The Child Helpline will gain a number of new staff to better serve the children in need of the state.
This was informed by Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh today. He explained that the helpline will help the state conform to the Juvenile Justice, Care and Protection of Children Act 2015.
The helpline, until recently, has been manned by only person but the 24-hour emergency service, which began in 2019, will, once the recruitment process is complete, be staffed by 14 individuals to make it more effective.
The posts include one IT supervisor, 10 call operators, one-multipurpose staff and two security guards.
“Now that we have 10 call operators, it means the service will be faster and complaints can be processed at the earliest,” Lyngdoh said. “The IT supervisor will also have a minimum of three years experience in data management, process documentation and web based reporting. This is a big leap forward for the department.”
The child helpline number is 1098 and the women’s helpline is 181.
“We have installed the latest gadgets and machines at the directorate office, which will help to track calls and the response system with a dedicated website which has been activated in order to enable this service to be at its peak,” he informed.
