Nepalgunj, Mar.   28: The Informal Sector Services Centre (INSEC) has been running the “government school programme” in seven districts of the mid-western development region with the objective of raising child rights awareness.

The programme which was launched in fiscal year 1996/1997 covers a total of 34 schools in the region including five each in Jumla, Rolpa, Salyan, Dang, Banke and Surkhet districts and four in Bardiya district.

Under the programme, a teacher at the school is designated as the patron and a child rights awareness group comprising  7 to 13 students is formed for implementation of the programme, according to Tanka Bhattarai, regional coordinator of the programme for the mid-western region.

Although students from the primary level had been incorporated in the child awareness groups in the beginning, only students from grade six to ten were incorporated in the group later.

The child rights awareness groups are responsible for propagating child rights among their peers, encourage children to organise and make them conscious about their problems.