Over Three Decades of Service to the Deprived and Underprivileged

Introduction

The Institute of Psychological and Educational Research (IPER) was founded in 1971. Two major disciplines of psychology and education are closely linked with the all-round development of human beings specially children. But the coverage offered by the existing institutions working in these fields is quite inadequate leaving much of the area of the disciplines unexplored. In 1971 a few university teachers and researchers under the stewardship of the noted educationist, Dr. Arun Ghosh, a National Awardee for Child Welfare of the Government of India, set up IPER to provide the young people of our country with facilities and necessary guidance for research in psychology and education.

Organisation

Dr. A. Ghosh, the founder-Director of IPER, is the head of all planning and administrative activities. Besides him, the society is managed by a duly elected Governing Body. A written constitution lays down the functions, responsibilities and terms of office of the office-bearers including those of the directors.

Sources of Income

IPER also receives funds from several international funding agencies like LWS, UNICEF, ILO, Brot, Deaconess Institute and others. Fund raising programmes are also held from time to time.
 
Exemption of Tax for Donors

All donations made to IPER are exempted from income tax under section 80G of Income Tax Act. IPER also has a foreign contribution registration certificate.

Activities and Programmes

Over the last three decades IPER has grown from strength to strength through the commitment of its team of staff members, patrons and friends. During this period IPER launched and successfully completed a number of projects on different social issues. The findings of many projects have contributed towards policies and decisions which  in  turn  have  helped implement programmes for the deprived and disadvantaged children. The focus of these programmes is on education, health, nutrition, vocational training and recreation.

IPER’s areas of concern include the disadvantaged population of the city with a special focus on children and women who can be described to be doubly disadvantaged. The children IPER work with are child labour, street children, trafficked child, abused child, children in conflict with law, mentally challenged and the out-of-school children. Another important area of service with which IPER is closely associated is prevention of drug addiction. IPER has set up a counselling-cum-detoxification centre and a rehabilitation centre to help addicts return to mainstream life. Capacity building and empowerment is another major focus  area of IPER’s work.

ALL THE WORK THAT IPER DOES IS BASED ON THE RIGHTS APPROACH BE IT FOR CHILDREN ,WOMEN OR ANY  OTHER HUMAN BEING
 

IPER Holiday School ---- Child Workers’ Own School

Child labour remains one of the most pressing and neglected human rights issue of our times. It is one of the principal causes of child abuse and exploitation in our country,  infringing  on  the  basic  rights  of  children,  like  education,  health  care, nutrition, freedom from exploitation and recreation. These children are denied of opportunities and facilities which other children from  economically better off strata get. IPER firmly believes that every child has the right to receive the vital services irrespective of the status or income group she or he belongs to.

The curriculum of the Holiday School included the subjects taught at the primary level of the formal schools such as Language, Arithmetic, Nature Study, History and Geography. The medium of teaching was both Bengali and Hindi. The children were taught drawing, painting and handicrafts for developing their creative talent. Medical check-up of the children was carried out regularly and treatment was given to the ailing ones. Medicines and supportive diets were given free of cost. A supplementary feeding programme was also carried out. There were 36 such Holiday schools catering to more than 2000 child workers each year from 1983 to 1996.

Late Afternoon Schools for Street and Working Children

Since 1988 IPER has also been running a number of educational centres which function in the late afternoon. These schools are targetted at those street children and working children who work part-time like vendors and ragpickers  and are free to attend in the late afternoon.

IPER Open Learning Schools---- “Schools that Go to Where the Children Are”

IPER Open Learning Schools are run under the scheme of “Experimental and Innovative Education” of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. They were first set up in 1989 for providing educational services to out-of- school children. The objectives of the project are to provide the children with three major essential amenities of childhood, namely facilities for education, nutritional support  and  health  care.  The fundamental principle underlying the Open Learning School is “ to take the school to where the children are”. These schools are located in areas with large concentration of children deprived of education. Classes are held on the open streets, under sheds in parks and in local clubs. At present there are 22 centres attended by nearly 1000 children.

A major focus of this programme is to mainstream these children into formal schools as soon as they are capable.

