KATHMANDU, Nov 22: The government's campaign to make the country free of street children is gaining momentum with the implementation of related programs.

So far, 574 street-children have been rescued from various parts of the country and rehabilitated successfully. Of them, 465 are boys and 109 are girls. The campaign was launched in 2016. Even Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in his message on the occasion of the National Children's Day last September said that the government was aiming to declare the country free of street-children.

The Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens has been undertaking various programmes to prevent any child resorting to street owing to various circumstances. The ministry has been coordinating efforts with the National Child Rights Council and various other social organizations to rescue such children and rehabilitate them in society.

According to a report prepared by the Council, among the rescued ones, 30 were street-children hailing from various parts of India. There are 255 rescued children at the contact centre, 99 at the socialization centre, 50 at child shelters while 810 were handed over to their respective families. 

Similarly, 184 rescued street-children were sent for training and 59 of them are already working in various capacities. 

As many as 3,422 children were reported missing in fiscal year 2018/19. Of them, 2,540 were found. The number of missing children in the last fiscal year 2019/2020 stood at 2,729. Among them, 2,219 were found.

The report said that the street children were among the high-risk groups and were prone to exploitation and abuses. Thus the state organs should moot plans and policies at the legal, administrative, social and academic levels to make sure that no child is abandoned by his/her family or flee their homes and resort to the street.

 
• street-children
 
• Nepal