day 2

To make members of the community aware about the merits of The day

began with the rendering of a devotional by a group of child reporters.

The proceedings of the previous day were recapitulated and then the

facilitator of the workshop went on to outline the next task for the

groups. The groups sat together and collated their thoughts on the role

of child reporters and the skills and knowledge that a child reporter

should posses to be an affective and articulate reporter. Certain general

observations like the role of the child reporter in identifying issues and

analysing them were made. The particular observations made have been

given below.
Role of child reporter

• Analyse the causes behind increasing dropout rate.

• Analyse the causes behind low attendance rate among girls.

• Creating awareness and interest among fellow students about

child reporter programme.

• To involve students who are not child reporters in all the

activities of the school,

• To participate in the VEC, PTA, MTA meetings.

• Identifying the root causes of the problems and presenting

them before the concerned authorities to facilitate the solving

of the problem.
• Collecting information about various schemes of the Govt.

Understanding them and then disseminating the information

among members of the community.

• Understanding the rights of a child and also informing others

about this.

• To encourage other students to involve themselves as child

reporters and realise the responsibility of a child reporter.

• To take on the responsibility of eradicating belief in

superstitions in the community.

• Encouraging the members of the community to promote the

education of girls.

• To work towards the abolition of caste discrimination.

• Participating in the Gram Sabha and Palli Sabha meetings as

observers.

• To try and collect news about events taking places within the

country and also happening world over.

• Maintaining hygienic surroundings.

• To inform people about the need to keep the surroundings of

drinking water source clean.

• To report the activities of the various Govt. officials present in

the village.

• To inform members of the community about the evils of child

marriage and the practice of dowry.

• Encouraging villagers for use of safe drinking water.

• To try and draw attention to the many problems facing society

and highlight them in ‘Ankurdagam’.

The other task given to them was to identify the different skills,

knowledge and attitude that the child reporter should posses to carry out

his/her role effectively. The contents of the presentation are given

below in a tabulated form.

Knowledge Skills Attitude

1. Knowledge of local 1. Skill of clear 1. The child reporter

conditions and articulation of should be tenacious
environment. thought. to gain knowledge.
2. Aware about the 2. Skill of presenting 2. Should have self
current happenings issues in a manner confidence.
in the country and comprehensible by 3. Should be aware of
the world. all. his/her
3. Knowledge about 3. Listening skill and responsibilities.
the harmful effects also skill of 4. Should always
of pollution. engaging in a think positively.
4. Knowledge about conversation. 5. The child reporter
various Govt. 4. Skill of writing should give respect
schemes regarding clearly and to his/her elders.
health, education, correctly. 6. Should be willing
agriculture etc. 5. Skill of raising to co-operate with
5. Knowledge about questions. everyone.
 the causes of 6. Creative skills like 7. He/She should be
common diseases drawing, singing punctual.
like dysentery, flu etc. 8. The child reporter
etc. 7. Time management should be
6. Fluent in the local skills competitive in
language spoken in 8. Adjusting quickly nature.
the area. to new 9. The child reporter
7. Knowledge about surroundings shouldn’t be selfish
SHG. 9. Skill to work and self centred.
8. Knowledge about effectively in a 10. Should display
the economic group. enthusiasm in
condition of the 10. Inter personal taking up new
village. skills. tasks.
9. Knowledge about 11. Skill of riding 11. The child reporter
the geographical bicycle. should be sensitive
terrain of the to the physically
locality. challenged students
10. Knowledge about 12. He/She should
local traditions and display dedication
customs. to complete the
11. Knowledge about task at hand.
the functioning of
the Panchayat
system.

All the participating members were formed into two groups. One group

consisted of only the child reporters and the other group consisted of

the teachers and the process facilitators . The group consisting of the

child reporters got engaged in exploring the kind of help they required

from the teachers and the facilitators while the group consisting of the

teachers and facilitators came out with a list of their role and

responsibility in supporting child reporters in their activities. The groups

then made their presentations during the workshop; the contents are

given in the table below.