Majority of these children have not got any immunisation against common illnesses such as polio, measles, and diptheria. Skin diseases, stomach ailments and respiratory infections are quite common among them as they live in unhealthy environments. Doctors make regular visits to the centres to carry out routine medical check-ups and treat sick children. Children are also provided with dry food packets which include, among others, bananas, cake and sweets. Once a month children are taken for some cultural and recreational events.

IPER Habilitation Centre for the Mentally Challenged

In 1987 IPER Habilitation Centre was set up for children who for various reasons were mentally challenged and could not be taught in conventional schools or by traditional methods.  This Centre catered to the needs of those mentally challenged children who were educable. The main aim was to develop effective methods of teaching through creative activities. As a part of the habilitation programme selected children were given vocational training so that they could be self-reliant in life. Speech therapy and behavioural therapy were other essential components as also family counselling.

Most of the children could write sentences and calculate money. Some of them had reached the level of primary education. They could follow those directions which were important in daily life. The children were taught daily activities of life like simple cooking, making beds, washing, folding, ironing clothes, laying the table and so on. The students participated regularly in competitions such as the National Meet of the Special Olympics, talent shows where they presented mime, dramas, music and dance items. This center presently works as referral center and carries out out-reach awareness programmes jointly with IICP.

International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)

PER worked with ILO in two programmes during the tenure of IPEC in the early 90s. One programme had as its focus running of special schools for the child labours and  bettering  their living and working conditions and the other in preventing child employment by making a massive drive for putting the children in the schools and ensuring that the children are retained there. For both the programmes intensive work was done with the parents and the employers to commit them to end child labour.

For this the social workers of IPER identified and established contact with 1000 employers in order to motivate them to stop employing children. Street corner meetings were arranged to generate awareness against the evil effects of child labour among the employers and people in general. Discussion meets were arranged for university and college students, journalists, teachers and others. Programme was developed to mobilise public opinion and form active intervention groups to fight child labour. Besides schooling, interventions were made to prevent them from joining the labour market by constant monitoring in the area selected for the work. Special focus was on the girls who were the most neglected and vulnerable amongst child workers.

IPER Drop-In Centre ---- Shishu Patha Nilay : A Resting Resort for Street Children

Many children in the metroes are found to work as ragpickers, hawkers or helpers in motor garages or in small roadside eateries. When not working they loiter in the streets where they fall into the clutches of unscrupulous gangs who exploit them and make them do anti-social activities. To provide these children with a safe place for resting and engaging their free time in creative activities, IPER set up a drop-in centre in 1993 in a two-room accommodation near Ballygunge Railway Station. The centre was named “Shishu Patha Nilay” meaning a resting resort for children. It functions from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily where approximately 200 children attend. The Centre has a multi-faceted programme to serve the varying needs of the children. Classes are held in batches on basic literacy, numeracy and other subjects followed at the primary level of education and pre-vocational skill training in some crafts such as sewing and embroidery. Children also play indoor games. The children are given food packs during the day. A paediatrician visits the centre once a week for medical check-up and treatment.

Integrated Programme For Street Children

fter careful survey in several pockets of south Kolkata the social workers and teachers  of  IPER  identified a number of children without home and proper family ties. Not only their dwelling place was on the pavement but they also did not have any basic facilities like two square meals a day, proper clothing, medical care, formal schooling and physical security and were exposed to abuse and exploitation. The programme under the Government of India being run since 1993 is presently covering 500+ children distributed through sixteen community centres. These centres are spread over southern parts of the city of Kolkata. 

Qualified teachers and a few experienced social workers are actively rendering following services with an aim to preventing destitution amongst these children and facilitating their placement in the social mainstream for their full and wholesome development. To implement the project the following services have been planned:

 Education

Academic classes are held five days a week for 4 hours a day under the guidance of an able teacher.  Teaching is mainly carried out through ‘individualised lessons’ developed by IPER which can be worked out independently by the child with some assistance from the teachers. The lessons where needed are supplemented by text books. In this system children can make progress according to their individual capacity and pace of learning. Individual Record File for each child is maintained. Home visit to absentees and family contacts are essential parts of the intervention programme. Emphasis is given on literacy, numeracy, life skills and health education.

