Experts question WB for invoking religious texts for childcare messaging

The recent initiative by the West Bengal women and child development and social welfare department in association with UNICEF to roll out religious texts from different religions to spread childcare messages has received major accolades from different sections of the society.

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The initiative, according to experts in the field, is an effective move especially at a time when the latest report of the National Family Health Survey has not painted a rosy picture of the health and education sphere of the children, especially the girl child, in West Bengal.

The figures of anemic tendencies among 70 per cent of the girls below the age of 18, high rate of early marriages and early pregnancies do not show the state in good light.

In such a situation the decision to come out with booklets quoting religious texts from different faiths like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism to guide parents and communities in proper childcare is perceived as a unique initiative. The involvement of the state government in this initiative jointly with UNICEF and the Amanat Foundation Trust adds more credibility to the effort.