Child reporters discussing role of teachers
Presentation of group consisting of Presentation of group consisting of
child reporters teachers and NGO facilitators
1. Teachers should help in the
process of selecting child
reporters.
2. They should impart knowledge by
encouraging active participation
in the classroom.
3. They should encourage problem
solving through discussion.
4. Help in developing writing skills
and developing a competitive
mindset.
5. Provide the space to ask questions
in the classroom.
6. Reading out news relating to the
village during prayer.
7. Encouraging child reporters to
engage in group work.
8. Award the best child reporter
during the annual function of the
school.
9. Teachers should subscribe to
newspapers in the school.
10. Involving child reporters in all the
activities of the school.
11. Providing child reporters with
identity cards.
12. To explain difficult concepts in a
simple and lucid manner.
13. Use of non convention teaching
methods for explaining complex
issues.
14. Help in sending news to
Teachers discussing their role
1. Inculcating the following qualities
among child reporters
• Courage
• Self-Confidence
• Intelligence
• Responsible
• Adjusting quickly to new
environment.
• Punctuality
• Obedience
• Good Behaviour
• Group Work
• Improving language skills
• Truthfulness
• Clarity in expression
2. To interact with the parents of the
child reporter and ask them to
encourage the child in what he/she
is doing.
3. The family members should be
made to realise that the family is
very important in the overall
development of the child.
4. To ensure that a family like
environment prevails in the school
to make it conducive for learning.
5. To respond to the needs of the
child reporters.
 newspapers other than
‘Ankurdagam’.

REPORT OF CHILD REPORTERS WORKSHOP

Ex Board Primary School, Laxmipur, 27th May 2009

While children and the adults took part in the workshop at Koraput , one

more workshop was conducted at Laxmipur especially to acknowledge the

challenges of the children and their facilitators in carrying out the

process in difficult and challenging areas . Child reporters , teachers and

the facilitators from the most challenging Blocks of Koraput distirct ,

Narayanpatna, Bandhugaon and Laxmipur of Koraput participated in the

exercise on the following three aspects-:

• Carrying forward the process of child participation

• Promotion of child reporters

• Making ‘Ankurdogam’ more meaningful and relevant for the

inaccessible areas

Four groups were formed; two consisting of teachers and two of children

to reflect on the issues mentioned above and make their presentations.

The groups immediately went down to their task and they presented their

findings to the participants of the workshop. The consolidated contents

of their findings are given below.

Health Issues

• To address the issue of health it is imperative that a proper

functioning hospital/dispensary with a doctor and adequate medical

staff should be present.

• If proper medical facilities are provided people will stop going to

village quack, which is mainly used by many in the area and their

belief in superstitions will reduce.

• To prevent water bourne disease, the members of the community

should be made aware to keep the surroundings clean.

• Special care should be taken for the health of the children as mal

nutrition is very high in the area. This issue needs to be given

special attention.

• Help of the ANM should be utilised and if she is not present then

complaint must be made to proper authority.

• NGOs working in the area should also make people aware about

health problems and the ill effects of consuming alcohol and

tobacco. In this area tobacco is smoked in its raw form. People,

 largely women practice reverse smoking which gives them an extra

stimulus but is extremely harmful for their health.

Educational Issues

• Many people in the inaccessible areas are not educated hence they

are not able to get employment, so education can play an important

part in poverty eradication. Due to this unemployed youth get

attracted towards Naxalism.

• Proper communication infrastructure should be in place so that

teachers can reach the school in the remote areas. Many teachers

don’t go to school because of the inaccessible nature of the region.

• Proper functioning of schools has to be ensured in these areas so

that students don’t have to travel long distances to attend school.

• Due to rampant poverty many students are leaving school to earn a

living. This must be prevented through efficient implementation of

mid-day meal scheme.

 • Child reporter process should be introduced in all the schools so

that the problems of the area can be highlighted.

Children making presentation

Social aspects

• The single biggest problem affecting this area is the lack of proper

communication and transport facilities. By building proper roads

these areas can be connected to the Block Headquarters where

they can avail health facilities.

• Due to lack of opportunities there is widespread migration in the

inaccessible areas. People migrate mostly to the towns of

Parvathipuram and Vijayanagram in the neighbouring state of

Andhra Pradesh to work as daily wage labourers, their children also

accompany their parents, which prevents them from attending

school. To prevent migration opportunities should be created in the

areas for employment.

• Due to their location and fear of Naxalites many Govt. officials do

not visit the area. But in this area Naxalites never attack Govt.

officials who are in charge of basic services like health and

education, the fear psychosis present in the area is often used as

an excuse for not visiting the areas. They should be encouraged to

visit the areas in regular interval and identify the problems

affecting the area.

• Steps should also be taken to remove fear from the minds of the

Govt. officials working in this area.

• Child reporters can play a role in making people of the inaccessible

areas aware about various schemes of the Govt.