Nutrition

Every child is provided with a food pack five days a week at the school. The pack usually contains bread and cooked curry and one sweet ball. If a child is found malnourished a specially prepared diet is prescribed for him.

Health Care

Qualified doctors visit the children twice a week. Medical check-up of each child is carried out with the provision of medicines for the ailing ones and where needed with all diagnostic facilities.

National Child Labour Project

It was in 1994 that the government planned to hold programmes for the rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations. IPER since 1996 is one of the partners of this National Child Labour Project (NCLP) run by the South 24 Parganas District Administration. IPER runs 6 centres under the programme three under Jadavpur and three under Kasba Police stations catering to more than 300 children. IPER is also running a center under the Kolkata National Child Labour Project.

The children selected for the project are either working or on the verge of joining the labour market. They are first withdrawn from the work that they are doing and brought under the fold of the Special Schools that are run under the Project. These special schools operate for 5 hours a day for six days a week. Classes are held in local clubs specially taken on rent for the purpose. Children who attend the classes regularly get a stipend of Rs.100/- a month. Every day a midday meal is served to the child in the class. After attending these classes for two or three years a good number of these children are admitted to formal schools. 

This programme was taken up by IPER due to its firm belief that child labour in whatever form it exits is injurious to the child as it interferes with the normal developmental needs of the child. Children who are working either in the domestic or in the commercial sectors are compelled to go without the basic requirements of childhood like education, recreation, social and cultural opportunities. IPER through these special schools tries to provide these facilities as far as possible.

ChildWatch – A Programme on Child Protection

IPER during its long association with deprived children found many children who were living in high-risk situations and needed immediate support to develop in a healthy manner. They needed vital services for their proper growth. These high-risk children were:

These children were often malnourished, as both the quality and quantity of food was insufficient; they were shelter-less without a roof over their heads and slept on the open pavements; illiterate since they were not in school and got no health care when ill as there was no money for their treatment.

It is for these children “in crisis” that ChildWatch programme was designed. It is a multi-dimensional programme aimed to provide the children their essential rights for development such as education, nutrition, health care and recreation. It is a programme for family integration too and allows the child to grow in a family setting be it biological or foster, as against institutions, and be a part of society to which she or he belongs. Initially supported by UNICEF it has graduated into IPER’s Programme for Child Protection. It has several components for different target groups like the child, the family and the community.

For the children the activities taken up are:

No child can be helped unless the family is supportive to the child. So families are also guided for the purpose and parents meeting are held weekly to discuss issues of interest and relevance to them. They are also given counselling as and when situation demands. Activities with the community mainly concentrated on the awareness generation and information sharing with the key persons in the community.

CHILDLINE – A Toll-free Phone Service for Children-in-Crisis

CHILDLINE is a 24 hours toll-free phone service for emergency out-reach throughout the country for children in need of care and protection. It is a project under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, in partnership with NGOs, UNICEF and the corporate sector.

Till date more than 200 children have been given assistance mainly medical in nature by IPER through CHILDLINE. During this period outstanding development was noticed in the sphere of awareness generation and attending calls from children in crisis. 

Follow-up and Mainstreaming

One of the major focuses of IPER in all these programmes is to restore these children to the mainstream society with extensive follow-up service. Of the different approaches taken up for the purpose one is admit to the children to formal schools, reintegrate them with children in the family, counsel them for a better and healthier life style. Since its inception more than 10000 children have been rehabilitated through these services. Good progress has been achieved in the field. Specific programmes taken up for this are:

Supportive Classes

One of the major objectives of the different programmes that IPER organises for the deprived children is to restore them into the mainstream of the society. The principal measure taken for the purpose is to put these children to the regular formal schools. But as most of these children are first generation learners it is very difficult for them to cope with the demands of the schools. As a result there is a high tendency of these children dropping out of school.

To meet this exigency Supportive Classes are organised where these school-going children are assisted in their learning. Presently four such supportive classes are held. IPER is also providing these children with tuition fees, books, pencils, slates and exercise books throughout the academic year.

Talent Development Programme

Skill Development for Urban Girl Child Workers

Among the child workers girl children are at a greater disadvantage and suffer exploitation more than the boys. They are often forced to submit to the physical as well as sexual abuses of the unscrupulous employers.

