Teen made 'honourary chairperson' of Child Rights body for few hours; seeks protection for boys as well

Kolkata: A girl, who is a student of class XI, was made the 'honourary chairperson' of the West Bengal

Commission for Protection of Child Rights for a few hours as further step towards creating awareness on child rights with stress on women empowerment.

As the "honourary chairperson" of the Commission, the 17-year-old girl Priya Mondal on Thursday appreciated the move of the Bengal government in introducing Kanyashree Prakalpa that made dreams of higher education of lakhs of girls come true. At the same time, she stated about the need for all sorts of security for boys besides girls.

Kanyashree Prakalpa was introduced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that not only checked the school dropout rate but also paved a way for girls to undertake higher studies.

It brought a social change in the state. So far, more than 67 lakh girls from 18,000 schools and colleges were brought under the project. It was awarded with the first prize in the United Nations Public Service Award for Asia Pacific at The Hague in Netherlands in 2017.

The student of Adi Mahakali Pathshala, who was felicitated by the chairperson of the Commission

Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti, also stressed on the need for providing mental support to children.

The Commission every year organises week-long programme to celebrate Children's Day.

As a part of the programme, the class XI student was made the "honourary chairperson" for an hour.