Kathmandu, May 27
Minister of Women, Children, and Senior Citizens, Parbat Gurung, interacted with children during a radio programme, in which the children voiced their concerns in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, on Tuesday.
Save the Children and Community Information Network’s (CIN) invited the minister to their show ‘Ministers with Children’, with an aim to make elected representatives and policy-makers more accountable towards the need and challenges of children in Nepal.
The programme was broadcast on over 300 community FM stations, according to the SC.
During the programme, the children from various parts of the country had requested the minister to address the issue of lack of child-friendly spaces in the quarantine centres. “Children who tested positive for Covid-19 have to stay apart from their parents. These centres are not child-friendly, and they have to undergo fear and anxiety,” a 15-year-old girl from Nepalgunj reportedly told him.
In response, Gurung assured that the development of child-friendly spaces was one of the priorities of the government, and sincere efforts were being made to ensure that mental health and wellbeing of children living in quarantine centres would not be compromised.
Save the Children had previously conducted state-level ‘Minister with Children’ campaign in Karnali and Province 2. Violence against children, mental health, poverty and price hike, child marriage, digital divide, education gap, communal harmony, among others were the foremost issues raised by the children in the campaign.