Managed by a team of trained social workers, counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists, IPER Anti-Drug Centre was set up in 1988 with aid from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. The programme covers a wide range of people in two areas of the city under 28 police stations.

IPER Anti-Drug programme now covers areas Ballygunje, Entally, Manicktola, Beliaghata, Tiljala, Cossipur, Behala, Thakurpukur, Kasba, Jadavpur, Bhowanipur, Ekbalpur. Mahamayatala, Garia, as well as stretches of Sonarpur, Baruipur, Bhangar and Bishnupur. IPER is presently working as a Counselling Center and coordinating its activities with DUVA, an indoor detoxification center where treatment for addiction is done.

The major thrust of the programme is counselling along with rehabilitation services. Counselling is imparted to:

The programme concentrates on four main types of activities, namely identification of addicts, motivational counselling, support services and follow-up. When an addict is brought to the Centre for treatment he or she is put through a medical, psychological and social assessment. This is followed by pre-detoxification counselling which has been found to be quite effective and necessary in most cases. Initially some medicines are prescribed by the doctor at the Centre which are given free of cost. Subsequently patients who are deemed to be fit for detoxification are admitted to the indoor facility of DUVA. A regular monitoring and counseling is done for each and every client and once a patient is free of addiction counselling is continued to enable him to remain clean.

For an effective support system in the family and the community, an extensive out-reach programme is taken up as a follow-up measure and the community workers and counsellors regularly visit the patients and their families. A support group meeting is held once a week at IPER Anti-Drug Centre.

In 1995 an Out-Patient Department for drug dependents was set up at IPER Development Centre with aid from the European Commission. During the same time some skill training programme were conducted for the recovered patients to help them to become self-reliant.
 
The Centre has an extensive awareness generation programme on the evil effects of and detrimental consequences of drug abuse. Motivation Building Programmes are organised all the centres of IPER in convenient places in the community as also regular street corner meetings  are  held  where  besides  specialists and experts in drug addiction, the local people, community leaders and recovering addicts take part. Regular exhibitions are organised during Calcutta Book Fairs and other public events. Every year 26 June is observed as “International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking” through various programmes like mime shows, inter-school debates, video shows, workshops and so on.

Drug Education Camps are also organised in undergraduate colleges, universities, nursing schools and other departments. Keen interest has been observed among the participants who are naturally curious and eager to know all about drug addiction.

Opportunities to the patients are provided for rest, relaxation and recreation. In these units television, radio, newspapers, magazines and indoor games are provided. IPER from time to time holds camps for the clients to help working people avail these services. This has proved to be a very effective way of helping the community.

IPER Clinic

A regular clinic is run at IPER Development Centre with two doctors and two para staff for immunization as well as medical examination services. An intensive as well as extensive medical care programme are provided through the Centre. Besides emergency cases are also dealt with as and when need arises. Children’s Out-patient Clinic is run for four days a week along with a programme for mothers and children. The Out-patient Clinic remains open for the women and children throughout the week.

Special cases like asthma, tuberculosis, severe forms of mal-nourishment are also taken care of by long term treatment plan. Cases of burn, accidents and other emergencies are treated at the clinic as well as referred to hospitals when necessary. Pathological investigations and other types of investigations are also taken care of free of charges.

Project on ‘Access To Education–A Right For All Children’

This Project supported by Reach India is basically designed to ensure that all vulnerable children in the project area become primary graduates completing four years of primary education with desired levels of learning with special focus on girls.
To ensure that all vulnerable children in target areas are enrolled and are attending schools in community- run or government schools, the work plan would have a three-pronged strategy:
Prevention(OOSC)    : Access through 20 Community Learning Centres
Protection                   : Retention through 40 Government Primary Schools & 8  Community Resource Centres
 Promotion: Learning achievement through 6 Primary Schools from 40 Government Primary Schools.

Thus started in the month of January 2005 in seven wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation the project is working on:

The vision of the project is the total coverage of all vulnerable children remaining out of school and withdrawing them from child labour activities. The out of school children in the age group 5-14 years living with their families in the slums will be reached out through the community based learning centres and would be mainstreamed into the formal primary education system.