Teachers preparing their presentation

PRESENTATION TO THE DISTRICT STAKEHOLDERS

Tribal Museum, Koraput- 29th May 2009
On 28th May members of PGCD along with the chief consultant and the

communication officer , UNICEF consolidated the findings from the

workshops that were conducted at Koraput and Laxmipur. They

processed the collected data and classified them to develop an outline for

the proposed module on child participation. The module on child

participation process involving child reporters was shared with the

District stakeholders on 29th May 2009. The director of the tribal

museum, DPC-SSA, DWO, Gender Co-ordinator, Pedagogy Co-ordinator,

Dist. Coordinator- ANKUR-II, members of BCC cell , some NGO leaders

and volunteers along with some invited school teachers. Participants of

the meeting helped in further improving the quality of the proposed

module by sharing their observation and by providing feedback. The

following is the outline of the proposed module.

Main Objectives

• To consolidate and structure the child participation process based

on child reporters

• To ensure broader participation

• To scale-up the process across all 14 blocks in Koraput

Major Tasks

• Preparing a draft of the module for children and facilitators

highlighting the nature and principle of reporting by the children.

• Peer to peer communication

• Communicating issues to all concerned

• Monitoring by children on reported events

• Child advocacy

Actions Taken

• Field visit by the consultant accompanied by PGCD Members

• Discussion with Children and teachers.

• Preparation of plan for collection of information for designing the

module

• Structured discussion with selected children, teachers and

facilitators through workshop at Koraput & Laxmipur

• Interaction with education functionaries in the district

• Interaction with UNICEF officials

DPC, SSA, expressing his views

Outline of the Module

 Based on the information from the Workshop and interaction the

following outline has been developed

1. Foreword

2. Acknowledgement

3. Background

4. Introduction

5. Executive Summary

6. How to use the module

7. Child Rights

8. Need for Child Participation

9. Role of Children and Child Reporters

10. Role of Facilitators

11. Communication-Concept, Types, Barriers and Skills- district

specific skills

12. Linkage of reporting with school education

13. Forum for learning and expression

14. Issues to be addressed

15. Monitoring system and tools

16. Need for child advocacy

Issues identified by children

 • Health, nutrition, sanitation

• Education

• Socio-cultural

• Economic

• Environmental

• Outreach plan for challenging areas

Nature of reporting

• Appreciation of positive/successful efforts

• Communicating a specific problem with information on its causes

and possible solutions with emphasis on child participation

• Duty/responsibilities of children, parents, community, teachers and

other stake holders in responding to the problem

• Suggestion on possible follow-up and monitoring

Mr. Ramakrishna making the presentation

INITIATING THE DRAFT PREPARATION OF THE MODULE

29th – 31st May, 2009 at KFA, Koraput
Soon after the presentation to the district stakeholder’s members of
PGCD, KFA and the consultant started working on the draft preparation
for the module. Some of the teachers and Block co-ordinator working
with PGCD took the responsibility of preparing the draft. They further
distributed the responsibility as explained in the list given below, to make
the participation broad based.

Govt. teacher and PGCD Co. drafting the module PGCD Co-ordinators drafting the module

RESPONSIBILITY FOR DRAFT MODULE PREPARATION

1. Forward & Preface – Mr. Prosun Sen & State Representative

UNICEF, Orissa

2. Introduction – Uma Sir

3. Background – Mr.Santakar & Mr. Sarat

4. Role & responsibility of Child Reporters and facilitators- Teachers

of Sundiguda School

5. Child Rights- Mr.Sarat with inputs from Mr. Prosun.

6. Child Participation – Mr. Ch. Santakar

7. Way forward – text by Mr.Sarat & Mr.Santakar

8. Education – Dr. Rajat Sadangi & Mr. Balakrishna Patnaik

9. Environment – Mr. Bimal Patnaik & Mr. Hari

10. Social & Cultural – Ms. Jayashree Patnaik & Ms. Urmila

11. Health, Nutrition & Sanitation – Mr.Sarat Dhal & Mr.Prakash

 12. Monitoring systems and tools – Mr. Ramakrishna Surdeo

13. How to use the module – Mr. Ramakrishna Surdeo

The PDF version of the first Oriya draft of the module is given as the

second attachment. The responsibility of preparing the English

translation of this module is given to Mr. Omprasad.

Arranging materials for drafting the module

Prepared by
Ramakrishna & Om