TOI : Every child will have a tag : March 17, 2009

Every child will have a tag

17 Mar 2009, 2353 hrs IST, TNN

BANGALORE: A new technology will now make it possible to `bar code’ each child, who can be tracked from birth to adulthood, through a 

comprehensive Child Tracking System (CTS). It entails giving each child a unique identification number, to facilitate tracing his/her progress from birth, immunization, school enrolment, drop-out, disability, marriage, child labour, abuse, missing, migration, trafficking etc, in real time.

This comprehensive data will reduce the burden of conducting studies and surveys on the education and health status of children. CTS operates with the support of a technology called `Talkative NEIL’, developed by Shyam Kedare of Softnet Interactive Private Limited in Bangalore. This innovative technology — NEILT (Navigation and Expert Interaction Logic) was awarded the NCPEDP-SHELL Helen Keller award in 2005, and has been an aid for the visually impaired in mainstream jobs.

To track children from the grassroot level, CTS is implemented at the panchayat and ward level. Comprehensive CTS is the brainchild of three organisations – NGO Every Child, Child Right Trust (CRT), an advocacy group, and Softnet Interactive Private Limited. Soon, the pilot project will be initiated in four districts in Karnataka — Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bellary and Raichur.

Country director of EveryChild G Sriramappa said: “The status of children decides the status of the country. Lack of current data on status of children, whether it is migration, malnutrition or trafficking, has been a hurdle in the planning and protection process. With CTS, we can have a centralized database to assess the status of every child in the country in real time.”

EveryChild and CRT are planning to involve children in the process of collecting and feeding data. However, each village will have representatives to feed the data, with the panchayat monitoring the regular updation of data.

“Talkative Neil bridges both the digital gap and language barrier, as it is custom-made to operate in any local language, including the accent. Anybody can operate it, including the visually impaired. Since data is accessible in real time, whether it’s education or health, the status of children of a particular village can be accessed immediately, saving time and resources with easy planning,” said Shyam Kedare. 

URL : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/Every-child-will-have-a-tag-/articleshow/4278780.cms