Mother-Child Programme

It is a well known fact that there can be no development of children unless their families are also helped especially the mothers. Realising this IPER has been running a multi-dimensional developmental programme for the mothers and their children since 1995. Under the programme the following services are rendered to the children:

For the mothers IPER runs a literacy and health-care programme, cultural and recreational development programme and programme for developing self-reliance through skill training.

The year 2005 saw another major programmatic expansion for IPER especially with the women community. Focus of the project is on bringing about an improvement in the lives of women who have, for decades, been deprived of a life of dignity. It is proposed to do so by empowering the women through capacity building, legal awareness and literacy, income generation skills, training sessions on marketing skills, ways to form self-help groups and so on. NIWANO Peace Foundation of Japan supports the project.

It is expected that the income generation skills will help the women who have been working in very low-paid and low-esteem jobs in having an alternative means of earning and one that is associated with self-worth and esteem. Besides the skill-development programme, functional literacy, legal awareness and training in social and life skills constitute important components of the project.

The project is unique in that it does not separate the women from their families and community, and given the services, the empowerment of women is expected to improve the family especially the child, as no child can develop fully unless the condition of the women in the family is changed for the better. The project takes up a rights-based approach in improving the life of the women and young girls living in a very impoverished condition.

Project on “Combating Child Abuse & Trafficking Through Protection”

Children are generally seen as weak and powerless. They are not encouraged to participate in decision making matters that concern them. In India a child is seen as the ‘property’ of the parent to do what they like. It is such a notion that makes children vulnerable to abuse of all kinds from adults. They are not seen as entities of their own, more so in Indian culture which has always placed a higher value on the needs of the aged more than those of the young.

Thus there is a need to challenge the value perception that children are the exclusive property of their parents. Widespread awareness generation programmes with regard to the needs and rights of children must be promoted. The principle of children’s rights as enshrined in the UNCRC must guide the policies and welfare schemes for children.

 The Project on “Combating Child Abuse & Trafficking Through Protection” supported by GOAL India started in July 2005 and is working with 100 children and their families from urban slums in wards 93, 94 and 95 of KMC. The main goal of the project is to make available to the child his/her basic right to protection from abuse and exploitation and to help develop well adjusted, normal and productive future citizens.

From the long experience of working with high-risk children IPER has come to the conclusion that the abused children need very specific and focused support. Of these four steps can be identified as ~

Models of Intervention are:

1.   Parent Enhancement Service Model

2.   Child Empowerment Service Model

3.  Intervention with the community and the society

 ‘Crises Prevention Centre (CPC)’
Along with the different interventions one important measure that needs to be taken is having a ‘Crises Prevention Centre (CPC)’ which will remain open daily from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. with provision for a Short-Stay Home for girls between 3 years and 18 years.

Women’s Capacity Building Programme 

IPER has been running a unit for imparting basic literacy to adult women.  Thirty women are given academic lessons for three days a week for two hours a day. Instructions are given individually according to their pace of progress in respect of literacy and numeracy. Moreover contents are chosen informally from family life situation. These mothers along with other women of the locality also join the vocational training classes held everyday.

Arrangements have been made to impart training for suitable skill development in sewing, tailoring and embroidery, soft toy making and in making things with paper pulp from waste materials. Significant progress has been noted in this sphere. These women also participate in various cultural programmes. They are also given medical facilities like medical check ups, medicines, pathological examination and the like. Presently this programme has been developed as a separate unit under the name ‘IPER Swadhina’ with a registration number and managing committee of its own.

Child-Sponsorship Programme

The child sponsorship programme began in 2000 out of a felt need for a long term support for children in IPER. This programme is providing sustenance to many children who are deprived of any support from their families. A day care centre is provided for these children.

Most of the children go to formal schools in the morning. After school they come to IPER. Here they have a regular schedule of special support or remedial classes to improve their school performance, co-curricular activities, computer literacy and cultural activities. These children get midday meal at IPER.  All sponsored children go through a general medical check-up and necessary medical help through the Children’s Clinic. Vocational training courses at IPER are offered to those girls who are unable to cope with the formal studies. Boys who are drop-outs are sent to different vocational training schools / workshops. All sponsored children get the necessary educational materials such as school fees, uniforms, shoes, school bags, stationery and books. A regular contact with the sponsors and periodic visit to the sponsored family has brought about a significant change in the life of these children. It has improved their self-esteem as well as made them responsible for their behaviours. Sponsorship has made available to these children a good present and a happy and secure future.

