Delhi Govt to record all 'Desh ke Mentor' phone calls, asks parents to supervise

NEW DELHI: After the National Commission For Protection Of Child Rights (NCPCR) asked the Delhi government to suspend ‘Desh ke Mentor’ programme stating that the programme may expose children to crime, abuse, the Directorate of Education (DoE) has added new features to ensure safety and security of students.

The response from the Delhi government came after the NCPCR issued a notice and asked to provide the compliance report with supporting documents within seven days.

The NCPCR served its first notice on December 7 and the DoE responded on January 3. However, now on January 11, the NCPCR issued another notice to the state government stating that the response received was not satisfactory and asked to shut it down immediately “until all the loopholes pertaining to the safety of children are overhauled”.

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Desh ke Mentor scheme: New features

In response, the DoE said in a letter said that new features have been added to ‘Desh ke Mentor’ scheme to ensure safety and security of children. The added features are as follows

• The necessary police verification of the mentor to be conducted by the concerned police station. As per the circular, a report of criminal record (if any) about the registered mentor would be obtained from the concerned Police Station. In case of any adverse report from the Police is received, the mentor would be de-registered immediately. This exercise would be done in respect of all mentors already registered under the said programme.
• All the conversations of the mentors and mentees will be recorded and upkeep by the department. There is no in-person interaction intended among the mentor and mentees and since, every phone call will be recorded by the Government, there is no scope left for child abuse by any mentors.
• Contact number of children shall be masked and shall not be made available to the mentor or any other person.
• Mentors are not allowed to meet with mentees offline and in case of violation, he/she will be deregistered from the program.

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The Delhi government has also advised "all the parents of the students to ensure the presence of any adult member of the family during the conversation between the mentor and the mentees done time to time through app under Desh Ke Mentor programme".

The Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the programme on October 11 under which students of Delhi government schools were to be provided guidance on career choices by citizens who are successful in their respective fields.