Convention on the Rights of the Child & IPER

It was as early as 1994 two years after India signed the first legal document on rights of the children that with the cooperation of 45 NGOs IPER observed a ‘Child Rights Week’ which ended with a rally of 10,000 children and adults walking for the rights of the children. It was in 1994 again that an NGO report on the Rights of the Child was developed in a Two-day Workshop organized by IPER.

Bishnupur Shishu Panchayat 

South Parganas, West Bengal held the first ever Shishu  Panchayat  in  India  which  was the first of its kind in India if not in Asia. This unique session of the Children’s own Civil Administrative Body was attended by many eminent people of the locality, UNICEF officials and NGO representatives from different states and members of the press and the electronic media. IPER facilitated not only the planning and implementation of the programme but was instrumental to the holding of the Shishu Panchayat Session. The idea of holding this was to provide the children a platform from where they could voice their own views and exercise their rights.

The programme consisted of three phases. In the first phase IPER facilitated a three day orientation programme for the children. The objective of this was to identify and prioritise their needs. In the second phase the children were encouraged to assess the situation of the children in their own villages. They collected information on the basic facilities available in the villages like provision of health centres, water supply, availability of schools and playgrounds and so on. In the third and final phase IPER helped the children to form the Shishu Panchayat. The children elected the president and other members of the body. On the final day the children presented their views and submitted a Charter of Demand by the children to the President of the Zilla Parishad as well to the Panchayat Minister of the State.

Children’s Borough Council

Inspired by the success of Shishu Panchayat  IPER conducted an intensive programme of awareness on the Convention of the Rights of the Child for children of 35 schools both formal and non-formal in the city of Kolkata. Nearly 1000 children were involved in the programme where they learnt about their rights and also explored the areas where they were denied of those rights. The objective of the programme was to make the children thoroughly acquainted with their rights and finally to draw up a programme whereby they would be assured of enjoying them. As an extension of the plan to ensure children’s participation as a right a programme on Children’s Borough Council was developed. The child members of the Borough Councils finally met the Mayor of Kolkata to ensure children’s participation with co-operation from their adult counterparts in the activities of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. This meeting with the Mayor too was facilitated by IPER.

Development of Curricular Materials for Street Children

IPER for a long time is working with the deprived children and the major intervention that it makes in the life of the child is through education. For this purpose a set of systematic and well-planned learning materials suitable for street and working children was developed. This has gone through several changes and modifications after required feedback from the children and teachers was incorporated in the materials.

This led IPER to take up a project in collaboration with CLPOA on the Development of Curricular Materials for the street children. This project was started in November 1999 and the materials for the four classes at the primary stage have been developed in consultation with 50 NGOs. The try-out of the material on suitably selected sample groups along with required training of the street educators too has been completed.

1. Development of Materials for Culture & Value Education & Training of Teachers

In conformity with the National Policy of Education (1986) IPER submitted a Value Education programme to the Government of India where education is made a forceful tool for the cultivation of desirable ethical, spiritual and social values. Value education should help to eliminate religious fanaticism, violence, superstition and fatalism. Education which inculcates universal and eternal values like compassion, truth, love, peace, righteous conduct, non-violence, honesty, tolerance and the like will help in developing balanced individuals and creating a good human society.

Sanctioned in 2005 April by the Government of India this project focuses on the development of a Value Education module for the teachers of both non-formal and formal schools. The project aims at consulting eminent persons in the area for formulation of the values to be taught to the children and developing suitable materials for training the same and finally carrying out a training of the teachers on the identified values. 

Research Studies & Documentation

n keeping with its basic philosophy that research must be the basis of all programmes and innovative measures IPER undertook a number of research studies in different subjects at different times. The studies and researches were  mainly conducted on different social issues like street children, child labour, delinquent children, families on the edge and similar areas since its inception.

Recently a research study has been undertaken on the “State of Drug Addiction in India” with the objective of identifying the nature and extent of Drug Abuse practised in this country together with social, economic and psychological causes that force some unfortunate sections of our population to take to this highly injurious practice. During the last 10 years the Anti-Drug Section of IPER has collected large numbers of individual cases of drug addiction spanning a cross-section of our population and the data thus received will be used as materials for this important study.  

Some of the important studies carried out by IPER are :

Measurement of Juvenile Delinquency

In 1979-80 IPER conducted a study of Juvenile Delinquency based on the data collected from the record of the Juvenile Court at Calcutta. The same research sponsored by ICSSR developed a weighted scale for measuring different offences committed by the young delinquents.

Individual Case Study on SMM Home at Liluah

In 1986 IPER was assigned the task of visiting the SMM Home for the abused girls at Liluah run under the Department of Social Welfare, Government of West Bengal to carry out an individual case study of all the inmates of the Home. Besides recording the case histories and preparing inventories of nearly 550 inmates of the Home IPER held a critical analysis of the different problems confronting the Home with suggestions for their possible solution.

Situational Analysis of Street Children

IPER conducted a comprehensive Situational Analysis of Street Children in the city of Kolkata in 1989-90. At the same time it also monitored and supervised similar analyses at five other metropolitan cities like Bombay, Madras, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kanpur carried out by other NGOs of the cities concerned. The study conducted under the Ministry of Welfare and UNICEF in 1989-90 is the first authentic study on the situation of street children in the big metroes of India. These reports were published by the National Labour Institute. Similar studies were carried out once again for Kolkata in 1995-96 with the assistance of UNICEF.

Directory of NGOs Working with Street and Working Children

PER in late 1993 undertook the task of compiling a Directory of NGOs working with street and working children in the city of Kolkata. Supported by the UNICEF the project  was completed in 1993. Being the first of its kind it is widely regarded as a very valuable document for all those who work for street and working children in the city. In 1996 IPER updated the same Directory and brought out a new edition.

Parental Effectiveness Training Manual

IPER in its long work with parents of the children with whom it is working felt a need to develop a training programme for the parents on whom the development of children rests. So in 2001-02 IPER developed a training manual for Parental Effectiveness in their relationship and association with children. This was brought out as a part of the Project ChildWatch.

Training Manual for Teachers, Parents and Caregivers on Dealing with   

Traumatised Children
While working with children IPER found that many of them are traumatized and the adults around them are unaware of the ways to deal with them effectively. Thus came up a Manual for teachers, parents and other care-givers on the ways of dealing with traumatized children. This Manual was an offshoot of the Project on Training for dealing with Traumatised children.

Other Studies

IPER also conducted several research studies on children like ‘Psycho-social Impact of their Occupation on the Ragpickers’, ‘Psychological Degeneration of Girl Children Smuggled Across the Border’, ‘Impact of Family Violence on Children’. Another study known as ‘Humanising Child Labour’ published  by IPER in the form of a book. In 1996 IPER in collaboration with Childhope Asia (Philippines) brought out a study on street children known as ‘Learning from the Families on the Edge’.

Psychometric Assessment, Guidance & Counselling

While implementing different programmes on child development it was found that there was a great need for guidance and psychometric assessment for both children and adults. For this purpose IPER developed and standardised a number of psychological tests on intelligence, interest, personality, reasoning and allied items in regional languages. These tests are suitable for scientific assessment of different attributes of both adults and children. Presently a Psychometric section is run at IPER where beside psychological assessment counseling and guidance services too are offered.

Documentation Centre and Children’s Data Bank

IPER has a well-equipped Documentation Centre with a computer network wherein extensive  data  on  child  workers  and  street  children  are  being maintained. This

centre which started functioning in 1993 has also done extensive documentation work on the underprivileged and handicapped children of the state. A specialized library too is functioning in the IPER complex.

DISWAM

IPER has felt for a long time the need of holding a training course on social work and management which would meet the needs of the oraganisations specially engaged in developmental work that urgently require the services of such people. It thus started the IPER College of Training and Research. A course on Diploma IN SOCIAL WORK AND MANAGEMENT (DISWAM) was developed in consultation with different similar courses both national and international. It is a post-graduate course of one year’s duration divided into two semesters. There is plan to open an evening session too of this Course in a very near future. The course is affiliated to Kalyani University as a post-graduate course.

IPER Primary Teachers’ Training Institute

IPER has initiated a Primary Teachers’ Training Institute under the IPER College of Training and Research, a separate body constituted for conducting training in different fields. This has been granted recognition by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.

Advocacy, Capacity Building and other Activities

IPER also carries out regular and planned programmes on advocacy and awareness building through exhibitions, camps and meetings. IPER holds exhibitions  regularly  at  the  Calcutta  Book  Fair  and  on  other   occasions organised every year in Kolkata with pictures, posters and hand-outs on different social issues like drug abuse, child labour and street children. Holding camps in the schools and colleges on Drug Education is also a regular features of its programme.

Several trainings as well as workshops are held regularly for both in-house as well as outside personnel. IPER has organised training programmes for social workers and street educators, drug-counsellors and those working for street and working children programmes. To mention a few Training on Child Participation, Interactive Training of Parents, Teachers and Care-givers on dealing with Traumatised Children, Management of Developmental Programme, have been organized of late.

Resource Centre for Training

IPER also functions as a Resource Centre for the trainees and students of Social Work, Journalism, Sociology and Applied Psychology for their exposure, practical training and dissertation work. Besides students from Indian Universities quite a number of trainees from UK, Finland, the Netherlands, France, USA and other countries attend the different programmes of IPER every year. Each of the visiting trainees participate in the different programmes of IPER and attend classes held on issues related to children, their families as well as drug-addicts. They also undertake micro-level studies under the auspices of IPER.

Workshops, Seminars and Conferences

IPER regularly hold seminars and workshops at the national and international levels. Besides the several programmes taken up earlier a one-day workshop commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child was held on 1st December 1999 at IPER Development Centre. It was attended by 45 children from 10 schools as well as from non-formal centres run for children. This was the final follow-up meeting of the Children Borough Council that had several meetings last year. The Mayor of Kolkata was present to interact with the children. The children drew up their agenda for the work they planned to do in their own locality. They also outlined the work of others in the field.

Asian Conferences on Child Exploitation and Abuse (ACCEA)

First & Fourth in Kolkata
IPER was pioneer in initiating and holding the First Asian Conference on Child Exploitation and Neglect in 1990. In 1996 the Fourth Asian Conference on Child Exploitation and Abuse was held in Kolkata by IPER with assistance from UNICEF and Government of India and the State of West Bengal. The central theme of the Fourth Asian Conference was “Asserting the Rights of the Child --- A challenge for the Adult Society”.

The Conference was attended by the delegates from many Asian and European countries.   The  inauguration  was  performed  by  Sri  Raghunath  Reddy, the then Governor of West Bengal. Many people from Asia as well as European countries participated.

First Ever Global Conference on Children 2000 A.D.

On 15 December 1999 in the broad expanse of the Grand Theatre Auditorium of Science City of Kolkata illuminated with the golden rays of the morning sun hundreds of children from schools all over the city assembled in the inauguration of the First Ever Global Conference on Children 2000 AD where children were treated as valued participants as the adults.

The Conference was attended by participants almost from all major countries of the world. It was organised by IPER with support from the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India. The well known international philanthropic organisation PLAN International joined hands with IPER to make the undertaking a grand success.

The primary objective of the Conference was to commemorate the completion of a full decade of the UN Convention on the 1989 Rights of the Child. The second and an important objective of the Conference was also to take a stock of how much the directives of the Convention have been actually realised in the life of our children.      

Specialists and well-known activists working for the rights of the child attended the Conference from all corners of the earth and reviewed the state of children in their own countries. They pointed out to the yawning lacuna that exists between what the children deserve and what they really get.

One of the unique features of the Conference was the active participation of children themselves. Children coming from different states of the world both in India and outside held their own exclusive sessions where they reviewed the rights they enjoyed and rights that were denied to them. Special interactive sessions where adults exchanged views with the children formed one of the major features of the daily agenda of the Conference. The item that made the Conference really A First Ever was this unprecedented and most productive participation of children not only in the day to day proceedings but also in the determination of the final outcome of the Conference.